This post is part of our three-part blog series on a sustainable European cloud. Read part one, part two, and part three.

The real revolution is Cloud Native, but like the Linux of the clouds, Kubernetes has become synonymous with the second cloud revolution.

The First Cloud Revolution

The promise of the "Cloud" (Infrastructure as a Service — IaaS) is automation. As computing power, storage, and various other foundational elements became accessible via APIs, it was possible to automate workloads like MySQL or Kafka on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure, allowing a focus on core business.

This promise was indeed fulfilled, but not as expected. Automating such workloads is challenging. It has proven so difficult that one needs the size of a hyperscaler to afford it.

The Dilemma

The Public Cloud (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform) has dramatically increased developer productivity by automating fundamental building blocks like databases. Yet, the price was handing over control to ever-growing tech giants. These public clouds have outdone others in automation, offering hundreds of services that are indispensable for development teams. However, the dependence on these clouds and the significant share of revenue they claim are painful enough to seek alternatives.

Software Eats Everything (Including Other Software)

Docker introduced a unified method of packaging software into executable containers. Kubernetes can be crowned the de facto standard for container orchestration. These two have, consequently, brought forth the cloud-native movement, gradually reclaiming control.

The Kubernetes Operator Framework is the next significant step forward. It addresses the challenging part — automating complex, often stateful workloads. Software vendors now have a way to distribute their increasingly complex systems.

Reclaim Control

Take, for example, Elastic. They develop one of the most useful software stacks. Kubernetes (specifically the Operator Framework) enables Elastic to distribute their software stack, including the necessary automation for large-scale operation. With Elastic joining the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), part of the Linux Foundation, the dilemma of having to migrate Elasticsearch workloads to a managed hyperscaler service was resolved.

Creating Viable Alternatives

Even demanding workloads like Machine Learning are becoming just as easy to create and operate on Kubernetes as Elasticsearch. The mission of Kubeflow is to make scaling machine learning models (ML) and their deployment in production as easy as possible by letting Kubernetes do what it does best.

Enterprise software is back, equipped with hybrid business models from SaaS (on-premise). Even local Kubernetes clusters are a viable alternative to a public cloud.

The Second Cloud Revolution

Larger companies will regain control and be able to build their on-premise clouds cost-effectively. Developers essentially don't care where they deploy their software — as long as they can freely interact with other systems they need. Smaller companies can search for local Kubernetes alternatives. Cheaper and greener Kubernetes clouds will emerge. The freedom to choose and redistribute revenue will trigger the second cloud revolution. A new wave of innovation will begin, surpassing what the public clouds have brought us.

This Time It Belongs to Us

And this time we will not be locked in. The Kubernetes community is supported by the CNCF. Linux has shown that ownership can be redefined, with an impact that is hard to overestimate. Kubernetes will be the Linux of the clouds.