Paf ramps up commitment to open sourcing

Paf is stepping up its commitment to open sourcing after sponsoring the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the world’s largest volunteer open source community.

Founded in 1999, ASF has more than 480,000 people involved in its community with more than $22bn worth of software products made available publicly to date.

Open sourcing allows for software code to be made publicly available and is used by tech giants including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon.

In December 2020, the Åland-based operator praised its own transition to open source technology, with group CTO Francois Maugis stating: “When you open source your projects you are putting your name on the tech radar. Developers in the world will know who you are and what you do, and the level of excellence that you produce.”

Speaking on the new partnership with the ASF, Paf tech lead Rami Rantala said the decision was based on giving back to the open source community.

He said: “Since we use open source software to build Paf’s business, the only right thing is that we also do our best to give something back to society.

“You can give something back to the open source community by contributing in different ways. For us at Paf, it is possible to use working hours to contribute to the open source projects, now that there was also an opportunity to give something back through a sponsorship, that is exactly what we have done,” he added.