The Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s central project Kubernetes has suddenly grown up into an enterprise-ready technology. An orchestration platform for software containers, a way to run applications unchanged in many computer environments, Kubernetes is seen as validation for CNCF and for cloud-native technology generally. But CNCF hosts more than 30 projects of varying maturity levels.

Companies could be missing out if they play it safe and stick to graduated ones, according to CNCF Executive Director Dan Kohn (pictured). CNCF has a maturation process whereby projects go from sandbox to incubation to graduation, meaning they have achieved enterprise-readiness.

So far, the graduated projects are Kubernetes, Prometheus and Envoy, the latter endorsed recently by cloud giant Amazon Web Services Inc. These are the safe bets for enterprises. But what about all those green projects? Could the next Kubernetes be buried in the pile while enterprises hungry for a competitive edge pass it by? 

Kohn spoke with John Furrier (@furrier) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon event in Seattle, Washington. They discussed CNCF’s tiered project model and compared graduated projects to sandboxed and incubating ones. (* Disclosure below.)

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Although CNCF hosts a broad range of projects, the foundation wants all of them to be compatible with Kubernetes and each other. “I do think that having so much traction and momentum around Kubernetes is a forcing function for the whole community to come together and stay compatible,” Kohn said.

The foundation has developed certification and conformance programs for Kubernetes. “I think the certification and the software conformance is the single thing that we’ve had done that’s had the biggest impact on the community,” Kohn added.

These programs offer conformance testing to businesses tweaking Kubernetes. Essentially, they can check to see if changing or updating anything in their information technology environment has impacted their Kubernetes deployment. For example, some might opt to turn off application program interfaces in the cloud for good reason. “But that’s exactly the kind of thing that can cause incompatibility,” Kohn said. 

For those a bit more adventurous, there are the less-tried tools — in incubation and at the bottom maturity tier, the sandbox. Enterprises might find the perfect solution to a unique business problem there, Kohn pointed out. “Companies should absolutely use them if their use case fits but they’re less for-sure,” he said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s extensive coverage this week of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon. (* Disclosure: The Cloud Native Computing Foundation sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither CNCF nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE