Working Group Background

‣ Board established working group in November 2012 meeting

‣ http://wiki.openstack.org/Governance/Foundation/02Nov2012BoardMinutes

“Mr. Goode led a discussion of the Foundation’s involvement in standards for training. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, the discussion was limited to the formation of a working group to address the issue. The Board agreed to the formation of a working group led by Mr. Collier. The working group will create a proposal on the Board’s involvement in standards for training and present to the Board at a later date.”

January 31s, 2013 Board Update

‣ The working group is drafting a proposal for the Board’s review. To ensure the proposal is consistent with the Board’s goals, the framework will be discussed at the February 12th face-to-face Board Meeting in San Francisco.

‣ General Direction: Create a new “OpenStack Training” licensing & co-marketing program for training businesses, to supersede the current “Built for OpenStack” program in the training context

‣ Biggest unanswered question is whether or not “certifications” should be part of the scope of the new program, and if so, how to implement. Board input needed.

New Licensing Program Approach

Program Goals & Approach

‣ Generate awareness of the many OpenStack Training options in the ecosystem by creating a targeted co-marketing/licensing program

‣ Empower 3rd parties to promote OpenStack and spread OpenStack knowledge globally by licensing the marks for their use, and by making the program as frictionless as possible.

‣ Protect the OpenStack Brand by implementing quality control measures

Proposed Approach to Quality Control (under discussion)

1.Require courses cover certain key topics/messages

2.Foundation administered post-training student surveys

3.Testing for trainers employed by the licensees (still being debated)

Biggest Challenge: Certification / Credentials

Market Dynamics & Opportunity

•There is market demand for “Certification” or “Credential” programs

•Analysts have told us a certification program would accelerate adoption

•Rackspace has launched “Rackspace Certified Technician for OpenStack” offering under the “Built for OpenStack” license

Complications

•The “Built for OpenStack” program was not optimized for this use case

•If the market is flooded with many “certifications for OpenStack”, the meaning may be lost and the OpenStack brand may be tarnished

•If the new “OpenStack Training” licensing program covers “Certified” offerings, creating standards will be challenging and likely require a large resource commitment from the Foundation.

•The word “Certified” has special meaning in the trademark world