Can the rising tide in open-source computing lift all the boats in the business? Kelsey Hightower (pictured), co-chair of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and advocate for the Google Cloud Platform, thinks so.

Hightower’s tolerant view on collaboration may have surprised even the most open-minded attendees of this week’s KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU conference last week, when Hightower’s keynote demonstrated Kubernetes, the open-source system for deploying containerized applications, on rival cloud platforms.

“When I was using Amazon S3 in my presentation, I was showing people the dream of serverless — here’s how this stuff actually works together right now,” Hightower said. “We don’t really need anything else from the cloud providers. I’m not here just to represent Google and sell for Google. I’m here to say, ‘Here’s what’s possible.’”

The famed software developer met with John Furrier (@furrier) and Lauren Cooney (@lcooney), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s livestreaming video studio, during KubeCon. The trio discussed the gamut of trends, opportunities and concerns regarding Kubernetes’ explosive growth and what it all means for the open-source community. (* Disclosure below.)

So, we’re all in agreement?

Kubernetes adoption has increased from 27 percent to 43 percent in the past year among information technology administrators claiming it as their primary container orchestration tool, according to a 2017 survey by Portworx. Popular within the open-source community, Kubernetes has gained support from industry powerhouses such as Google Inc., Red Hat Inc. and Microsoft Corp. This year’s KubeCon show in Denmark attracted some 4,000 attendees, reflecting Kubernetes’ international growth.

Despite his own faith in Kubernetes, Hightower is surprised it has gained adoption so quickly.

“When I saw the technology early on, I thought this was definitely a winner, regardless of who agreed. But to be this big, this fast, and all the cloud providers agreeing to use it and sell it — that is the surprise,” Hightower said. “Honestly, this is one of those situations that, no matter how fast they move, everyone ends up winning on this particular deal.”

This level of industry cooperation will be crucial to Kubernetes’ sustainability if it hopes to avoid the scaling pitfalls of other open-source platforms, such as OpenStack and Hadoop, Cooney noted in an earlier analyst segment for theCUBE. Thoughtful execution of Kubernetes distributions and a healthy support for startups can help drive Kubernetes in the right direction.

“No matter what side of the field you stand on, we need these groups to be successful,” said Hightower of startups in the market. “They’re independent companies; they’re going for ambition to fill the gaps in what we’re doing. If they’re successful, they’ll just make a bigger market for everyone else. That’s why we not only try to celebrate them, but also give them this feedback — here’s what we’re doing, here’s where the opportunities are,” he added.

Where security meets Kubernetes

Security could be one area of opportunity for Kubernetes startups, as the integration of open-source technology is often met with trepidation from developers working with container technologies. Cited as a top concern by nearly 45 percent of respondents in a Forrester Research survey, security for data stored in containerized applications is an important consideration for enterprises turning this technology into products.  

Yet there’s more to the matter of security when it comes to the Kubernetes community. According to Hightower, security isn’t a product to be added on to an enterprise-ready platform. “Any buzzword, then someone tries to attach security,” Hightower said.

Security is a mindset more than a product, in Hightower’s opinion. While computing architectures may change, the threat models remain. He sees a need for a shift in perspective from the enterprise, calling out the problem of users believing they can buy an off-the-shelf security product.

“What people have to start doing with this conversation is say, ‘If I adopt Kubernetes, does my threat model change? Does the container change the way I’ve locked down the [virtual machine]?’” Hightower said. If a threat model, once identified, is something users don’t understand, Hightower recommends they then go look for a vendor or seek additional training to determine an optimal solution.

Here’s the full interview, and there’s much more coverage of KubeCon CloudNativeCon EU from SiliconANGLE and theCUBE. (* Disclosure: Some segments are sponsored by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation to support editorial coverage. Neither the CNCF nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE