The Linux Foundation has launched the OpenSharing Project, an open and vendor-neutral protocol for exchanging AI assets and data between organizations. Contributed by Databricks, OpenSharing builds on Delta Sharing and extends it to agentic AI, AI models, and unstructured data.
The project offers a unified framework for sharing agent skills, AI models, and unstructured data across different platforms. OpenSharing is a direct evolution of Delta Sharing, the protocol Databricks launched in 2021. While Delta Sharing focused on exchanging structured data, OpenSharing targets the entire AI stack.
An end to silos and proprietary marketplaces
As organizations increasingly adopt agentic AI, the lack of a standard exchange protocol has proven to be a stumbling block. Companies were reliant on point-to-point integrations or proprietary marketplaces. OpenSharing ends this by enabling cross-organizational sharing via a single open protocol, without dependence on specific cloud platforms.
“OpenSharing addresses a critical need for a common, vendor-neutral framework that enables organizations to exchange AI assets securely and interoperably across platforms and ecosystems,” says Jim Zemlin, CEO of the Linux Foundation. “By bringing this technology to the Linux Foundation, we can foster open collaboration, broad industry participation, and the shared governance needed to accelerate AI innovation at scale.”
Databricks co-founder and CTO Matei Zaharia highlights the broader ambition. “Delta Sharing proved the industry would choose open over locked-in,” he states. “OpenSharing extends that principle to the full AI stack, while expanding the cross-platform ecosystem to Iceberg recipients and on-premises providers. The agentic era deserves an open foundation, and OpenSharing delivers it.”
Extensive interoperability with Apache Iceberg
A key technical aspect is support for multiple open table formats. OpenSharing builds on the existing Delta Sharing connectors and adds support for Iceberg IRC clients. This significantly expands the scope and reduces fragmentation in the data platform space. On-premises environments are also supported, allowing organizations outside the public cloud to share AI assets as well.
The OpenSharing Project is hosted by the Linux Foundation, which also manages the governance model for Delta Sharing within the Delta Lake ecosystem. Databricks donated Delta Sharing to the Linux Foundation as an open standard in 2021. With OpenSharing, Databricks is repeating that pattern for the AI era, with a community-driven governance structure that enables broad industry participation.
Tip: SAS analytics is becoming increasingly available on Snowflake, Databricks, and Fabric