Africa: A Strategic Growth Opportunity for OpenInfra

Africa is emerging as a major growth market for open infrastructure, driven by digital sovereignty initiatives, increasing AI adoption, and demand for cost-efficient cloud solutions. The OpenInfra Foundation already has a growing presence across the continent, with active OpenInfra User Groups in markets such as Kenya, Nigeria, and Central Africa, alongside rising engagement from both global and regional ecosystem players. This momentum reflects a broader shift toward open source as organizations seek to reduce dependency on proprietary infrastructure.

Recent survey data from OpenInfra community members and organizations operating in Africa points to strong demand for private cloud, virtualization, and AI infrastructure. Key sectors include telecom, fintech, government, and education. Respondents also highlighted growth in locally built cloud platforms and hybrid or edge deployments designed to meet regional requirements.

For OpenInfra members and the broader ecosystem, this presents a clear opportunity. Africa is not only adopting open infrastructure but actively shaping how it is deployed. With a growing developer base, increased focus on data sovereignty, and rising demand for open technologies, the region is well positioned for long-term investment and ecosystem expansion.

Read more about OpenInfra opportunities in Africa and how to get involved.

OpenInfra Foundation News

• Please welcome our newest Silver Member, Leaseweb, a Dutch public and private cloud hosting company that’s been in business for 25 years. Welcome to the OpenInfra Foundation!
• On September 8-9, OpenInfra Summit Asia | KubeCon | CloudNativeCon | PyTorch Conference China will take place in Shanghai. This flagship event unites adopters, technologists, and community members from across the region to drive innovation in open source infrastructure, cloud native computing, and open source AI around common, industry-wide use cases like nextgen AI. Over two days, the OpenInfra community will collaborate with the PyTorch and CNCF communities across dozens of open technologies, including two of the most active open source projects to exist—Kubernetes and OpenStack—to shape the future of open source software and technology as a whole.
• If you’re interested in joining the global collaboration around open source infrastructure, consider membership of the OpenInfra Foundation. Book a meeting with Jimmy McArthur today.

OpenInfra Summit Asia

• Combined with KubeCon CloudNativeCon & PyTorch Conference China
• September 8 & 9, 2026
• Shanghai, China | Shanghai International Convention Center Oriental Riverside Hotel
• Submit Your Talk | The CFP closes May 3, 2026 at 11:59pm China Standard Time
• Become a Sponsor | Contracts must be signed by July 17, 2026.

OpenStack: Open source software for creating private and public clouds

• OpenStack 2026.1 “Gazpacho” is well into feature freeze, with release candidates due to arrive next week. This is the time for maintainers to assemble project highlights, distributors to test their updated packages, and deployers to review release notes in preparation for the official release on April 1.

Kata Containers: The speed of containers, the security of VMs

• The new Kata Containers 3.27 release is now available!
• If you’re evaluating or using Kata Containers, please take a few minutes to fill out the User Survey and provide feedback to the community!

OpenDev: Free software needs free tools

• Clark Boylan has been reelected to another one-year term as OpenDev’s Service Coordinator. The community thanks him for his continued leadership, and his support for the many open source projects which call the OpenDev Collaboratory their home.

StarlingX: A fully featured cloud for the distributed edge

• The StarlingX community is currently working towards cutting milestone 3 on March 4th, and is on track to deliver the 12.0 release this Spring!
• If you’re evaluating or using StarlingX, please take a few minutes to fill out the User Survey and provide feedback to the community!**

Zuul: Stop merging broken code

• Zuul 14.0.0 has been released. This release includes the new Zuul Launcher component which replaces the now deprecated Nodepool system. Both systems are currently supported to make transitioning from Nodepool to Zuul Launcher easier. Deployments should begin the process of converting as Nodepool support will eventually be dropped. More information can be found in the release announcement.

Upcoming OpenInfra and Community Events

• We’re excited to announce the current list of 2026 OpenInfra events including the OpenInfra Summit, OpenInfra Days, and a few more events where you can find the OpenInfra community!
• 23-26 March | Meet the Kata Containers community at KubeCon EU in Amsterdam | Booth #1362
• April 20-24, 2026 | Project Teams Gathering (PTG)
• 25 April 2026 | OpenInfra Day Nigeria

For more information about OpenInfra community events, please contact [email protected].