Standards body ETSI formed a partnership with the Linux Foundation designed to bring open source and standards closer together, and drive synergies between them.

Said to build on an existing working relationship between the two organisations, the agreement will “enable faster information sharing and deployment of open networking technologies across the industry”.

In a statement, the partners said: “The formal link between communities of experts will encourage and enable collaborative activities, joint communication, promotion and events, as well as potential common initiatives related to interoperability and conformance testing.”

Areas of mutual interest span technologies including NFV, MANO (management and orchestration), AI and edge computing.

Arpit Joshipura, general manager of networking, edge and IoT at the Linux Foundation, said: “This agreement with ETSI signals it’s possible to reach a harmonisation of collaborative activities across open source and standards for the networking industry. Working together results in less fragmentation, faster deployments and more streamlined innovation”.

The Linux Foundation has recently announced a number of initiatives to boost its presence in the networking space.

Earlier this month it aligned with the O-RAN Alliance to work on open radio network technology, and it is also working with TM Forum.