Amazon is transferring its OpenSearch platform to the Linux Foundation’s new OpenSearch Software Foundation. By handing a third-party the open-source project it has developed internally since 2021, Amazon hopes to accelerate collaboration in data-driven search and analytics, an area of focus due to the proliferation of model training. Not to be confused with commercial search (Google, Bing), engines like OpenSearch are geared toward enterprise and academia. Because it is licensed under Apache 2.0, OpenSearch is a viable starting point for organizations that customize internal platforms for searching, monitoring and analyzing large volumes of data.

Since Amazon launched OpenSearch the software has logged more than 700 million downloads,” the Linux Foundation explains in an announcement that credits AWS with attracting “participation from thousands of contributors and more than 200 project maintainers.”

Under the new arrangement, Amazon will continue to offer its subscription-based OpenSearch Service as “a fully managed service, providing OpenSearch and OpenSearch Dashboards at service-provided endpoints” with the full suite of existing features, with no licensing or cost changes,” according to an AWS Big Data Blog post.

The new OpenSearch Software Foundation launches with new support, including premier members AWS, SAP and Uber, and general members Atlassian, Canonical, DigitalOcean and NetApp.

A related AWS Open Source Blog post emphasizes Amazon’s commitment to stay involved with the platform’s “next chapter” under Linux.

OpenSearch Project leaders write that under AWS, the OpenSearch initiative has garnered 122 GitHub repositories and expanded its OpenSearchCon “from humble beginnings in a Seattle soundstage to an international series with conferences in the U.S., Europe, and India.”

Related:
AWS Brings OpenSearch Under the Linux Foundation Umbrella, TechCrunch, 9/16/24