Kubernetes has emerged as the default container orchestration standard, a foundational platform layer across the enterprise. Will Kubernetes also play a central role in positioning the next generation of AI workloads for production?

This is the question on the minds of the cloud-native community as it gathers this month for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA in Salt Lake City. With the rise of AI agents that have progressed from answering user questions to executing code and running business systems, customers are increasingly interested in controlling what autonomous agents are allowed to do.

“That brings us to OpenShell, an open-source secure agent runtime that Red Hat is helping develop alongside Nvidia and, of, course, the broader community,” said theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante, during a pre-event interview. “The approach puts enforcement into the environment where the agent operates, setting boundaries around what it can access and execute rather than relying on a model alone to follow the rules. We think this is a central question for the next chapter of cloud native: how do enterprises give agents enough freedom to be useful without giving up control?”

During KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, Nov. 10-12, theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, will feature on-site reporting and exclusive interviews with executives from Red Hat Inc. and Nvidia Corp., among others. TheCUBE will examine the latest innovations in GPU orchestration, agentic workloads and platform engineering as inference and autonomous agents move into production. (* Disclosure below.)

Container orchestration for AI

OpenShell, while still an early-stage project, is actively being developed for Kubernetes environments. The activity reflects growing customer interest in using containerized environments for applications, according to theCUBE Research’s Paul Nashawaty.

“Fifty-one percent of organizations report that 51–75% of their applications now run in containers, representing a sharp rise from just a few years ago,” Nashawaty said. “Organizations now run the majority of their applications in containers which is a sharp rise that reflects the accelerating cloud-native transformation central to KubeCon + CloudNativeCon.”

OpenShell was accepted into the Cloud Native Computing Foundation as a sandbox project in September. One component of OpenShell allows agents to run in isolated sandboxes with limits on the files they can reach, an approach actively supported by the cloud-native community within the Kubernetes ecosystem.

“It builds on top of some core Kubernetes special interest groups,” said Pete Cheslock, principal AI community architect at Red Hat, during an interview with theCUBE. “The Agent Sandbox is one of them so that you can deploy these agents in a secure way using Kubernetes APIs.”

Kubernetes-native security

Cheslock’s point about security highlights the growing concerns and recent publicity surrounding AI agents and their ability to break out of isolated environments and compromise systems. Rapid enterprise adoption and integration of AI are increasing the risk profiles for organizations, a topic that will be on the agenda for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon.

“Our research data reveals that 41.3% of organizations cite increased vulnerability risk as the top security challenge, introduced by faster CI/CD cycles and a tension that cloud-native teams are increasingly turning to Kubernetes-native tooling to resolve,” Nashawaty said.

Enterprise reliance on cloud-native tools and open-source software requires confidence that these technologies are safe to use inside enterprise infrastructure. In May, Red Hat and IBM Corp. unveiled Project Lightwell, a $5 billion commitment to help enterprises secure open-source software.

“For the last year, especially since the Mythos moment, [security] has been the first thing that we’ve talked about in every customer conversation I’ve had,” said Stu Miniman, senior director of market insights for hybrid platforms at Red Hat, in conversation with theCUBE. “We’re trying to make sure that customers can feel secure and understand and use these tools. There’s even more effort being put on security than ever, which has always been a focus of Red Hat. If we don’t make sure that layer is as locked down and reliable and trusted as possible, everything else becomes secondary.”

Tools for multicloud

At this month’s KubeCon gathering, theCUBE will explore how various practitioners are using Kubernetes to ensure workload portability across multicloud environments. Companies such as Vultr and ScaleOps are building Kubernetes-based tools that can support a range of platforms, reflecting enterprise computing trends.

“With our AppDev research finding that 94% of organizations now operate across two or more cloud providers, the demand for consistent, developer-friendly Kubernetes-based platforms has never been more pressing,” Nashawaty explained.

KubeCon also offers an opportunity to assess the progress of key technology projects under the CNCF umbrella. One of the major contributors in this arena has been Google LLC, which contributed the open-source service mesh Istio, serverless building blocks via Knative and Kubernetes itself. KubeCon is an annual reminder of how large the CNCF ecosystems has become, according to Red Hat’s Miniman.

“They’ve got a big ecosystem. I can give example after example of who created these technologies,” Miniman told theCUBE. “Oh yeah, the GitOps stuff came out of Intuit, and the platform engineering stuff came out of Spotify. Just find your focus and go in there, because there is no way you can cover all of it.”

TheCUBE event livestream

Don’t miss theCUBE’s coverage of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA from Nov. 10-12. Plus, you can access theCUBE’s exclusive content on demand after the event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer various ways for you to watch theCUBE’s coverage of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE podcasts

SiliconANGLE’s “theCUBE Pod” is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, which you can enjoy while on the go. During each podcast, SiliconANGLE’s John Furrier and Dave Vellante discuss the biggest trends in enterprise tech, including AI, cloud, cybersecurity and infrastructure, with context and analysis.

SiliconANGLE also produces our weekly “Breaking Analysis” program, where Vellante examines major developments in enterprise tech, combining insights from theCUBE with spending data from Enterprise Technology Research, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Guests

At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, theCUBE will speak with Red Hat leaders and other industry executives about the latest innovations in GPU orchestration, agentic workloads and platform engineering as inference and autonomous agents move into production.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA. Sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage do not have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: SiliconANGLE