

It’s been a decade since Kubernetes’ first commit on June 6, 2014. In marking the Kubernetes 10-year milestone, it’s also worth noting that the open-source project has become ubiquitous across the cloud-native ecosystem, with more than 88,000 contributors across 8,000 companies.
The evolution of Kubernetes has seen it shift from a niche tool to a mainstream technology. The adoption of Kubernetes to handle AI workloads has gained traction as enterprises aim to integrate robust infrastructure with scalability and reliability. The changes have led some to speculate that Kubernetes is having its Linux moment, underscoring the significance of this Kubernetes 10-year milestone and its influence across industries. There’s no bigger compliment in the view of Cloud Native Computing Foundation Executive Director Priyanka Sharma.
“Cloud native and AI are the most critical technology trends today. Cloud-native is the only ecosystem that can keep up with AI innovation,” she said in marking the Kubernetes 10-year milestone during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe earlier this year.
Collaboration, community and artificial intelligence are all part of the rise of Kubernetes over the past decade, according to analysts with theCUBE Research. And more developments are likely to be on the way at the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2024 event, according to theCUBE Research Managing Director Rob Strechay.
“We expect to hear about several key topics. First, we expect a lot of noise and projects around using a Kubernetes-based infrastructure for gen AI,” Strechay said. “Second, we expect a lot of discussion about securing data and AI in a cloud-native manner and what that means for security and platform engineering teams working with the data teams. Third, we expect to see a lot of demos and discussions around virtual machines coming to Kubernetes via the KubeVirt Project.”
As the community marks the Kubernetes 10-year milestone, it’s worth looking at what its next era could be as it emerges as a cornerstone for handling AI and complex workloads at scale. The journey runs from initial adoption to a new role in today’s infrastructure, with the ecosystem’s customization and security measures setting the stage.
This feature is part of SiliconANGLE Media’s exploration of the evolution of cloud-native computing, open-source software and the future of Kubernetes. Be sure to watch theCUBE’s analyst-led coverage of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA from November 13-15. (* Disclosure below.)
In considering the Kubernetes 10-year milestone, there’s anticipation for Kubernetes’ expanded role when it comes to AI and cloud-native applications. There’s a future at play where Kubernetes continues to drive innovation.
“I really think if we take AI and security and put those two together and say that we’ve got secured toolchains, supply chains, models, the whole thing, we can deploy that at the edge in the backend infrastructure and know that our precious data that’s being used to train those models is secured. I really hope that’s a mostly a solved problem,” said Dustin Kirkland, during an interview on theCUBE in March.
KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2024 made clear the Kubernetes ecosystem is empowering developers to build business-driven applications and scale Kubernetes for AI workloads. It’s also empowering developers to focus on business-aligned application development, moving away from purely infrastructure-focused tasks.
“Kubernetes is just mature, like you say, people are implemented … we’re looking at the developer and how to empower them, how to enable them to actually build something that makes sense for the business,” said analyst Joep Piscaer, during a segment on theCUBE in March. “That’s what excites me in this show is actually having those conversations about what the developers need, what the business needs. We’re kind of in a phase where we can just say, the infrastructure part, it’s there, it’s a commodity again, which I just enjoy.”
Growth amid the Kubernetes 10-year milestone is now fueled by a community-driven push for customization. Contributors are shaping the project to meet unique needs in different industries and drive future innovation. Customization is crucial, according to Balaji Sivasubramanian, senior director of product management and developer tools at Red Hat Inc. That’s where Backstage comes into focus.
“[Backstage] is the ability to customize for your company. If you’re able to customize the platform for you, that’s why developers can associate with it,” Sivasubramanian told theCUBE in March. “And it’s not only the colors and themes. It also what tools they can use the templates, which are essentially the best practices for that organization can also be there.”
Kubernetes’ integration with AI and machine learning is also evolving through projects such as Kubeflow. Kubeflow seeks not only to enhance operational efficiencies, but also to pioneer a new approach to managing data science and machine learning operations, according to Jeremy Eder, chief AI/ML strategist at Red Hat.
“One of the things that has been very impactful is seeing the way that many of our customers, because many of our customers are OpenShift customers, have been using the platform,” Vargas said in March. “They have adopted DevOps practices. And one of the great things to see them is doing that evolution now to AI/ML, understanding that the best way to do this is to expand their current infrastructure and treat the AI workload as another workload on top of Kubernetes.”
As Kubernetes continues to expand its reach, the community is turning its attention to addressing open-source security and the technological challenges of scaling a widely adopted ecosystem. There is a need for collaboration between the private sector, the public sector and the community, according to Omkhar Arasaratnam, general manager of the Open Source Security Foundation at the Linux Foundation.
“How do we help the community who may not be a security expert but really want to make sure that your code is secure or the providence is good?” he said in March. “Those are our stakeholders. By engaging with those … stakeholders, we believe we can help improve the security of open-source software.”
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation has also been evolving its training and certification approach in order to keep pace with the times. There have been at least between 200,000 and 300,000 people who have gone through the certifications, according to Chris Aniszczyk, chief technology officer of the CNCF.
“Since we’ve grown so much, we now have a lot more technology. Outside of Kubernetes, we have OpenTelemetry. You need stuff to observe things you have; you need to secure things. We have Falco, so we’re basically investing a lot in helping build training and certification for those communities,” he told theCUBE.
As Kubernetes enters its next decade, it appears poised to continue its community-driven focus on customization, security and scalability. KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe revealed some of those developments, and may have revealed a new stage of maturity within the ecosystem as well, according to theCUBE co-host Savannah Peterson.
“It’s a lot less hype. Kubernetes is actually being deployed,” she said in March. “I think the AI stack is actually driving a bit of that as well. I think we’re at a place where this isn’t just a project. People aren’t thinking about it; we’re actually implementing and seeing what that looks like.”
Kubernetes is now mature, and people are implementing it. That’s leading to a space that is more interesting, according to Piscaer.
“Even though I am an infrastructure engineer by my history, we’re looking at the developer, how to empower them, how to enable them to actually build something that makes sense for the business,” he said. “That’s what excites me in the show … actually having those conversations about what the developers need, what the business needs.”
As Kubernetes enters its next era, its role in cloud-native innovation appears clear, with a community poised to shape its future. Whether its next decade is as notable as its first remains anyone’s best guess, as it seeks to evolve in a new AI-driven world.
(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA. Neither Red Hat Inc., the headline sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)
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