Linux Foundation Establishes Path to Accelerate the Journey to an Open Metaverse

New Open Metaverse Foundation sets the stage for practical, powerful progress in  building immersive, global, scalable worlds, together

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization focused on fostering innovation through open source, has established the formation of the Open Metaverse Foundation (OMF) with a mission to provide a collaboration space for diverse  industries to work on developing open source software and standards for an inclusive, global, vendor-neutral and scalable Metaverse.

Many thought-leading organizations and open source communities have joined as founding  members to support the effort to bring this vision to life. These include the ChainHub Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Futurewei, GenXP, Guangdong Digital Industry Research Institute, Hyperledger Foundation, LF Edge, LF Networking, OpenSDV, Open Voice Network and Veriken, among others. Together, these constituents bring years of knowledge and experience to address initiatives spanning artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and edge computing, digital assets, transactions, identity, networking, simulations, security and more.

"We're still in the early days of the vision for an open Metaverse, and we recognize that many open source communities and foundations are working on vital pieces of this iterative puzzle," said Royal O'Brien, executive director of the OMF. "While the challenges may seem daunting, I'm energized by the opportunities to collaborate with a broad, global community to bring these pieces together as we transform this vision into reality." 

The Open Metaverse Foundation is organized into Foundational Interest Groups (FIGs) that enable a focused, distributed decision structure for key topics. FIGs provide targeted resources and forums for the identification of new ideas, getting work done and onboarding new contributors. They are comprised of members from specific disciplines committed to advancing projects or scalable technologies within their topic as well as ensuring that code ownership of every identifiable subpart of projects (e.g., GitHub.org, repository, subdirectory, API, test, issue, PR) is addressed and managed. The eight Foundational Interest Groups of OMF are:

1. Users
2. Transactions
3. Digital Assets
4. Simulations and Virtual Worlds
5. Artificial Intelligence
6. Networking
7. Security and Privacy
8. Legal and Policy

Learn more about the Open Metaverse Foundation by visiting the website or contacting us. Connect with the community on Discord, and join the community at upcoming events, including the Open Source Summit North America, May 10-12 in Vancouver.

Taylor Dolezal, Head of Ecosystem, Cloud Native Computing Foundation 
"The Metaverse brings exciting possibilities in revolutionizing the way we interact and engage, but with it comes immense technical challenges. Through the power of open innovation, the Open Metaverse Foundation will foster collaboration and community-driven development to realize this promise. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation looks forward to contributing its deep expertise to evolve cloud technologies and infrastructure in tackling these challenges. Together, we'll build a truly open, accessible virtual world, where anyone can participate."

Anni Lai, Head of Open Source Operations and Marketing, Futurewei 
"Our industry needs innovation through interoperability driven by open source and open standards to realize the promise of the Metaverse—if we're to build something that benefits everyone—just as was the case with the early architecting of the Internet. Futurewei believes in the power of open source and open collaboration, and we're excited to engage in building the Open Metaverse Foundation community to extend initiatives we already have underway in XR, Web3, mobile gaming and more."

Vince McMullin, CEO, GenXP 
"The Metaverse isn't some expensive VR headset. It isn't NFTs. It isn't even Web3. The Metaverse is an open set of data standards that enables shared, accessible, persistent 3D experiences. The Open Metaverse Foundation provides a vehicle for industry-wide, community driven collaboration to develop open standards and open source implementations for an open Metaverse. As leaders in delivering tools and technology, we enable new and extraordinary ways to experience, engage and excite our users through interactive, immersive 3D experiences. GenXP is excited to join the Foundation to help make these experiences possible."

Daniela Barbosa, Executive Director, Hyperledger Foundation and General Manager, Blockchain and Identity, Linux Foundation
"We are just starting to see the potential of the Metaverse. The impact of combining the Internet  of place and value will be enormous if we work together to build open, scalable, decentralized technologies. The OMF brings the proven Linux Foundation open development model to this complex but exciting new opportunity and gives the companies and developers shaping it a neutral home to fulfill their vision. Hyperledger Foundation's distributed ledger and digital trust  expertise and technologies will be critical building blocks for the effort."

Ranny Haiby, CTO, Networking, Edge & Access Technologies, Linux Foundation 
"The Metaverse is presenting unprecedented challenges for edge computing and networks. We expect the Open Metaverse Foundation to become the platform for defining the required  technological solutions. Industry-wide collaboration is the only way to embark on such complex endeavors. The LF Edge and Networking communities are well suited to deliver the open source technologies defined by the Open Metaverse Foundation. We are looking forward to close collaboration with the new Foundation and foresee many potential synergies between it and our projects."

Jon Stine, Executive Director, Open Voice Network 
"At its core, the Open Metaverse Foundation is all about bringing a diversity of industry experts  and open source communities together to transform the concept of the Metaverse from promise to reality, while ensuring it delivers an amazing, immersive experience for all users. This is about optimal choice, a rich development ecosystem, safety and ease of use. That's why the Open Voice Network – a Linux Foundation community developing open standards and ethical  use guidelines for the inevitable interface for the metaverse, conversational AI – is delighted to link arms with the Open Metaverse Foundation."

Chris Clason, Founder and CEO, Veriken 
"The Metaverse will drive the demand for innovative digital products while providing the frameworks to connect creators directly with consumers, setting the stage for a disruptive opportunity not seen since the early days of the Internet. Veriken is excited to work with the Open Metaverse Foundation to create the open standards for digital commerce and property ownership necessary to accelerate the initial adoption of the Metaverse and protect the long term interests of all stakeholders, including consumers, individual artists and enterprises."

The mission of OMF is to foster a strong community of developers, engineers, academics and  thought leaders who will solve the difficult challenges of building the open Metaverse through  open source software and open specifications that enable portability and interoperability for an open, global, scalable world, which supports interactive and immersive experiences for the benefit of any individual or industry. For more information, please visit us at  https://www.openmv.org/.

The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, OpenChain, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users,  and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org. 

Contact: Noah Lehman, [email protected]

SOURCE The Linux Foundation