OpenPOWER Foundation Momentum Leads to Greater Community Gains in 2017

Dear OpenPOWER Members,

 The OpenPOWER Foundation had a great 2016.  That momentum will lead us to greater community gains in 2017.

 In 2016, our membership rose to nearly 300 members and continues to grow at a healthy pace. We introduced a new membership level for ISVs that is growing steadily as software providers are seeing the benefits of innovating on the OpenPOWER platform and engaging in our work activity. The Foundation currently has 13 technical work groups and multiple committees for you to contribute to with more on the horizon focusing on various application areas.

 The Foundation’s continued success saw over 400 people attend the second annual Summit held in San Jose in March. With 80 member presentations, 20 member exhibits and meaningful dialogue with both enterprise customers and ecosystem members, the OpenPOWER message has been heard. In June we hosted our second annual China Summit in Beijing with local government and industry both contributing and attending furthering OpenPOWER activity in the region. And in October, we hosted our first European Summit in Barcelona engaging directly with over 200 European members and local industries that generated meaningful dialogue focused on European solutions.

 2016 also witnessed the formation of a number of new OpenPOWER initiatives, including an Ambassador Program to expand our reach, a Developer Challenge with over 300 participants, and a developer system installed at the University of Munich for academia and industry to use freely for innovation.

 For 2017 the OpenPOWER Board approved four areas of focus that include machine learning/AI, database and analytics, cloud applications and containers. The strategy for 2017 includes expanding membership engagement, membership development and membership testimonials and experiences.

 2017 will bring our Foundation many opportunities and advancements. We plan to build upon our Summit events by adding Developer Congresses. We look to extend our reach worldwide with our growing Ambassador program. We will promote technical innovations at various academic labs and in industry. We will host our second Developer Challenge that promotes creative innovation and solutions from students and industry. We plan to open additional application-oriented work groups to further technical solutions that benefits specific application areas.

 As our community reaches 300+ membership, I encourage everyone to get involved. Engage in our working groups and committees. Promote your solutions via Summit presentations and demos and testimonials to the Marketing Committee. Volunteer your time as an Ambassador or as a technical liaison at the Developer Congress.   And last but not least, make sure your solution is listed as OpenPOWER Ready.

We look forward to 2017 and the opportunities it will bring.  The Board would like to personally THANK YOU for everything you have done to improve the OpenPOWER Foundation.

John Zannos, Canonical                                                                                Bryan Talik,IBM

OpenPOWER Board Chair                                                        OpenPOWER Board President