Canonical, the distributor of Ubuntu, is driving telcos towards secure open-source adoption to build scalable, cost-efficient, and sovereign networks while reducing reliance on proprietary systems.
Canonical, the distributor of Ubuntu, says it is transforming the telecom industry’s infrastructure through the adoption of secure open source solutions.
“We have moved up the chain. Customers and partners are now using the Canonical stack for virtualisation and abstraction. There are now Kubernetes container and orchestration solutions,” said Naeem Maver, Vice President (Asia Pacific), Canonical Ubuntu, at the ETTelecom 5G Innovation Summit 2025.
Ubuntu has become the standard securely designed Linux for telco workloads running on servers and virtual machines. Canonical enables telcos to build their own cloud, reduce total cost of ownership, and leverage automation tools. Its solutions are widely tested on leading silicon for optimised resource use.
Key offerings include Canonical OpenStack for data centres, Microcloud for private and edge deployments, and Canonical Kubernetes for repeatable CNF deployments. Ubuntu Pro delivers compliance, automated security patches, auditing, and OS hardening.
The company has collaborated with AMD, Arm, Intel, and Nvidia to fine-tune solutions for 5G, edge, and AI/ML, while also working with telcos and IT firms for virtualisation and abstraction. Through its PartnerCloud NF Vendor Self-Certification Program, Canonical helps OEMs test and optimise VNFs and CNFs across production-grade environments.
Adoption numbers underscore its impact: Ubuntu powers 47% of OpenStack deployments, records nearly a billion Docker pulls annually, and is preferred by over 40% of IoT developers. In India, Ubuntu adoption is growing at 60% year-on-year, far outpacing the telecom open source market’s projected 20% growth between 2025 and 2030.
Maver added that open source adoption is also being driven by strategic necessity: “Our governments do not want us to be in a position where we are held ransom on the technology that we are deploying. Hence, open source becomes an easy answer for that.”
