In just under four years, Kubernetes has become the industry standard in container orchestration, a method of packaging and porting data across computing infrastructures. Industry leaders like Google, IBM, Red Hat and more have all jumped on the Kubernetes bandwagon, and a variety of new companies are emerging to provide support solutions for the platform. What effect will Kubernetes have on the market at large as use cases expand with scaling adoption?

Looking to answer these and other questions, SiliconANGLE is at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2018, currently underway in Copenhagen, Denmark, with exclusive commentary and interviews from our roving news desk, theCUBE, from Wednesday, May 2, at 10:30 a.m. CEST through Thursday, May 3, at 5:30 p.m. CEST. (* Disclosure below.)

At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU, theCUBE will explore the driving force behind Kubernetes hype from a range of businesses and vendors, as well as discover the new challenges being met as the system is optimized.

Kubernetes is one of the fastest-growing open-source projects in history, and with adoption from companies like Google, IBM, Red Hat and more, it’s become the first to graduate among current Cloud Native Computing Foundation projects. The platform is reaching new market heights as well, with 43 percent of businesses surveyed reporting use of Kubernetes and 32 percent claiming to use it as their primary orchestration tool — a five percent increase in use since 2017.

That growth looks to be only the tip of the iceberg, with predictions that the container market will hit $2.7 billion by 2020. While still facing some competition from container orchestrators like Docker Swarm and Amazon ECS, Kubernetes is quickly becoming the most ubiquitous platform in enterprise computing with its high demand from users, contributors and vendors. Cisco Systems Inc. and Pivotal Software Inc. initiated Kubernetes-based container platforms to streamline hybrid cloud management this year, and in March IBM unveiled a Kubernetes container platform designed for organizations that require a processing power only provided by bare-metal servers.

Stu Miniman, an analyst with Wikibon (owned by the same company as SiliconANGLE), predicts the popularity of Kubernetes could shift the bulk of its revenue from Red Hat Inc. to other, bigger players in the market. “With market maturation I expect more will buy packaged solutions. Red Hat is doing well, but I expect [Microsoft] Azure and Amazon Web Services to pick up more [Kubernetes] customers,” he said.

Miniman also noted the lack of opportunities to “sell” Kubernetes as a standalone system. “If I’m going to buy Kubernetes, why would I go through a startup when I can get it baked into the cloud platform I’m using?” he asked.

Where Kubernetes may deprive startups in opportunities to sell, it compensates generously as a catalyst for a new market of container orchestration support tools. Tools like Gimbal, an open-source initiative built to streamline traffic across hybrid environments with multiple Kubernetes clusters; MapR, data fabric for Kubernetes designed to give data access across hybrid deployments; Rook, a new CNCF system that offers greater portability and consistent storage for cloud-native Kubernetes clusters; and Heptio Inc.’s new Kubernetes subscription service created to free enterprises from the burden of committing to one provider’s IT infrastructure platform were all spurred on by Kubernetes’ enterprise omnipresence.

Istio, an IBM and Google project, has gained particular attention in the cloud ecosystem as a means toward providing control of traffic behavior, policy enforcement, reporting and more. Since appearing at last year’s KubeCon, the system has seen support from developers who utilize it to integrate disparate microservices.

Many of the new tools emerging are designed around security, a major area of focus in the yet undiscovered world of cloud computing. Surveys reveal security as a primary concern for businesses moving to containers, as well as those already utilizing them, with 80 percent of container users expressing a need for improvements in their existing container security efforts.

The latest release of Kubernetes, 1.10, addresses security concerns, as well as those of storage and networking capabilities with improvements across the board. The details on this newest version, as well as plans for Kubernetes’ future, will all be explored at KubeCon CloudNativeCon EU 2018.

Speakers at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2018 include Dirk Hohndel, vice president and chief open-source officer at VMware Inc.; Lew Tucker, vice president and chief technology officer of cloud computing, at Cisco; Liz Rice, technology evangelist at Aqua Security Software Ltd; Oliver Beattie, head of engineering at Monzo Bank Ltd; Ralph Squillace, principal program manager at Microsoft; and Sahil Dua, software developer at Booking.com.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch all of theCUBE interviews that will be taking place at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2018, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s event on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE’s dedicated website and Ustream

All of theCUBE’s exclusive interviews from KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2018 will be available on theCUBE’s dedicated website.

You can also watch all the interviews on the dedicated Ustream channel.

Watch on the SiliconANGLE YouTube channel

All of theCUBE interviews from KubeCon + CloudNativeCon will also be loaded onto SiliconANGLE’s dedicated YouTube channel.

Cubecasts

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on both SoundCloud and iTunes, which you can enjoy while on the go.

TheCUBE guests who will be interviewed at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE include KubeCon + CloudNativeCon speakers Michael Hausenblas, developer advocate at Red Hat; Diane Mueller, director of community development at Red Hat; Zach Arnold, senior software engineer at Ygrene Energy Fund Inc.; Austin Adams, senior software architect at Ygrene Energy Fund; Dan Kohn, executive director of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation; Janet Kuo, software engineer at Google;  Stephan Fabel, product and strategy at Canonical Ltd; Kelsey Hightower, staff developer advocate at Google Cloud Platform; Lew Tucker at Cisco; and Liz Rice at Aqua Security Software.

Other guests include Paul Holland, director of open-source program office at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.; Said Syed, director of hybrid cloud developer experience strategy and solutions engineering at HPE; Dee Kumar, vice president of marketing at The Linux Foundation; Aparna Sinha, group product manager, Kubernetes and Google Kubernetes Engine, at Google; and Cheryl Hung, product & engineering manager at StorageOS Ltd.

Livestream of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon

If you are unable to attend KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Copenhagen, you can still catch a livestream of all the event’s keynotes from the comfort of your home, office or on the go.

You can sign up to watch the livestream of the event keynotes on the official event page.

(* Disclosure: Some segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE are sponsored. Sponsors have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: SiliconANGLE