When it comes to Kubernetes clusters, enterprises usually want to have a centralized system where they can manage multiples of these node machines for running containerized technology. And while some companies provide management systems for on-premises, public cloud and multicloud, most of these technologies are designed for the operations side of things, not necessarily for the software developers.

In February 2020, Mirantis Inc. acquired Kontena Inc., the company behind Lens, a popular Kubernetes integrated development environment, in order to help resolve this situation. So how has the rollout of Lens as part of the Mirantis portfolio gone so far?

“[The] main focus for us is around improving Lens and making it better for developers,” said Miska Kaipiainen (pictured), senior director of engineering at Mirantis Inc. “Mirantis, of course, has a broad portfolio of products, and many of those products … are related to Kubernetes. And we are … trying to bring all these different products and technologies together in a way that makes it even more easy for developers than to access through Lens.”

Kaipiainen spoke with Stu Miniman, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Mirantis Launchpad event. They discussed Lens and its advantages in helping developers navigate Kubernetes clusters. (* Disclosure below.)

Using Lens to help navigate Kubernetes clusters

The idea behind Lens started in 2015, according to Kaipiainen, who was one of the founders of Kontena and a developer of Lens. The main benefit to developers is that they can be a newcomer to the Kubernetes ecosystem and still navigate the complexities, because Lens gives them an easy, visual way to learn Kubernetes. For more experienced users, Lens improves speed of business and performance with Kubernetes clusters.

“When we are dealing with very complex technologies … if you can visualize it and make it more interesting to look at … it will kind of help with the adoption, and it’s kind of more acceptable to the market,” Kaipiainen said. “And that’s why we started doing Lens.”

Lens also provides a unified user experience across all these clusters no matter what the flavor of the Kubernetes — such as Minikube, Azure Kubernetes Services and Docker Enterprise, to name a few. Mirantis released Lens as an open-source technology under the MIT license in March 2020. So far the reception has been positive.

“We have been getting … 8,000 stargazers on GitHub. It’s been just amazing — the adopts — and we have more than 50,000 users using Lens. And the retention is great. People keep on coming back. The numbers look very, very good for Lens, and we are just getting started,” Kaipiainen concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Mirantis Launchpad event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Mirantis Launchpad 2020. Neither Mirantis Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE