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KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025: a visitor's perspective

The edition of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2025 in London was an event that is reshaping the direction of the cloud-native landscape. From the deep integration of AI to the growing adoption of GitOps and a firm focus on security and developer experience, this edition brought clarity on where the community is moving. In this blog, I share my experiences and key highlights from the event.
Door: Gijs Middelkamp

Day 1: Co-located events & IstioCon

The first day was all about thematic co-located events. One of the technical highlights was the improved performance of Cilium and its integration with custom IPAM via Delegated IPAM. The extension of Multi-Cluster Networking with Cilium & MCS-API was also impressive, allowing direct access to specific services in other clusters. During IstioCon, the utility of Istio over CNI solutions such as Cilium was discussed. FIPS compliance proved to be one of the few key differentiators, as WireGuard cannot currently achieve this certification.

Day 2: Start main conference

The second day marked the start of the main conference with a whopping 13,000 attendees! The keynotes and sessions were diverse and forward-looking. Some highlights were:

  • GitOps: from hype to standard. Tools like Argo CD, Flux and Weave GitOps are now the standard for managing Kubernetes environments.
  • Gateway API: the new standard for networking, with improved support for traffic splitting and multi-tenant environments.
  • AI and Kubernetes: Kubernetes is increasingly being used as an orchestrator for AI workloads, with enhanced support for GPU scheduling and multi-node training jobs.
KubeCon 2025

Day 3: Technical in-depth sessions

The third day offered technical in-depth sessions, such as:

  • Debugging Envoy Tunnels: practical tips for certificate validation and debugging.
  • Scaling Kubernetes Controllers: innovative approach to using multiple active controllers for better scalability.
  • SIG Storage Deep Dive: future developments in storage providers and the movement towards out-of-tree deployments.

Day 4: AI, LLMs & security

The last day was dedicated to AI and security. AI and LLMs were hot topics, with applications in Formula 1, CERN and prompt security. A key session was the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which discussed European regulations for digital resilience.

Trends and innovations

In addition to the sessions and keynotes, there were some notable trends shaping the future of cloud-native technologies:

  • Platform Engineering: there was a lot of focus on platform engineering, focusing on creating internal developer platforms (IDPs) that improve the developer experience and reduce cognitive load. Tools such as Backstage and NeoNephos play an important role in this trend.
  • Security by Default: security was presented as a must-have basic principle. Kubernetes is becoming more secure ‘out of the box’ with new standards around SBOMs, signed images, and runtime policy enforcement.
  • AI Integration: AI is increasingly being integrated into cloud-native environments. Kubernetes now serves as the platform for AI workloads, with enhanced support for GPU scheduling and multi-node training jobs.


Personal experiences

Besides the technical sessions, there were also many interesting conversations and encounters. I spoke with techies from vCluster, a product from Loft that I have been watching for a while. During KubeCon, vNode was launched, which offers new possibilities for Kubernetes multi-tenancy.

There were also inspiring talks on how companies such as LEGO and ClickHouse have solved specific problems and tackled projects. The adoption of internal Kubernetes platforms and migrating database servers without downtime were particularly impressive.

Conclusion

KubeCon 2025 confirmed what many already felt: cloud native has come of age. With this maturity also comes the responsibility to make tooling simpler, more secure and inclusive. We have seen and learned a lot, discovering valuable insights and elements that we will add to the further development of Previder's KaaS platform so that customers can take full advantage of it. The community continues to grow and innovate, and I look forward to the future of cloud-native technologies.