+++
title = "The OpenCloud Project"
description = "A sovereign, peer-to-peer distributed cloud fabric for sharing infrastructure and resources across trusted partners."
+++

Each participant can selectively share:

- **Data**
- **Algorithms**
- **Compute power**
- **Storage**
- **Pre-built workflows and services**

with other OpenCloud peers, under rules they fully control.

## What OpenCloud Enables

With OpenCloud, organizations can:

- Build **cross-organization workflows** that run across multiple infrastructures
- **Monetize resources** (share, sell, or rent capacity and services)
- Create **private communities of peers** for sensitive or strategic projects
- Maintain full **control over data location and access policies**
- Track **resource consumption and billing** transparently between partners

## Optimization on Your Own Terms

Distributed execution in OpenCloud is not tied to a single global policy.  
Each instance can optimize workflows for its own objectives:

- **Maximal sovereignty** – prioritize data locality, compliance, and strategic autonomy  
- **Accelerated computation** – prioritize time-to-result and performance  
- **Cost minimization** – route workloads based on cost constraints  
- **Optimized infrastructure investments** – improve utilization of existing assets

## Key Concepts

OpenCloud instances expose a set of integrated services:

- **Resource Catalog** – index and describe data, algorithms, compute units, storage, and workflows
- **Workspace Management** – organize resources of interest into project-oriented workspaces
- **Workflow Editor** – build distributed workflows and permanent services from catalog elements
- **Collaborative Areas** – define rules and constraints for shared workspaces and workflows
- **Peer Management** – configure trust relationships and access rights between peers and groups

These services together create a **cooperation framework** that covers both **technical** and **organizational/legal** aspects of distributed projects.

## Who Is OpenCloud For?

OpenCloud targets organizations that:

- Need to collaborate on **data- and compute-intensive projects**  
- Care about **sovereignty, compliance, and resilience**  
- Want to avoid **vendor lock-in** and opaque proprietary platforms  
- Intend to run workloads **from datacenter to edge** and possibly on **public cloud** when appropriate

[Discover the Architecture →](/project/architecture)  
[Explore Features and Benefits →](/project/features)