OpenStack 2025.2, codenamed Flamingo, is now officially released. Alongside this launch, the OpenInfra community reports that OpenStack deployments have surpassed 55 million cores worldwide—a signal that the open infrastructure project still holds serious footing in cloud-native, enterprise deployments. The update emphasizes modernization, security, and a more nimble release cadence for operators.

Modernizing at Scale

Flamingo is the 32nd iteration of OpenStack and marks an inflection point in the project’s technical evolution. Over six months, nearly 8,000 changes were merged by close to 480 contributors from major organizations such as Ericsson, NVIDIA, SAP, and Rackspace.

One of the most important shifts is structural: the community is steadily removing its reliance on Eventlet (a cooperative concurrency library for Python) and migrating toward more modern asynchronous frameworks. In this cycle, core components like Ironic, Mistral, Barbican, and Heat have completed migrations, while Nova and Neutron made significant progress.

This effort addresses longstanding technical debt and aims to position OpenStack for sustainable growth over the next decade.

On the security front, Flamingo pushes further into confidential computing and access control enhancements. Key features include:

• Support for AMD SEV-ES and one-time-use passthrough devices in Nova
• Credential rotation for Kubernetes clusters via Magnum
• Bring-your-own-encryption keys in Manila
• QR-code onboarding for two-factor auth setup via Horizon

By bundling these features, the release aligns OpenStack more closely with emerging demands in AI/ML, HPC, and privacy-sensitive workloads.

A New Tempo for Operators

Flamingo does not follow the traditional “SLURP” cycle (the stable, long-term release cadence). Instead, it is a six-month “non-SLURP” release, tailored for operators who want to adopt updates faster. The next annual SLURP release, dubbed Gazpacho (2026.1), is set for April 2026.

Internally, the release schedule was coordinated over 26 weeks, with virtual planning sessions (PTG) held in April 2025.

This dual cadence—mixing fast and stable tracks—gives enterprise users a choice: faster innovation or longer-term stability.

Why Enterprises and Developers Should Care

The headline figure of 55 million cores in production underlines that OpenStack remains a significant player, especially for organizations looking to avoid vendor lock-in or build hybrid infrastructure. Notably, deployment growth is no longer just in large-scale operators—small and medium businesses are adopting more aggressively.

From a developer and architect’s standpoint, the shift away from Eventlet into modern async libraries translates into better concurrency models, improved observability, and easier integration with cloud-native tooling. For DevOps and infrastructure teams, support for credential rotation, bring-your-own encryption, and secure enclaves all map to tighter security postures.

When comparing alternatives, OpenStack now sits more squarely in competition with Kubernetes-native infrastructure (for example, via projects like KubeVirt or ConfTest) or commercial private cloud stacks. However, its deep integration with bare metal, broad ecosystem, and path toward cleaner internals (free of legacy dependencies) give it a distinctive edge in environments that demand fine-grained control.

Looking Ahead

Flamingo represents more than just a version bump—it’s a statement about how OpenStack intends to remain relevant in an era dominated by cloud-native, container-first thinking. The migration off Eventlet, the flexible release model, and expanded security features are all steps toward building infrastructure that can support workloads like AI/ML, edge, and HPC.

Going forward, enterprises and developers should watch how widely early adopters embrace Flamingo, whether the non-SLURP cadence proves viable at scale, and how upcoming Gazpacho builds build on these foundations. If OpenStack can continue to balance innovation with stability, it may avoid the fate of other legacy infrastructure platforms and stay a meaningful option for cloud-native enterprises.