The Linux Foundation has launched the Open Centralized Unit Distributed Unit, or OCUDU, Ecosystem Foundation to drive open source artificial intelligence-radio access network, or AI-RAN, innovation and accelerate 5G and early AI-native 6G deployments.
As AI continues to shape the capabilities of next-generation 5G and 6G networks, government and industry leaders will gather to explore its evolving role in federal missions. Sign up now to join the conversation at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 18.
LF said Sunday the foundation will operate as an open collaboration hub focused on developing, scaling and sustaining open source software for the centralized unit and distributed unit layers of Open RAN architectures while establishing a foundational reference platform that incorporates AI-based algorithms to support software-defined RAN deployments.
Arpit Joshipura, general manager of networking, edge and IoT at the Linux Foundation, said the effort aligns global stakeholders under an open, trusted and secure framework to power the next decade of wireless innovation.
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What Are the Objectives of the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation?
The OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation seeks to establish a public-private ecosystem to develop and sustain an open source CU and DU software stack within Open RAN. It will host the OCUDU project and related initiatives under a collaborative governance model while promoting global coordination across RAN domains and end-to-end platforms. The foundation also plans to support documentation, testing, integration and other resources to facilitate development, deployment and adoption of the open source project.
OCUDU originated from an investment by the National Spectrum Consortium and the Pentagon’s FutureG Office, which awarded funding to DeepSig and Software Radio Systems to develop the initial software stack for 5G, 6G and AI-RAN in collaboration with the Linux Foundation.
Who Are the Industry Members of the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation?
The founding industry leaders are AMD, AT&T, DeepSig, Ericsson, Nokia, NVIDIA, SoftBank, SRS and Verizon.
The 21 general industry members are:
- 1Finity
- Aalyria
- Abside Networks
- Airspan
- Altio Labs
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- Cirrus360
- Cisco
- Cohere Technologies
- ISCO International
- JMA Wireless
- Keysight Technologies
- Marvell
- ORAN Development Company
- Radisys
- Raycom Wireless
- Red Hat
- Sempre.ai
- Skylark Wireless
- T-Mobile
- Viavi
Chris Christou, senior vice president of edge and NextG at Booz Allen’s chief technology office, commented on the company’s participation in the OCUDU Ecosystem Foundation in a LinkedIn post.
“The Linux Foundation initiative will drive the future of open source AI-native 5G/6G RAN software. We’re proud to collaborate across industries to advance innovation, security and scalability, shaping a more connected future,” he added.
Who Are the Participating Universities & Research Institutions?
- Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation
- Idaho National Laboratory
- Iowa State University of Science and Technology
- MITRE
- Mississippi State University
- North Carolina State University
- Northeastern University
- Rice University
- SRI International
- Texas A&M University
- UC San Diego
- UNH Interoperability Labs
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Texas at San Antonio
- University of Utah
- VT Research Contracting Services
The foundation said university participation will strengthen the research-to-production pipeline, support applied experimentation and validation in real-world environments, and help develop the next generation of open source RAN engineers. Research areas include next-generation PHY and MAC development, AI-driven RAN optimization, security and resilience, testing methodologies and energy efficiency.
What Did Pentagon FutureG Director Thomas Rondeau Say About the Foundation?
Thomas Rondeau, principal director of the Pentagon’s FutureG Office and a 2026 Wash100 awardee, said the initiative brings the open source model to a critical layer of future wireless infrastructure.
“By shifting the maintenance of these common components to a collaborative, open-source project, under neutral governance at the Linux Foundation, we enable our industry partners to focus their resources on the innovative and monetizable technologies that are most effective for the nation,” Rondeau said. “We are building a foundation that enables shared success and accelerates progress for the entire ecosystem. We are looking forward to seeing this approach provide a vital platform for strengthening our relationships and collaboration with our allies and international partners.”
DefenseScoop reported that the Pentagon plans to publish the initial version of the OCUDU open source software stack on GitHub in April, making the codebase publicly accessible to military and commercial developers to support innovation in current 5G and emerging 6G networks.
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