In 2024, the OpenInfra Foundation introduced working groups for OpenInfra Member organizations to collaborate around market opportunities that impact OpenInfra projects. 

This includes the formation of a VMware Migration Working Group focusing on positioning OpenStack as a virtualization alternative in the wake of a massive wave of organizations modernizing their data centers and looking for cheaper alternatives to VMWare. In September 2024, they published an initial white paper around this market opportunity and are continuing to educate the market around OpenStack’s role. 

In January 2025, the OpenStack for AI Working Group was formed to elevate OpenStack’s role as foundational open source infrastructure for supporting AI workloads. While this working group is still early on, there is already a plan to deliver a white paper later this year accompanied by reference architectures and case studies. 

These working groups are primarily for OpenInfra Foundation Members. If you’re interested in participating, please email [email protected]. 

VMware Migration Working Group

The VMware Migration Working Group PTG session was well attended with 15 people from 10 companies. The primary goal was to continue work on the VMware to OpenStack Migration Guide, with an expectation to complete it in the first week of June.  As of the PTG, all of the outlined chapters have community members assigned to them  and the group spent some of the hour writing and reviewing.

Additionally, we reviewed the 2024 VMware to OpenStack Member Survey to suggest updates ahead of sending out to OpenInfra Foundation member organizations and the broader OpenStack ecosystem in Q2 2025. 

OpenStack for AI Working Group

The OpenStack for AI Working Group met at the PTG and primarily discussed the outline and timeline for a white paper that will be published later this year, targeting October 17 at the OpenInfra Summit Europe. 

At its peak, the PTG session had 12 participants from six different organizations and an active discussion around the topics needed for the white paper. Naturally these conversations concentrated around GPU enablement, zeroing in on NVIDIA vGPU/MIG support, PCI passthrough, and security risks. 

The working group was able to leverage the unique feature of the PTG by inviting former Nova PTL, Sylvain Bauzas, to join the conversation and answer questions live about Nova’s progress around certain features. He had been attending other PTG sessions at the time and was able to jump into the discussion and share his knowledge before heading back to his other PTG session.This was a very engaging and helpful discussion that guided the working group’s outline progress. 

As a next step, the OpenStack for AI Working Group, an OpenInfra Member group, will meet to start sharing reference architectures to gain common understanding of technical trends, gaps, and implementations. The Working Group will be writing the OpenStack for AI white paper in parallel to these discussions. Updates will be made to the OpenStack for AI mailing list.