The days of “Kubernetes is the answer. What’s the question?” is over. What began as an industry insider chuckle about the unlikely rise of the IT infrastructure celebrity is now a serious point: Kubernetes, the open source cloud-native infrastructure, is today at the heart of modern IT — and it’s fundamental to the rise of the AI-native cloud, too. The upcoming KubeCon – CloudNativeCon North America in Atlanta November 11-14 will highlight both Kubernetes’ role as the de facto standard for enterprise IT and a launchpad for multiple AI ventures.

From Multicloud Container Platform To AI-Native Clouds

Before we get into what to expect, we’d like to do a quick recap on the market. Our reports over the past two years on the multicloud container platform vendors highlight this shift. The Multicloud Container Platforms In Asia Pacific Landscape, Q1 2024 showed how the maturity of the technology enables APAC customers to focus on their core business logic while using it a springboard to innovation. The Multicloud Container Platforms Landscape, Q1 2025 noted that the Kubernetes based platforms feature integrations that can branch into a series of discrete vertical stacks, including generative AI (genAI), machine learning/deep learning, IoT, 5G, blockchain/Web3, and quantum computing, all on a unified control plane.

The most recent report, The Forrester Wave™: Multicloud Container Platforms, Q3 2025, evaluated how nine Kubernetes-based platform providers delivered on those trends. Vendors are leveraging Kubernetes’ flexibility in distinct ways to serve specific market segments, expanding customer options. While they share core capabilities — like container orchestration, service meshes, integrations, and AI enablement — they implement them differently.

Major multicloud platform providers continue to emulate hyperscalers, offering enterprise-scale compute across clouds, data centers, and edge environments. Some deliver full-stack solutions, others span from full-stack to bare metal. Most are racing to become the go-to platform for the open source cloud AI ecosystem, as outlined in our reports, Navigate The Open-Source AI Ecosystem In The Cloud and Embrace The AI-Native Cloud Now. Another group of vendors is building AI-native neo-PaaS platforms — bridging open-source AI and managed cloud services. A third group focuses on industry-specific needs, offering tailored AI and cloud integrations, including bare-metal HCI “AI-in-a-box” solutions. All in all, its a interesting mix of players that make up this market.

Additional highlights include innovation in edge, IoT, developer tools, serverless, and intelligent operations. While these vendors can’t match hyperscaler scale, their goal remains unchanged since Forrester’s first Wave: empower enterprises with multicloud autonomy for critical infrastructure and AI workloads. The ongoing innovation in the cloud-native Kubernetes community through the Cloud Native Computing Foundation has made that possible.

Which brings us back to the question: What are we expecting to see at KubeCon this fall? Simply put: AI Enablement, Edge, and Developer Enablement.

What to Watch at KubeCon North America 2025

Kubernetes is evolving from a cloud-native foundation to an AI-native enabler. Expect announcements that push Kubernetes deeper into AI workloads, developer platforms, and edge innovation:

  • AI & ML innovations: Kubeflow 2.x, KServe, and Ray on Kubernetes for scalable AI workloads; AI-native observability for intelligent operations.
  • Security & compliance: Supply chain security initiatives like Sigstore and SLSA to ensure trust in AI-native deployments.
  • Developer & platform engineering: Internal developer platforms (Backstage, Crossplane) driving autonomy and better developer experience.
  • Edge, sustainability & future tech: Lightweight Kubernetes (K3s, MicroK8s, K0s) for edge and 5G use cases; GreenOps for energy optimization; hybrid AI deployments; early quantum orchestration experiments.

Forrester analysts will be on hand in Atlanta, starting with the co-located events on November 10. Clients who want to learn more about the Forrester perspective on the market today can reach out to us at inquiry@forrester.com. We hope to see you there.