What OpenFabrics Alliance does

OpenFabrics Alliance (OFA) is a vendor-neutral, open-source industry consortium founded in 2004 that develops, maintains, and distributes the core software stack for high-performance fabric technologies including InfiniBand, RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), iWARP, and increasingly UltraEthernet. Its core deliverables are the OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) for Linux, the libfabric user-space library (v2.4.0 released in 2025), the Sunfish fabric management framework (launched 2024, aligned with SNIA Swordfish and DMTF Redfish), and the Fabric Software Development Platform (FSDP) used for continuous integration and interoperability testing with partners such as UNH IOL.

The alliance is governed and staffed through its member organizations, which include silicon vendors (NVIDIA/Mellanox, Intel, Cornelis Networks), system OEMs (HPE, IBM, Huawei), a major Linux distributor (Red Hat), U.S. national laboratories (LLNL, SNL, ANL, NASA), and partner standards bodies (InfiniBand Trade Association, SNIA, DMTF, RapidIO). It operates through working groups, mailing lists, developer workshops, and webinars, with member contributions forming the primary engineering input to its codebases.

OFA's revenue model is membership-based, with member dues as the principal funding stream; it does not raise venture or external funding and does not sell commercial licenses. Go-to-market is community-led — adoption is driven by OFED's inclusion in downstream Linux distributions and by the network effects of multi-vendor participation — rather than by direct sales or marketing.

Name

OpenFabrics Alliance

Legal name

OpenFabrics Alliance

Website

https://openfabrics.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OpenFabrics Alliance is a vendor-neutral open-source industry consortium, founded in 2004, that maintains the OFED, libfabric, and Sunfish software stack for high-performance InfiniBand, RoCE, iWARP, and UltraEthernet fabrics, serving HPC and national-laboratory end users through a membership-funded, community-led model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open Source High-Performance Fabric Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design Services (541512), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Testing Laboratories and Services (54138)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Fabric & High-Performance Networking (InfiniBand/RoCE) (HDABAFAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Connector/Adapter Frameworks & Integration Runtimes (HDAEACAJ)

Keywords

• Open source fabric software
• High-performance networking
• InfiniBand software
• RDMA networking
• Fabric management framework

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership dues: OFA operates as a membership-based industry alliance. Companies and organizations join as members, likely paying membership dues to support the alliance's open source fabric development activities, working group operations, and collaborative programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OpenFabrics Alliance develops and maintains vendor-neutral, open source software for high-performance fabric technologies, including the libfabric user-space library (OpenFabrics Interfaces), the Sunfish fabric management framework (formerly OFMF), and the OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) for Linux, which supplies drivers and middleware for InfiniBand, RoCE, and iWARP. The alliance also operates the Fabric Software Development Platform for CI testing and an interoperability certification program with the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab.

Product overview

OpenFabrics Alliance (OFA) is a vendor-neutral industry consortium that develops and supports open source software for high-performance fabric technologies. The organization's product portfolio centers on three core components: OpenFabrics Interfaces (OFI) providing the libfabric library for user-space fabric access; Sunfish (formerly OpenFabrics Management Framework) delivering fabric management capabilities; and OFED for Linux supplying enterprise-grade drivers and middleware. These products work together as an integrated ecosystem - libfabric provides low-level fabric interfaces, OFED delivers the underlying driver stack for InfiniBand/RoCE/iWARP, and Sunfish offers management and orchestration services. OFA also provides the Fabric Software Development Platform for CI testing and the Advanced Networks Software suite encompassing these interconnected components.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sunfish: An extensible, open source fabric management framework developed by the OFA for comprehensive management of servers, storage and fabrics. Formerly known as OpenFabrics Management Framework (OFMF).

Products and services

• OpenFabrics Interfaces (OFI) / libfabric An extensible open source framework and user-space fabric communication library providing portable access to high-performance fabric services aligned with upper layer protocol (ULP) and application needs, supporting InfiniBand, RoCE, and iWARP.
• Sunfish (formerly OpenFabrics Management Framework / OFMF) An extensible, open source fabric management framework for comprehensive management of servers, storage and fabrics, aligned with SNIA Swordfish and DMTF Redfish standards.
• OFED for Linux (OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution) Vendor-independent open source software distribution providing OpenFabrics fabric software (drivers, kernel modules, middleware) for Linux, qualified and tested for enterprise Linux applications across InfiniBand, RoCE, and iWARP.
• Fabric Software Development Platform (FSDP) A cluster and accompanying software infrastructure providing continuous integration testing for the Linux open source community, on-demand testing for OFA members, and logo testing for hardware vendors and distros.
• Advanced Networks Software Suite Collection of OFA software projects including OFI (libfabric), Sunfish (OFMF), OFED for Linux, and related tools for developing and deploying advanced network fabric technologies.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHPE is a member company of OpenFabrics Alliance, participating in collaborative development of advanced fabric technologies through OFA working groups and open source software projects.
• HuaweicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHuawei participates as a member company in OFA, contributing to and benefiting from the alliance's open source fabric software development ecosystem.
• IBMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIBM is a member company of OFA, contributing to open source fabric software development through working group participation.
• IntelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIntel is a member company of OFA and contributes to open source fabric interface development, particularly through the OpenFabrics Interfaces Working Group (OFIWG).
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLLNL, a US Department of Energy national laboratory, is a member of OFA and participates in the advanced networks ecosystem, leveraging high-performance fabric technologies for scientific computing.
• NVIDIA / MellanoxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMellanox (now part of NVIDIA) is a member company of OFA and has been an active contributor to openFabrics software, including OFED and fabric management frameworks.
• Red HatcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRed Hat is a member company of OFA, contributing to open source fabric software development and distribution through the Linux ecosystem.
• Sandia National Laboratories (SNL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSNL, a US Department of Energy national laboratory, is a member of OFA and participates in advanced networks software development for high-performance computing environments.
• Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerANL, a US Department of Energy national laboratory, is a member of OFA and contributes to open source fabric software development for scientific and high-performance computing.
• Cornelis NetworkscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCornelis Networks is a member company of OFA, participating in the development of advanced fabric technologies.
• NASAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA is a member company of OFA, leveraging advanced high-performance fabric technologies for space and scientific computing applications.
• InfiniBand Trade AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInfiniBand Trade Association maintains InfiniBand and RoCE specifications. OFA's Interoperability Working Group (IWG) is responsible for interoperability testing on InfiniBand, iWARP and RoCE products based on OFA Software.
• University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab (UNH IOL)coreTechnology or IntegrationUNH IOL partners with OFA's Interoperability Working Group to conduct interoperability testing for InfiniBand, iWARP, and RoCE products based on OFA Software. Products that pass earn the OFA Interoperability Trademark.
• RapidIOminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRapidIO is listed as a member company of OFA, representing an alternative high-performance interconnect technology.
• SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association)coreTechnology or IntegrationSNIA is an Industry Alliance Partner of OFA. OFA Sunfish is aligned with SNIA Swordfish standards for distributed storage management. OFA presented Sunfish at the SNIA Developer Conference on advancing distributed storage with SNIA Swordfish.
• DMTF (Distributed Management Task Force)coreTechnology or IntegrationDMTF is an Industry Alliance Partner of OFA. Sunfish is aligned with DMTF Redfish standards for scalable platform management, enabling fabric management interoperability with Redfish-managed platforms.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC5J3W4UcXFaYLTClJNLJ64g
• Xx.com/OpenFabrics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/open-door-coaching

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenFabrics Alliance