The New Stack Podcast

Discover how Prequel is shaking up the software reliability scene by democratizing error detection. Co-founders, both ex-NSA engineers, unveil an innovative approach using Common Reliability Enumerations (CREs) to pinpoint performance issues. Dive into the community-driven tools that allow developers to quickly build and share bug detectors. With the rapid rise of AI development and third-party integrations, Prequel aims to empower engineers with actionable insights rather than just symptoms, challenging the dominance of traditional observability giants.

Andrew Wafaa, Fellow and Senior Director for Software Communities at Arm, advocates for open source as the default in tech. He reveals Arm's commitment to enhancing essential projects like the Linux kernel and PyTorch. Wafaa challenges the supremacy of GPUs in AI, arguing that advanced CPUs with Arm’s technologies often outperform them. He champions PyTorch as the cornerstone of open source AI development, urging for broader community involvement to ensure sustainability in this rapidly evolving landscape.

In today’s uncertain economy, businesses are tightening costs, including for Kubernetes (K8s) operations, which are notoriously difficult to optimize. Yodar Shafrir, co-founder and CEO of ScaleOps, explained at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe that dynamic, cloud-native applications have constantly shifting loads, making resource allocation complex. Engineers must provision enough resources to handle spikes without overspending, but in large production clusters with thousands of applications, manual optimization often fails. This leads to 70–80% resource waste and performance issues. Developers typically prioritize application performance over operational cost, and AI workloads further strain resources. Existing optimization tools offer static recommendations that quickly become outdated due to the dynamic nature of workloads, risking downtime. Shafrir emphasized that real-time, fully automated solutions like ScaleOps' platform are crucial. By dynamically adjusting container-level resources based on real-time consumption and business metrics, ScaleOps improves application reliability and eliminates waste. Their approach shifts Kubernetes management from static to dynamic resource allocation. Listen to the full episode for more insights and ScaleOps' roadmap.Learn more from The New Stack about the latest in scaling Kubernetes and managing operational costs: ScaleOps Adds Predictive Horizontal Scaling, Smart Placement ScaleOps Dynamically Right-Sizes Containers at Runtime Join our community of newsletter subscribers to stay on top of the news and at the top of your game. 

Betty Junod, the CMO and SVP at Heroku, shares insights on Heroku's ambitious re-platforming efforts. She discusses the shift to Kubernetes and open-source engagement, including becoming a platinum member of the CNCF. Heroku's new features like Cloud Native Buildpacks allow developers to create container images more efficiently. Additionally, Betty highlights innovations aimed at supporting data scientists and the impact of AI and 'vibe coding' on developer productivity. This transformation aligns Heroku with contemporary cloud-native needs.

Ville Aikas, founder of Chainguard and an early Kubernetes contributor, shares insights on the evolution of container security. He discusses the initial security challenges, including unrealistic trust in user validations and the implications of lack of secure defaults. Aikas emphasizes the importance of trusted, minimal, and verifiable container images and the move towards locked-down AI images. The conversation also addresses the complexities surrounding AI/ML security in Kubernetes and the growing need for community collaboration in enhancing software supply chain security.

Kelsey Hightower, a Kubernetes pioneer focused on making complex systems accessible, teams up with Eswar Bala, AWS's EKS Director, who specializes in container orchestration. They discuss the grassroots origins of open source and its role in democratizing tech access. Hightower shares his personal journey and the importance of contributions over credentials. Bala highlights AWS's commitment to open source, introducing projects like Karpenter and Cedar. Their conversation emphasizes collaboration and how community-driven innovation is reshaping the cloud landscape.

Guests Jesse Butler, Principal Product Manager at AWS, and Nic Slattery, Product Manager at Google Cloud, discuss the exciting new Kro project born from customer demand. This open-source tool aims to simplify Kubernetes resource orchestration across cloud providers, reducing complexity for developers. They share insights on the unique collaboration among Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, driven by community needs rather than top-down decisions. The project has quickly gained traction, attracting numerous contributors as it prepares for a production-ready release.

Amanda Katona, who leads an open source engineering team at NetApp, dives into the transformative journey of OpenSearch since its launch. She discusses its move to the Linux Foundation, which has boosted community contributions and enterprise adoption. A striking 56% increase in downloads showcases growing interest. Katona highlights the upcoming OpenSearch 3.0, enhancing search speed amid rising data volumes. She emphasizes the importance of vendor-neutral governance and invests in machine learning tools, underscoring OpenSearch's promising future in data infrastructure.

Marco Palladino, CTO and co-founder of Kong, dives into the transformative power of AI in the tech landscape. He discusses the evolution from simple chatbots to intelligent AI agents that enhance organizational efficiency. Key topics include Kong's AI Gateway, which simplifies AI integration while addressing security concerns. Palladino highlights the automated Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) feature that minimizes errors. He emphasizes the critical need for consistent security measures to empower developers to drive innovation safely.

Mallory Haigh, Director of Customer Success at Humanitec, and Nathen Harvey, DORA Lead and Developer Advocate at Google, dive into the complexities of platform engineering. They discuss the pitfalls of rushing into building internal development platforms without a clear purpose. Mallory emphasizes that success hinges more on cultural change than technical skills. The transformative role of AI in streamlining processes and enhancing developer satisfaction is also explored, suggesting that the future of platform engineering will involve integrating AI-driven automation with a focus on user needs.