Goals

TLTR: NeoNephos stewards open source building blocks for cloud and edge stacks so organizations can assemble end-to-end platforms without vendor lock-in. We focus on interoperability, portability, security, and neutral governance, with federation across providers and a common integration model to make independent platforms work together.

NeoNephos brings together open source projects that provide essential building blocks for modern cloud and edge stacks and the tooling around them. These components are designed to run in large data centers, in smaller on premises environments, and across the continuum in between. They span bare metal and AI infrastructure, runtime-engines, orchestration, service management, and the application layer, including lifecycle operations. They are designed for independence, openness, interoperability, portability, and security. NeoNephos projects support federation within a single provider and across multiple providers so that independent platforms can work together.

Our mission is to democratize and make these capabilities widely available that organizations can assemble end-to-end solutions using only open source software. We prioritize independence from proprietary components and from single vendor owned open source projects.

NeoNephos projects share a few common ideas. Neutral governance is central. Projects should be governed by the community that builds and maintains them, not by individual companies. Contribution and proven technical leadership matter more than company affiliation. On a technical level, most projects follow cloud native principles and, for example, incorporate the Kubernetes Resource Model (KRM), making KRM a common integration interface across the stack. They consistently adopt accepted standards like OpenTelemetry (for consistent observability across traces, metrics, and logs) and OpenID Connect (for authentication), but they also push forward emerging standards such as ReBAC, or SBoD, to name a few.

NeoNephos is intentionally a space for experimentation. We are not here to replicate what already exists, although we sometimes build compatible components to bridge legacy environments and ease migration. We explore new ideas, prove them in the open, and grow communities around approaches that demonstrate real value.

It is important to be clear about what NeoNephos is not. We do not offer a ready to use cloud or edge product. Instead, we provide modular building blocks and sensible defaults that can be added to existing heritage landscapes, or serve as a starting point for innovative, productive stacks. Some integrations are available by default, but there will always be gaps to fill for a complete, production grade solution. Those gaps are best closed by composing NeoNephos projects with mature open source software from the broader ecosystem, including projects hosted by foundations such as the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).

NeoNephos projects are intended for serious use in production and mission critical environments. They are built with joy, but not just for fun. Many projects originate in a commercial context and derive from internal or public code already used in products and services. They may power internal platforms or enable service providers to offer cloud and edge capabilities.
NeoNephos projects can also become the center of commercial activities, for example when an organization offers support for a single project or a combination of projects. We encourage these use cases. Real world adoption, feedback, and contributions such as bug fixes, features, documentation, and operational learnings raise the quality and reliability of the entire stack for everyone.

NeoNephos and some of its projects will define conformance criteria and provide conformance programs supported by automated testing frameworks. The aim is to help ensure that implementations and products derived from NeoNephos remain compatible and continue to fit into the ecosystem and thereby enable businesses to jointly extend market reach and circumvent fragmentation and lock-ins.

NeoNephos intentionally provides a collaborative, neutral design umbrella with conformance rules and valuable open source projects to catalyze a healthy market. As more enterprises base their solutions on widely accepted NeoNephos standards, more providers and integrators join in, increasing compatibility, choice, and ecosystem value for all participants.

What does all of this have to do with sovereignty?

NeoNephos promotes digital sovereignty by enabling high quality cloud and edge stacks without vendor lock-in, with transparent code, and with the freedom to deploy on your own infrastructure or with providers you choose. Openness, interoperability, portability, and security are core values that align with European priorities for resilient and trustworthy digital infrastructure. Federation between providers is a priority because Europe’s cloud landscape is diverse. Rather than a few dominant hyperscalers, we expect collaboration among many providers and meaningful choice for users. NeoNephos helps make that model practical.

What is the role of the EU, 8ra and IPCEI-CIS?

Several early NeoNephos projects began within work funded under the “Important Project of Common European Interest on Cloud Infrastructure and Services”, known as IPCEI-CIS. The foundation itself has not received direct funding from the European Union or its member states, and EU institutions do not influence our governance. We note this because the question arises from time to time.
While independent, we share the strategic aims of initiatives like IPCEI-CIS and 8ra, strengthening European capabilities through open, collaborative innovation and ensuring the work endures beyond individual programs.
NeoNephos also offers a neutral home for projects linked to current and future initiatives that advance sovereignty in this space, both inside and beyond IPCEI initiatives. For example, we welcome IPCEI-AI projects, which are based on IPCEI-CIS results and infrastructure, including those that are already part of NeoNephos.

Is the NeoNephos Foundation and its projects only for Europe?

Absolutely not. We welcome users and contributors from all over the world. Open source has no borders, and the challenges we address are global.