What to expect during KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA: Join theCUBE Nov. 10-12

Kubernetes has become the go-to container orchestration standard for enterprises. As the cloud-native community gathers for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA in Salt Lake City, a key question being discussed is whether Kubernetes will continue to play a central role in positioning AI workloads for production. Dave Vellante, from theCUBE Research, explains that this is particularly relevant given the rise of AI agents that can execute code and run business systems.

To address the need for secure agent runtime, Red Hat is collaborating with Nvidia and other members of the community on an open-source project called OpenShell. OpenShell aims to set boundaries around what autonomous agents can access and execute, rather than relying solely on models to follow rules. The project is still in its early stages but is actively being developed for Kubernetes environments.

The project has gained traction with 51% of organizations running 51-75% of their applications in containers. OpenShell allows agents to run in isolated sandboxes, limiting their access to files and building upon Kubernetes special interest groups. This approach addresses growing concerns about AI agents breaking out of isolated environments and compromising systems.

Security is a major concern as enterprises increasingly adopt AI and rely on cloud-native tools. Red Hat's Project Lightwell, a $5 billion commitment, aims to help enterprises secure open-source software. At KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, theCUBE will explore how practitioners are using Kubernetes to ensure workload portability across multicloud environments, with companies like Vultr and ScaleOps building Kubernetes-based tools for a range of platforms.

The event also provides an opportunity to assess the progress of key technology projects under the CNCF umbrella, with Google contributing open-source projects like Istio, Knative, and Kubernetes itself.