Given that Kubernetes adoption has gone mainstream, the need for stronger enterprise functionality has become more pressing. There has led to user demand for enhanced application performance through optimized cluster management and automation capabilities.

Based on the complexity associated with Kubernetes environments, StormForge devised a strategy of optimizing cloud-native applications through rapid experiments enabled by machine learning. A typical Kubernetes application has nearly 100 different possible combinations, and this reality triggered the requirement for application optimization through machine learning, according to Matt Provo (pictured, right), founder and chief executive officer of StormForge.

“We want developers to be able to take advantage of the entire footprint or environment itself,” Promo said. “Using machine learning to help augment what the developers themselves are doing, not replacing them, enables them to be part of that process. Now this whole new world of optimization opens up to them, which is pretty fantastic.”

Provo and Chandler Hoisington (pictured, right), general manager of Kubernetes at Amazon Web Services Inc., spoke with Dave Vellante, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during a recent digital CUBE Conversation. They discussed how StormForge optimizes Kubernetes through machine learning, the StormForge-AWS partnership, and how the recently announced Optimize Live maximizes the value of existing data and tools to reduce resource usage and cost. (* Disclosure below.)

Watering down Kubernetes complexity

The convergence of application performance, developer velocity and cloud economics is being prompted to solve the complexity associated with Kubernetes, according to Hoisington.

“I think Kubernetes solves a lot of problems for users, but the complexity of Kubernetes of just standing up a cluster to begin with is not always simple, and that’s where services like [AWS] EKS come in,” Hoisington pointed out. “So we’re kind of solving this problem of bringing the cluster online and helping customers launch their first application on it. But then what do you do once your application’s there?”

Built on AWS services, StormForge enables cloud migrations through platforms like EKS Anywhere.

“EKS Anywhere comes into play really nicely because we can bring a consistent experience, a Kubernetes experience to your data center, you can modernize your applications, and then you can bring those to EKS in the cloud,” Hoisington stated. “As you’re moving them back and forth, you have a more consistent experience with Kubernetes, and luckily StormForge works on-prem as well, even in air-gapped environments.”

With Kubernetes playing an instrumental role as an operating system of the cloud, Provo believes StormForge is ideal in optimizing EKS.

“We provide the ability to go beyond what developers typically do, which is sort of take either the out-of-the box defaults or recommendations that ship with the services that they put into their application or any human’s ability to kind of keep up with a couple of parameters at a time,” Provo added.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: StormForge sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither StormForge nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE