Add new blogs for new PMC (Kiran) & Committer (Manoj) (#429) and update who.mdx

Author: vishesh92

blog/2026-05-13-kiran-new-pmc/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: 'Apache CloudStack Welcomes Kiran Chavala as a PMC Member'
+tags: [community, news]
+authors: [antonia]
+slug: new-pmc-kiran
+---
+
+![](kiran.png "Blog Header Image")
+
+[Kiran Chavala](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiranchavala) is the newest PMC
+member of the Apache CloudStack Project. As a QA Engineer at ShapeBlue, Kiran
+brings over a decade of experience in cloud and IaaS technologies, along with a
+strong track record of contributions across testing, feature validation,
+observability, and community support.
+
+In this interview, Kiran shares his journey with Apache CloudStack, his
+perspective on the value of open-source collaboration, and the projects he’s
+been working on — from Terraform plugin releases to Kubernetes integration and
+monitoring tools. He also discusses how global community collaboration drives
+innovation and outlines his vision for the future of CloudStack, including
+sovereign cloud initiatives, AI-ready infrastructure, and continued growth
+driven by flexibility and vendor independence.
+
+<!-- truncate -->
+
+##### Introduce yourself in a few words and what your job role/company is?
+
+I’m Kiran Chavala, a QA Engineer at ShapeBlue with over a decade of experience
+in cloud and IaaS technologies. I work extensively with Apache CloudStack, where
+my role involves testing new features, identifying bugs and security-related
+issues, and ensuring overall product quality before releases. I also contribute
+to improving user experience, documentation, and tooling within the CloudStack
+ecosystem, while actively supporting users and community members.
+
+##### What do you think are the benefits of utilising open-source projects, like CloudStack?
+
+Open-source projects like Apache CloudStack provide unmatched flexibility,
+transparency, and innovation. Organisations can avoid vendor lock-in and tailor
+solutions to their specific needs while benefiting from a globally distributed
+community of contributors continuously improving the platform.
+
+From my experience, open-source fosters faster innovation cycles—features evolve
+through real-world feedback, and issues are quickly identified and resolved. It
+also creates opportunities for collaboration across organisations, enabling
+knowledge sharing and building highly scalable, production-grade cloud
+environments without licensing constraints.
+
+##### How do you collaborate with the community distributed around the world?
+
+Collaboration in open source is inherently global, and I engage with the
+CloudStack community through multiple channels. This includes participating in
+mailing list requests, contributing to GitHub pull requests, and helping users
+troubleshoot issues.
+
+I also share knowledge through blogs, talks, and documentation, which helps
+onboard new users and contributors. Being part of a distributed community means
+working asynchronously, respecting different time zones, and communicating
+clearly through well-documented discussions and code contributions. This
+collaborative model ensures that ideas and improvements come from diverse
+perspectives.
+
+##### What are some key projects and developments you have worked on and are currently working on?
+
+I’ve contributed to Apache CloudStack across several areas, including UI
+improvements, API validation, and feature validation. My work involves raising
+issues and discussions in the CloudStack Community.
+
+I’m also actively working with the CloudStack Plugin and tooling ecosystem,
+including:
+* Served as Release Manager for the Terraform plugin of CloudStack
+* Observability using Prometheus and Grafana
+* Kubernetes integration with CloudStack
+* Monitoring and benchmarking tools for cloud environments
+
+Additionally, I regularly experiment with new open-source technologies and share
+my learnings through blogs and community discussions.
+
+##### How do you think the CloudStack project will continue to grow over the next five years?
+
+Apache CloudStack is well-positioned for steady, meaningful growth over the next
+five years, especially as organisations increasingly prioritise control,
+compliance, and flexibility in their infrastructure.
+
+One of the biggest drivers will be the rise of sovereign cloud initiatives, in
+which governments and enterprises seek full ownership of their data,
+infrastructure, and security posture. CloudStack’s open-source nature, combined
+with its mature multi-tenancy and networking capabilities, makes it an ideal
+platform for building sovereign and regionally compliant cloud environments
+without relying on hyperscalers.
+
+Vendor lock-in becomes critical. CloudStack’s open-source model enables
+organisations to retain complete control over their stack, choose their own
+hardware and integrations, and build cloud environments that align with regional
+and regulatory requirements—without being tied to a single vendor ecosystem.
+
+Another important area is AI and data-intensive workloads. The infrastructure
+requirements for AI/ML—such as GPU orchestration, scalable storage, and
+high-performance networking—align well with CloudStack’s strengths. With
+continued enhancements around GPU support, automation, and integration,
+CloudStack can serve as a strong foundation for private AI clouds and research
+environments.

blog/2026-05-13-kiran-new-pmc/kiran.png

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Apache CloudStack Welcomes Manoj Kumar as a Committer to the Project"
+tags: [community, news]
+authors: [antonia]
+slug: new-commiter-manoj
+---
+
+![](manoj.png "Blog Header Image")
+
+[Manoj Kumar](https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoj-kumar-66b627a/) is now a
+Committer to the Apache CloudStack project. In this interview, he shares his
+journey as a software engineer at ShapeBlue and his experience contributing to
+Apache CloudStack. He discusses some of his key contributions to the project,
+including platform improvements, automation features, and the CloudStack
+One-line Installer, while also highlighting the importance of community
+collaboration and consistent contribution.
+
+Manoj also reflects on major developments in CloudStack over the past two years,
+such as GPU support and VMware-to-KVM migration, and shares his thoughts on
+future opportunities around observability, infrastructure integrations, and
+AI-focused workloads.
+
+<!-- truncate -->
+
+##### Introduce yourself in a few words and what your current job role is?
+
+I’m Manoj Kumar, a Senior Software Engineer at ShapeBlue. I’ve been in software
+engineering for around 14 years, working across different domains—from digital
+marketing systems to large data platforms at Oracle and Master Data Management
+solutions.
+
+At ShapeBlue, I work on Apache CloudStack. My day-to-day work involves building
+new features, fixing issues, writing documentation, and reviewing PRs. It’s a
+mix of development and community collaboration.
+
+##### What are some of your key contributions to the Apache CloudStack project?
+
+I’ve worked on a range of features across backend, UI, automation, and platform
+improvements:
+
+* CloudStack One-line Installer: GitHub Repository
+* Instance Lease feature
+* Making KVM domains persistent when unmanaged from CloudStack
+* Enforcing password changes after admin reset (root/domain users)
+* Auto-populating templates during zone deployment
+
+Recently, I’ve also started actively participating in PR reviews and
+release-related activities. That’s been a great learning experience and has
+helped me understand the project more deeply.
+
+##### What would your advice be to people interested in the CloudStack project, but not sure how to get involved?
+
+My advice is simple—start small and stay consistent.
+
+There are many ways to contribute beyond just code:
+
+* Join the community and follow discussions to understand how things work
+* Try installing and using CloudStack (the one-line installer helps a lot)
+* Documentation is a great starting point and very impactful
+* Pick an area you’re comfortable with—UI, backend, database, scripts, etc.
+* Report issues and try fixing them when possible
+* Ask questions and share your experiments with the community
+* Be patient; contributions grow over time with consistency
+
+##### What do you think are some of the standout features introduced in the last two years?
+
+A few things stand out for me.
+GPU support is a major addition, especially with growing AI/ML workloads. The
+extension framework is another important improvement that makes CloudStack
+easier to extend in a clean way.
+
+There has also been solid progress on VMware-to-KVM migration, helping users
+move toward open infrastructure. Improvements in backup and recovery have also
+strengthened day-to-day operational reliability.
+
+##### What are some features that have not been developed yet and are not in the current roadmap that you would like to see?
+
+From my perspective, there are a few interesting areas for future improvement.
+
+Better observability and operability would go a long way—especially for
+large-scale environments, where debugging and visibility can be challenging.
+
+Deeper storage and networking integrations would also be valuable as
+infrastructures become more heterogeneous.
+
+And finally, I think there is a big opportunity in the AI infrastructure
+space—making CloudStack more aligned with GPU-heavy, high-performance, modern
+data center workloads.

blog/2026-05-13-manoj-new-committer/index.md

@@ -20,9 +20,9 @@ The following data is subject to change. The up-to-date information can be found
 
 - Abhishek Kumar  (shwstppr)
 - Alena Prokharchyk  (alena1108)
+- Alexandre Mattioli  (alexandremattioli)
 - Alex Huang  (ahuang)
 - Alex Karasulu  (akarasulu)
-- Alexandre Mattioli  (alexandremattioli)
 - Andrija Panic  (andrijapanic)
 - Animesh  (animesh)
 - Boris Schrijver  (boris)
@@ -75,22 +75,23 @@ The following data is subject to change. The up-to-date information can be found
 - Suresh Anaparti  (sureshanaparti)
 - Sven Vogel  (svogel)
 - Syed Ahmed  (syed)
+- Vishesh Jindal  (vishesh)
 - Wei Zhou  (weizhou)
 - Wido den Hollander  (widodh)
 - Wilder Rodrigues  (ekho)
-- Will Stevens  (swill)
 - William Chan  (willchan)
+- Will Stevens  (swill)
 
 **<a name="committers">Committers</a>**:
 
-- Abhisar Sinha  (abhisar)
 - Abhinandan Prateek  (aprateek)
+- Abhisar Sinha  (abhisar)
 - Abhishek Kumar  (shwstppr)
 - Ahmad Emneina  (ahmad)
 - Alena Prokharchyk  (alena1108)
+- Alexandre Mattioli  (alexandremattioli)
 - Alex Huang  (ahuang)
 - Alex Karasulu  (akarasulu)
-- Alexandre Mattioli  (alexandremattioli)
 - Amogh Vasekar  (amoghvk)
 - Andrija Panic  (andrijapanic)
 - Anh Tu Nguyen  (tuna)
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ The following data is subject to change. The up-to-date information can be found
 - Devdeep Singh  (devdeep)
 - Disheng Su  (edison)
 - Erik Weber  (erikw)
+- Fabricio Duarte Junior  (fabricio)
 - Frank Maximus  (fmaximus)
 - Funs Kessen  (snuf)
 - Gabriel Beims Bräscher  (gabriel)
@@ -152,6 +154,7 @@ The following data is subject to change. The up-to-date information can be found
 - Kelcey Damage  (kdamage)
 - Kelven Yang  (kelveny)
 - Kevin Kluge  (kluge)
+- Kiran Chavala  (kiranchavala)
 - Kirk Kosinski  (kirk)
 - Kishan  (kishan)
 - Koushik Das  (koushik)
@@ -224,7 +227,7 @@ The following data is subject to change. The up-to-date information can be found
 - Wei Zhou  (weizhou)
 - Wido den Hollander  (widodh)
 - Wilder Rodrigues  (ekho)
-- Will Stevens  (swill)
 - William Chan  (willchan)
+- Will Stevens  (swill)
 - Xin Zhang  (frankzhang)
 - Yoshikazu Nojima  (ynojima)