2026-06-08 –, Maschinenhaus
In this presentation, we will talk through moving a major open source project into a foundation and the benefits of open governance, and a vendor-neutral home has proven through a sustained growth in community contributions.
In September 2024, the OpenSearch community announced the formation of this new home for the project, the OpenSearch Software Foundation, and since then we’ve successfully transitioned to the Linux Foundation's technical and governance stack. Our mission is to empower users to navigate the OpenSearch ecosystem, recruit skilled talent, and adopt the platform effectively, all while supporting sustainable open source innovation.
Over this period, the OpenSearch community has demonstrated remarkable momentum. We’ve seen more than 8,800 contributions, driven by a vibrant and growing community of over 3,300 individual contributors from more than 400 organizations. This surge in activity has placed OpenSearch among the top 20 most active projects across the entire Linux Foundation ecosystem by contributor engagement.
We’ve collaborated closely with our community and members on key initiatives and foundational work during this transition. Join us to hear about the journey so far and the future path for the OpenSearch project and Foundation.
Kris Freedain (he/him) is an OpenSearch Ambassador, Senior Community Manager for the OpenSearch Project & OpenSearch Software Foundation technical steering committee, and serves on the OpenSearch Software Foundation Marketing Committee. He has decades of experience in tech, but finds connecting people to be the most fulfilling part of being a community professional. Kris is also a Fediverse admin for the Fosstodon instance and serves as a Fosstodon Foundation Board Member. His hobbies include gardening, garage gym powerlifting, and meditation.
Carlos Rolo, Principal Open Source Engineer, is a family man who loves doing random activities with his wife and kids, playing water polo, and exploring AI innovations alongside tinkering with home tech setups. With expertise in Rust, Python, and a strong foundation in Go, Carlos is a celebrated 2x Cassandra MVP, Opensearch Ambassador and has released a groundbreaking time series compressor (instaclustr/atsc) with 7 patents pending. Actively
engaged in the Cassandra and Opensearch community, he enjoys sharing technical insights and fostering collaboration.