Open Source

Open Source for future networks - collaboration, innovation, agility

Championing the Open Source ecosystem

Ericsson is deeply committed to the Open Source ecosystem, actively contributing to and collaborating with Open Source communities to jointly drive technology innovation. By engaging in projects spanning cloud infrastructure, automation, AI/ML, and next-generation connectivity, Ericsson helps shape industry standards, accelerates technology development, and delivers value to customers and the broader ecosystem.

#OpenSource

Collaboration, innovation, and agility through Open Source software

Ericsson embraces Open Source Software as a fundamental means for driving open innovation, fostering industry alignment, and conducting collaborative software development. Open Source Software provides a rich platform underlying most of today’s complex software systems and applications.

Originating from operating systems, Open Source Software has gained momentum and now provides building blocks for all layers of the software stack, starting at the infrastructure layer, including virtualization and container platforms, all the way to the application layer, comprising databases, AI/ML frameworks, and development tooling, such as compilers, IDEs and CI/CD frameworks.

Additionally, Open Source has evolved from providing functional software building blocks to a method for creating ecosystems and aligning the industry around common APIs. Thus, Open Source Software has become a force on par with and complementary to standardization.

Colleagues collaborating in a team meeting

Colleagues discussing 5G industry project using a holographic model of a digital twin

Ericsson’s Open Source engagement

Ericsson is deeply involved in many Open Source projects, holding leadership positions among project maintainers as well as on technical councils, committees and boards. Ericsson developers are encouraged to get involved in Open Source projects and to collaboratively work with project maintainers to contribute new functionality, fix bugs, and support improving the overall quality and maturity of projects.

Over time, Ericsson has donated new projects as Open Source Software, Erlang among the most notable, but OpenwebRTC, Eclipse Titan, and CodeChecker are other examples.

Ericsson is a proud member and supporter of several Open Source foundations and organizations, such as the Linux Foundation, the Open Infrastructure Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation.

Ericsson's Open Source engagement is built on these guiding principles:

Open innovation

Ericsson believes in the power of collaboration and open innovation embodied by open collaborative software development. Open collaborative software development in the form of Free and Open Source Software results in rapid innovation, which creates immense value for the telco industry.

Strategy

Ericsson makes fact-based, educated decisions so that the use of Open Source Software and our contributions to it are aligned and support Ericsson’s business strategy.

Community engagement

Ericsson encourages and provides our employees with the necessary time and resources to engage in relevant Open Source projects. Ericsson takes the lead in selected strategic Open Source projects and acts as a responsible and respected collaborator in the Open Source Software ecosystem.

Quality

Ericsson ensures the Open Source Software we use continuously meets our rigorous standards of performance, resilience, security, and scale by carefully selecting and contributing to the relevant Open Source projects.

Learning

Ericsson fosters continuous employee development by empowering participation in relevant Open Source initiatives.

IPR and license compliance

Ericsson respects intellectual property. We observe and comply with Open Source license terms and conditions when we use Open Source.

Open Source foundations and organizations constitute an important pillar of today’s Open Source ecosystem. They facilitate the collaborative development of Open Source Software by establishing a neutral governance model, program management, and community building. Ericsson is a proud member and supporter of many Open Source organizations, including but not limited to the following: