The Linux Foundation is embarking on a grand new project called “The Civil Infrastructure Platform” (CIP). In a nutshell, it’s an open-source framework that serves as the foundation needed for governments to provide essential services for civil infrastructure and economic development.

Of course, that explanation doesn’t really define what an actual Civil Infrastructure Platform really is, so the Linux Foundation has helpfully tried to answer our questions in a newly published FAQ.

According to that, a Civil Infrastructure Platform refers to a technical system that’s “responsible for supervision, control, and management of infrastructure supporting human activities, including, for example, electric power generation and energy distribution, oil and gas, water and wastewater, healthcare, communications, transportation, and community management.”

The Linux Foundation calls such systems “society’s lifelines” because they help to ensure that essential services can be delivered and that shelter is provided, and they also support economic development and social interactions – all of which, we’re sure you’ll agree, are essential for the functioning of modern society.

Surprisingly, considering that most people don’t know what a Civil Infrastructure Platform is, it’s actually a huge, enormous, massively big business – according to a 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, the global infrastructure market demand topped out at $4 trillion a year, and will grow to a stunning $9 trillion by 2025, thanks to emerging market growth. Much of this growth will be seen in large countries such as Brazil, China and Japan, all of which are seeing accelerated growth rates in their civil infrastructure projects.

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin explained that the idea to create an open-source platform for such projects makes sense considering the sheer amount of work involved – by collaborating, there’ll be no wasted time developing individual platforms for each country, no duplication of effort. Instead, countries can enjoy the benefits of a unified ecosystem instead of fragmentation and the interoperability issues it always brings.

“Linux and open source software can accelerate innovation, enable interoperability, and transform technology and business economics for an industry. The Civil Infrastructure Platform is a great example of this opportunity,” Zemlin said. “Through collaboration and open-source development, developers will be able to build the common framework that will support some of society’s most important functions for decades to come.”

The CIP’s immediate plan will be to establish what it calls a “base layer” of industrial software based on the Linux kernel, and through collaboration with other open-source projects, the Linux Foundation said. Infrastructure engineers will then be able to use this base layer to build software for specific purposes that meet the requirements for infrastructure safety, security, and reliability. The idea is that all industries will collaborate on the project in order to address the following challenges faced in civil infrastructure building:

• Fill the gaps: Between existing open-source software and industrial and infrastructure requirements, addressing technical needs such as real-time and functional safety support, as well as long-term availability and compatibility and security.
• Speed: As an open-source solution, CIP enables engineers to save time building foundational elements shared across civil infrastructure projects both small and large.
• Cost: By developing CIP as an open-source project, the development costs are shared and controlled by thousands of developers.
• Interoperability: CIP provides an open framework that integrates existing standards to support plug and play-based system designs.
• Reliability: Based on Linux, CIP will provide a robust software base for system designs.
• Security and safety: CIP will provide a software foundation that enables secure and safe delivery of critical services like power, gas, and water, even in times of disaster.
• Sustainability: The initial focus of CIP will help establish a long-term maintenance infrastructure for selected open source components, accounting for product life cycles of 10-60 years. To achieve this, CIP members will collaborate on agreed-upon areas required to meet civil infrastructure systems’ requirements.

These are major challenges of course, and will no doubt be ongoing for several years to come. Yet the Linux Foundation has secured the backing of a number of big companies who’re willing to pitch in, including Hitachi Ltd., Siemens AG, and Toshiba Corp.

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