Kubernetes adoption is escalating internationally and, arguably quite significantly, across the European continent, with enterprises accelerating containerisation strategies. There appears to be a particular emphasis on ensuring security, establishing compliance frameworks and insisting on sustainable computing practices. What’s happening is natural in a sense i.e. there is maturity here, so the Kubernetes ecosystem is moving beyond initial deployments to production-scale implementations. So European firms with US footprints are mindfully aware of US anti-globalisation policies, what happens next?
European businesses are also increasingly wary of relying on U.S.-based infrastructure, especially if it means putting themselves into situations where their own infrastructure and data may end up out of their control, or threatened with increasingly unfavourable terms. So says Sean Saperstein, a leadership team executive at Sidero Labs.
The Sidero platform automates the installation and security of Kubernetes out of the box. It promises to ease the work of deploying and managing bare metal and running multiple clusters in multiple locations with security and integrity.
Cloud as a default
“European technology decision-makers have long demonstrated a fundamentally distinct (and many would argue more balanced and cautious & strategic approach) to assembling crucial infrastructure,” said Saperstein, speaking at the recent KubeCon CloudNativeCon London conference to Techzine Global. “US companies have, by and large, viewed the cloud as the default path, so have been quicker to put all their eggs in that proverbial basket by aligning with a singular hyperscaler of choice. In contrast, European businesses have tended to leverage a more diversified set of infrastructure types and providers, realising the advantages of spreading workloads across a more mixed architecture.”
This fundamental difference in approach is now evolving into a world where European organisations are taking deliberate steps to distance themselves from US dependencies.
Europeans declaring US independence
Is this a case of European businesses declaring independence from U.S.-based architecture? Recent changes to the economic and political landscape have amplified the European practice of ensuring that businesses can control their own destinies, no matter the future behaviours or fates of US infrastructure providers. Many would argue that the US is focusing on its own domestic interests as the prime mover for any strategic decision-making by equal (if not greater) measure.
Saperstein suggests that practices here increasingly include shifts toward direct control over infrastructure and tools for compute and Kubernetes, as well as technology paths that will protect data sovereignty and security. As uncertainty mounts as to how the global economic picture will develop in the coming months and years, the European tendency to keep control over data and infrastructure close(r) at hand is developing into a necessity for mitigating the risks ahead.
So then, how are businesses in Europe are limiting their exposure to transatlantic infrastructure risk.
Metastasize liabilities
“Businesses across Europe are closely combing through their current infrastructure tools and data protection postures with an eye for US ties and dependencies that could metastasize (when cancer cells to spread from their original location in the body to other areas, forming new tumours) into liabilities. The intensity of this activity is especially high in the Scandinavian countries, where companies are particularly eager to swap out US-connected infrastructure for options that are nearer to home or fully under their own control,” explained Saperstein.
For some European businesses, strategic realignment with a more localised infrastructure simply means shifting their operations to the Europe-based arms of US providers: for example, harnessing Microsoft Azure via its cloud datacenter in Germany. Other businesses are making the move toward fully on-prem solutions or hybrid solutions to streamline risk profiles. In many cases, businesses are taking stock of their existing data and implementing tiers of data privacy protections use case by use case.
The Sidero team remind us that that means allowing general data to remain on US cloud infrastructure while pairing more sensitive data with on-prem infrastructure where it can be both more secure and under direct control. Unlike edge deployments (which are primarily used for workloads requiring low latency or uninterrupted availability), this on-prem shift is directly motivated by data sovereignty concerns.
Upsides of Kubernetes on-prem
“As businesses in Europe increasingly examine on-prem and hybrid infrastructure to insulate themselves from market turmoil and eliminate foreign dependencies, they discover potential strategic advantages. This is especially true for businesses utilising Kubernetes. Bare metal on-prem infrastructure means accessing physical hardware resources directly with no virtualisation layer, enabling better Kubernetes performance, flexibility, resiliency and data security,” said Saperstein.
He thinks that businesses can heighten those security and performance advantages by selecting a Kubernetes operating system and management strategy designed to make the most of bare metal – a high-efficiency-meets-minimal-attack-surface approach – while still maintaining easy compatibility with diverse hybrid and cloud environments
As we know, Kubernetes is often used to bridge infrastructures, usually at the cost of accepting a fairly intense level of operational complexity. However, streamlining strategies and tools to be as Kubernetes-specific as possible can position businesses to build out Kubernetes deployments that can straddle on-prem, edge, and cloud environments while remaining manageable and highly reliable.
“European technology decision-makers should look at open source Kubernetes operating systems that have an API approach to connectivity (substituting traditional management interfaces like SSH for simpler and more refined methods). In practice, API-based functionality enforces consistency by taking human error out of the equation, while also making it easier to avoid security vulnerabilities and to bolster data sovereignty protections,” said Saperstein.
He suggests that it’s also crucial to select a Kubernetes operating system capable of easily and securely integrating on-prem, edge, or cloud nodes, supporting a uniform architecture that’s flexible and able to scale no matter the future needs. Kubernetes management strategies should include automated cluster management to bring as much simplicity as possible to OS and operational maintenance, adding to scalability ease and making the benefits of a pared-down, bare-metal-forward strategy that much greater.
Make orchestration great again
“Businesses in Europe have only so much control over the macroeconomic climate or global trade policies. What they can do is pull their infrastructure closer to ensure a secure grip on the data and key technologies they depend on most. Organisations that make this relocalisation of infrastructure an opportunity to streamline operations when it comes to business-altering technologies like Kubernetes, or even to harness an optimal mix of on-prem, edge and cloud infrastructure, can move forward with a more efficient, scalable and secure posture, better prepared to weather challenging conditions ahead,” concluded Saperstein.
It feels (arguably) almost inappropriate to muddy the waters of Kubernetes with any suggestion that the K8s ecosystem might be being swayed by geopolitical machinations (goodness knows it has enough on its plate with over-provisioning and misconfiguration complexities), but that may be some of what’s happening here. Let’s make orchestration great again.