Individual Member Profile
Mohammed Naser
Provide and Build New Public Cloud Services Based on OpenStack
Over the past 10 years, I’m happy to have watched the hosting industry transform and be part of the transformation process as it evolved from traditional physical hardware to cloud-native infrastructure, powered by OpenStack. Since the creation of VEXXHOST, I have had the chance to work with different sorts of customers, ranging from growing small businesses to helping architect solutions for large Fortune 500 companies, based on OpenStack. I've helped integrate other open infrastructure projects into our commercial offering.
By fostering OpenStack at it’s early days in 2011, it has helped improve the project and our service as a whole. I’ve been a contributor to the project since and I have contributed code to almost every release of OpenStack since then. I've also served as PTL for Puppet OpenStack, continue to serve as a PTL for OpenStack-Ansible and serve on the technical commitee, chairing tthe commitee for a term.
- VEXXHOST, Inc. - From 2006-07-19 (Current)
- Key to Stack City - Sydney 2017
I'm involved in the following OpenStack projects: Compute Service (Nova),Networking (Neutron),Block Storage (Cinder),Image Service (Glance),Puppet Modules for OpenStack (Puppet OpenStack)
- Silver Sponsor Pitch: VEXXHOST
- Effortless On-Premise Kubernetes: Cloud-Native Experience at a Fraction of the Cost (English)
- My Open Source Experience: Balancing Contributing Upstream with Daily Business Activities
- Powering Open Infrastructure: Embracing Innovation with VEXXHOST
- Challenges & Lessons from Operating OpenStack at Scale
- Magnum Episode IV - A New Hope: OpenStack, Kubernetes and ClusterAPI
- 5G Innovation Ecosystem Development in Canada
- The feature gap between the OpenStack Client (OSC) and python-*clients
- Open Infrastructure Keynotes: Day 2
- Bring your crazy idea
- How should we do billing for OpenStack deployments?
- Superuser Awards
- OpenStack-Ansible - Project Update
- Kubernetes Bedtime Stories: Taking the "scary" out of production workloads
- Deployment tools: define common capabilities
- Getting Operators' bugfixes upstreamed
- OpenStack for AI: decoding and transforming the world, from Tim Bell to Barack Obama
- OpenStack: Bare Metal Clouds & Beyond
- OpenStack Ansible - Project Update
- OpenStack Ansible - Project Onboarding
- Kubernetes in the Real World
- Deployment tools feedback
- Integration testing on an OpenStack public cloud
- How to Install Zuul and Configure Your First Jobs
Mohammed is a candidate in the January 2026 Board Elections .
Read the Q&A below and see if you want to Nominate Mohammed in this election.
My relationship with OpenInfra spans well over a decade, beginning as an operator, evolving into a contributor, and becoming a long-standing member of the community. As the founder and CEO of VEXXHOST, I have built a business—and helped many organizations build theirs—on top of OpenStack and the broader OpenInfra ecosystem. I’ve deployed, operated, upgraded, troubleshot, and scaled OpenStack clouds for organizations around the world, which has given me a deep understanding of what makes OpenInfra succeed in real-world environments.
OpenInfra’s success is personally important to me because I have witnessed firsthand how open source infrastructure technology empowers organizations of all sizes, accelerates innovation, and provides a viable, community-driven alternative to closed, proprietary cloud ecosystems. I believe strongly in the long-term sustainability of open infrastructure, and I am committed to ensuring that the community continues to thrive, innovate, and remain accessible.
My biggest contributions to date include:
- Operating OpenStack at scale in production for more than a decade, providing real-world feedback that has improved the stability and usability of the software.
- Contributing upstream work across areas such as Nova, Neutron, Ironic, and packaging, and consistently participating in design summits, PTGs, and user-focused sessions.
- Driving adoption through real deployments, helping enterprises, public clouds, and government organizations successfully adopt OpenStack.
- Investing heavily in community engagement, including hosting meetups, mentoring operators, contributing content to the OpenInfra community, and supporting Foundation initiatives like OpenInfra Days and working groups.
Through these contributions, I’ve helped bridge the gap between developers and operators—ensuring OpenStack continues to serve practical, production-grade needs.
I have extensive experience working with the OpenInfra community and collaborating with non-profit organizations that support open source technologies. I've served in leadership roles where I have been responsible for governance, strategic direction, financial oversight, and long-term planning. I have also worked closely with organizations that rely on community-driven decision making, consensus-building, and transparent governance.
In my role at VEXXHOST, I regularly collaborate with non-profits, universities, and research institutions using OpenStack. I understand the unique challenges these organizations face—balancing mission-driven goals with operational and financial realities.
This experience prepares me to:
- Interpret and advocate for the needs of operators, contributors, and end users alike, ensuring the ecosystem remains healthy and sustainable.\
- Contribute to strategic planning, including long-term technical direction, market positioning, and financial stewardship.
- Collaborate effectively with diverse stakeholders, from commercial vendors to public sector institutions to individual contributors.
- Maintain the open governance principles that are core to OpenInfra’s identity.
The Board plays a critical role in ensuring:
- Long-term sustainability—financial, operational, and community-driven.
- Strategic direction that aligns the community’s vision with market realities.
- Support for upstream contributors and operators, ensuring their voices help define priorities.
- Healthy collaboration across ecosystems, including open hardware, Kubernetes, confidential computing, and emerging technologies that intersect with OpenInfra.
- Strong relationships with members, sponsors, and partners, ensuring OpenInfra remains a vibrant, well-supported organization.
The Board should ultimately act as a steward of the community’s values while enabling the evolution of OpenInfra technologies in a changing infrastructure landscape.
In 2026, the Board’s top priority should be strengthening OpenInfra’s position as the leading open alternative for modern cloud infrastructure, with a focus on:
- Ensuring long-term sustainability of OpenStack, including attracting new contributors, building maintenance resiliency, and supporting users operating large-scale deployments.
- Expanding OpenInfra’s relevance in hybrid and edge architectures, where OpenStack, Kata Containers, and emerging projects can provide uniquely open and secure solutions.
- Increasing industry adoption, particularly among organizations seeking transparent, cost-effective, sovereign, or vendor-neutral cloud solutions.
- Deepening collaboration between operators and developers, ensuring real-world production needs continue to shape the technical roadmap.
- Supporting community growth, particularly in underrepresented regions and industries, to build the next generation of contributors and operators.
By focusing on these areas, the Board can secure the future of OpenInfra as a cornerstone of global cloud infrastructure and digital sovereignty.
Mohammed has already been nominated by:
- Julia Kreger
- Allison Randal
- Ghanshyam Maan
- Kurt Garloff
- Amy Marrich
- Jeremy Stanley
- ChangBo Guo
- Mark Collier
