Open source cloud computing software CloudStack, which is developed by all-volunteer association the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), has this week graduated from the Apache Incubator to become a top level project. The move signifies the maturity of CloudStack as an open source tool for creating, managing, and deploying infrastructure cloud services.

CloudStack uses existing hypervisors such as KVM, vSphere, and XenServer/XCP for virtualisation and supports the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API as well as offering its own. Target environments include service providers and enterprises where it can be used to set up on-demand cloud computing services or a private cloud for use by internal employees.

“When CloudStack first became an Apache Incubator project, it was a well-established cloud management platform, so its codebase was already mature,” said Chip Childers, Vice President of Apache CloudStack. “Our work in the Incubator has focused on growing a really strong community around the code and establishing the governance practices expected of a top-level project within the Apache Software Foundation.

“We know that Infrastructure-as-a-Service is the next generation of IT infrastructure, and that people will demand open standards and open governance for such an important layer in their IT stack. That is why the CloudStack project meeting the rigorous standards of ASF governance is so significant. ”

In related news, CloudStack rival, OpenStack, which also has a loyal user base and is available under the same open source Apache licence, has won a significant new user in the form of PayPal.

PayPal and its parent eBay are understood to be replacing up to 80,000 servers currently running VMware with OpenStack over the coming months. The change from a commercially licensed product to an open source one highlights the flux ongoing in the IT virtualisation space which may well come to the telco space soon.

OpenStack was also recently identified as the cloud management platform to be used by Huawei in its SDN play.