VMware, Intel and NEC are now Gold members of the OpenStack Foundation after a special board meeting was held to discuss their applications to join the open source cloud software group. On Friday 7 September, the OpenStack Foundation's board of directors held a teleconferenced meeting to discuss the unfinished work from its first meeting last month. Top of the list was considering the applications for Gold membership by VMware, Intel and NEC to the open source Infrastructure-as-a-service cloud group.

Concerns had been raised over VMware's application to join the organisation as it is a software vendor that specialises in producing its own proprietary cloud and virtualisation solutions. The company does have, though, interests in open source, both through it's SpringSource division and through recently acquired Nicira.

According to an email from Jonathan Bryce, OpenStack's Executive Director, the board considered each company's "commitment to helping achieve the OpenStack Foundation Mission through demonstrated and potential contribution to the OpenStack community", and how that mapped into "code, adoption into product roadmaps, adoption as an end user, geographic and industry diversity and community development efforts". The board then voted and accepted all three companies to the OpenStack's roster of Gold members, to be represented at board level by the already resident eight Gold member representatives on the board.

The meeting itself appears to have been controversial with some members querying how much notice was given for it. The suggestion is that as little as 30 minutes notice was given to the wider membership that the teleconferenced meeting was taking place. Although there had been an entry on the Foundation's Wiki published the day before, this doesn't seem to have been widely disseminated beyond the board. The Foundation is due to go into full operation within 60 days of its first board meeting in August and could still be establishing how to effectively communicate with its membership.

(djwm)