Kubernetes Celebrates 10th Birthday in Paris with Biggest KubeCon Ever
Discover the trends and challenges discussed at KubeCon + CloudNative Con Europe 2024.
This year, Kubernetes, the cloud native technology on which most current applications, cloud services and major online platforms are based on, is turning ten. And unlike my tenth birthday, Kubernetes started its celebration off in great style with a huge party in Paris.
And I do mean huge. KubeCon + CloudNative Con Europe 2024 was the largest in KubeCon’s history, with over 12,000 attendees piling into the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles conference center in late March.
But the popularity of all things Kubernetes and cloud native makes sense. Look at any of the most important technologies and trends today and there’s an excellent chance that Kubernetes is behind it.
Cloud Native: Expanding AI Reach
Generative AI? Yep, pioneers like OpenAI built their platforms on Kubernetes and cloud native and, according to presentations at the event, the largest AI workloads today are running on Kubernetes.
This led to a lot of discussions at KubeCon Europe about how cloud native can both expand the reach of AI (by lowering the barrier to entry so more businesses have access to building complex AI models) and by helping to reduce the negative impacts of generative AI. CNCF Executive Director, Priyanka Sharma said at the show that cloud native is the only ecosystem that can keep up with AI innovation, and the CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) has begun work on solidifying their approach to AI, as shown in the whitepaper released at KubeCon. Interestingly, while much of the high-level discussion at KubeCon was about AI, on the show floor, there was much less. Businesses at KubeCon were focused on more of the day to day challenges companies are facing in deploying, managing, and optimizing applications and services based on Kubernetes and cloud native technologies.
Resurgence of Platform Engineering and Job Demand
We also saw a return of discussions around platform engineering, which started to take off in 2022 and was somewhat sidetracked in 2023 due to the hype around AI. But this return also makes sense, as platform engineering will play a key role in organizations’ ability to use Kubernetes as a platform for generative AI.
One major topic of discussion in many other IT-related arenas that wasn’t an issue at KubeCon was jobs. While high-profile layoffs and hiring issues are top of mind for many IT workers (despite the fact that many businesses are ramping up IT hiring), expertise and experience in Kubernetes and cloud native is definitely in high demand at all companies. Which probably goes a way towards explaining the 12,000 plus attendees.
To see some of the action at KubeCon + CloudNative in Paris, watch our recap video above. And follow the Aberdeen Strategy & Research channel for more of our video interviews at KubeCon.
Image Source: Shutterstock
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