Canonical, which is the driving force behind the Ubuntu platform powering OpenStack deployments, set to have founder retake CEO position in July.
Canonical, which is best known for its support of Ubuntu deployments, is set to change leadership with current CEO Jane Silber moving to the firm’s board of directors and former CEO Mark Shuttleworth retaking the leadership position at the company he founded.
In a blog post on the Ubuntu website, Silber explained the move comes during a “new phase of accelerated growth at Canonical, and it’s time to pass the baton to both seasoned hands and a new generation of Canonical leaders.” The move is set as a transition period over the next three months, with Shuttleworth set to take over in July.
Silber joined Canonical in 2004, initially as COO before taking on the CEO position in 2010. Her original five-year agreement was then extended by a couple of years.
The Register reported that as part of the leadership change at U.K.-based Canonical, the firm is set to cut more than 80 positions. The report suggested an outside audit by potential financial backers noted a lack of focus on some efforts and a resulting move to cut costs.
“In the U.K. we have started the consultation process with a group which is, as required, substantially wider than our actual expected reduction,” a spokesperson told The Register. “This process is to enable individuals and the company to find the right mix of people and the right goals for them, but it creates more uncertainty for a larger group than the process in other countries, which is in most countries materially complete.”
Ubuntu is a Linux-based open source operating system designed to run on network servers, personal computers, tablets and smartphones, with claims of support for enterprise-grade tools for development, configuration, management and orchestration. The platform is the basis for OpenStack, which is seen as the leading OS used for cloud deployments.
RCR Wireless News recently spoke with Mark Baker, OpenStack product manager at Canonical, to discuss the importance of the platform for operators looking to deploy network functions virtualization, software-defined networking and cloud solutions, and how the market is evolving in terms of the continued development and deployment of OpenStack-based solutions.
Baker noted the firm sees the need for companies deploying OpenStack to adopt new models for managing their IT operations. This can include new “tooling” to deal with production-ready OpenStack private cloud projects.
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