Accelerating Cloud Native Adoption with Cost Focus
In a recent video interview with SiliconAngle’s theCUBE, Madhura Maskasky, Platform9 co-founder and VP of Product, discussed the vision and exciting new features in the latest product release 5.8.
This blog summarizes key points from that interview. You can watch the full video here: How can enterprises save costs by migrating out of legacy virtualization platforms or public clouds.
What’s new at Platform9?
A: The exciting news is the release of Platform9 Managed Kubernetes 5.8, featuring KubeVirt, a Kubernetes-native virtualization technology. This release allows organizations to run VMs alongside containers on their Kubernetes clusters, providing a cost-effective and efficient solution.
What is the tagline for 5.8 and what are the key features?
A: The tagline for 5.8 is “Cloud-native Acceleration with Cost Focus.” It enables the acceleration of both existing legacy workloads and new cloud-native workloads on the same hardware footprint, whether in private data centers or public clouds, with a strong emphasis on cost optimization.
Who will benefit from this release and how will it help control costs?
A: The target audience includes IT infrastructure, platform engineering, developers, and DevOps teams. This release is particularly beneficial for organizations with large, virtualized environments seeking to reduce costs. It also caters to edge locations with limited resources, allowing the efficient coexistence of VMs and containers to save on infrastructure costs.
What are some key use cases addressed by 5.8?
A: The release focuses on two primary use cases. Firstly, it provides cost savings in traditional virtualized environments, allowing organizations to cut costs by up to a third while maintaining key features and functionalities. Secondly, it addresses the needs of edge environments where resource constraints require running VMs and containers on limited server infrastructure.
What challenges does 5.8 eliminate for customers at the edge?
A: The challenges faced at edge sites, such as hundreds or thousands of locations, are addressed through comprehensive automation. Platform9 ensures that the entire stack, from physical server setup to application deployment, is automated, enabling customers to adopt cloud-native technologies and drive innovation more effectively.
What is customer feedback on 5.8?
A: Customers have expressed satisfaction with the performance enhancements and cost savings provided by 5.8. The solution enables them to migrate from legacy virtualized environments to a modern, production-ready stack with confidence, while still achieving their desired cost optimization goals.
What sets Platform9 apart in terms of modernization initiatives?
A: Platform9’s secret sauce lies in offering a cost-effective and concrete migration plan for customers. We provide automated migration tools, comprehensive support, and a commitment to service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure a successful migration journey. Customers appreciate the partnership and trust established with Platform9 throughout the process.
Check out the virtualization solution page: https://platform9.com/solutions/virtualization/
Can you share a customer success story that exemplifies Platform9’s value?
A: There are numerous customer success stories, but one recent example involves a global food and beverage retailer customer in a store edge environment with a large, distributed footprint. Platform9’s product and customer success team supported them through a challenging Kubernetes upgrade, showcasing the value of the software’s intelligence and resulting in an expanded partnership. The customer runs Platform9 across thousands of locations and manages everything centrally from our management plane. Check out the case study here: https://platform9.com/customers/global-food-retailer-accelerates-store-digitization/
What excites you about the future in your role?
A: I’m excited about our current focus on virtualization and cost optimization. This will help customers modernize their legacy virtualization stacks and make it easy for them to move to a cloud-native future. Additionally, we are developing an innovative solution to help customers save significant costs when running Kubernetes on public clouds. The goal is to provide customers with the means to leverage cloud-native technologies efficiently while maintaining cost control.
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