In this special segment celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), host Savannah Peterson sits down with Google’s Bobby Allen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to reflect on the key takeaways from KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA. Allen shares his highlights from the event in Atlanta, emphasizing the electric atmosphere of the community and the success of the GKE Turns 10 Hackathon. The conversation underscores how the platform has become more accessible than ever, evidenced by a first-time hackathon participant winning the competition by leveraging Gemini to build a winning application. Allen notes that this democratization of technology is allowing users to jump in and build the future without needing decades of legacy experience.
The discussion also explores the technical innovations driving GKE forward, specifically the announcement of the GKE Agentic Sandbox. Allen explains the importance of providing a safe environment for developers to experiment with AI agents without risking their core infrastructure – balancing the need for creativity with operational safety. He further champions GKE Autopilot as a solution for reducing complexity and automating security and scaling, which remains a favorite feature among users. From powering Spotify’s AI DJ to major gaming titles like Street Fighter, Allen illustrates how GKE has evolved into the central nervous system for both digital and physical world experiences.
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Bobby Allen, Google
In this KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America interview, theCUBE’s Rob Strechay speaks with Alon Horev, co-founder and chief technology officer at Vast Data, to unpack how Kubernetes and cloud-native standards are powering real-time AI at the edge and across hybrid environments. Horev explains why Kubernetes is the “orchestration platform of today” and why open protocols (such as S3 and Kafka) are essential to avoid product lock-in while enabling developer choice and portability.
Horev discusses platform engineering, multi-tenancy and zero-trust as foundations for self-service data pipelines and governance at scale. Lessons learned from open source-centric customers on building consistent platforms across locations are explored, as well as discussions on Vast’s v5.4 data engine update that introduces serverless functions and triggers to invoke compute on data in real time – vital for use cases from retail to smart cities. Horev also breaks down modern Retrieval-Augemented Generation, or RAG, pipelines and vector databases, why enterprises need a consolidated stack to operationalize agentic AI and the centrality of observability for performance, cost and quality – complete with traces and logs to monitor and compare releases without costly re-runs.
In this special segment celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), host Savannah Peterson sits down with Google’s Bobby Allen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to reflect on the key takeaways from KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA. Allen shares his highlights from the event in Atlanta, emphasizing the electric atmosphere of the community and the success of the GKE Turns 10 Hackathon. The conversation underscores how the platform has become more accessible than ever, evidenced by a first-time hackathon participant winning the competition by leverag...Read more
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What was your highlight from KubeCon in Atlanta?add
What were the highlights and notable aspects of the GKE Turns 10 Hackathon event?add
>> Hi, GKE fans, and welcome to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where we're continuing our special exclusive series, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of GKE. My name is Savannah Peterson. Delighted to be joined by CUBE regular Bobby Allen today. Bobby, thanks for having us at your alma mater.
Bobby Allen
>> Yes.
Savannah Peterson
>> So cool to be here in Michigan and hear your stories. It's very appropriate as we wrap up our Passport series and we do this after-glow from KubeCon in Atlanta. What was your highlight from Atlanta?
Bobby Allen
>> I think my highlight from Atlanta was seeing faces that I haven't seen in years. I actually bumped into a guy I worked in one of the startups I did in Charlotte years ago. He's actually at a neocloud now. But just to get to see someone that I had so much history with, worked closely with, went to battle with in the startup world and to see him doing well. I think Kelsey Hightower said before, "Oftentimes, it's the same mission, but different teams." And so, it's cool to see people that are doing well, that have gone off to do other things. So, that was a big highlight for me.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. And he's probably a GKE user if he was at KubeCon.
Bobby Allen
>> He's one of the other guy's users, but he's drinking from the dark side right now, but we'll convert him again.
Savannah Peterson
>> You'll bring him back to the light. This series will help bring him back to the light. How would you describe the Google Cloud and the GKE presence at KubeCon?
Bobby Allen
>> I mean, it was really a blessing to be there in the numbers and in the force that we had. We had a huge team that was there. The community was in force, partly because of the big hackathon that we did. And so, the GKE Turns 10 Hackathon was a big deal in terms of prizes and recognizing people's great work on GKE. So, it was really good to see some regular folks, like the Garys and the Nicks of the world, but then also some new faces as well. So, people in the booth, people walking around, T-shirts and Google Cloud branding everywhere. It was really cool to see that. As well as the great work they did with your team on theCUBE, having some great guests, people like Kelsey on as well. And just a really good time. I think the vibe was very familiar, but also fresh in many ways too. So, it was cool.
Savannah Peterson
>> And I felt really strong. I feel like as a community right now, the Kubernetes community across the board, and the open-source community for that matter, are having a moment and also really have achieved a velocity and momentum lately that is super compelling. I don't know if you knew this, did you know that Amy, who won the hackathon, that was her first hackathon ever?
Bobby Allen
>> I did not know that. Wow.
Savannah Peterson
>> Isn't that special?
Bobby Allen
>> That's crazy. That's crazy.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. She saw a post on Reddit from your team, decided to enter and ended up winning-
Bobby Allen
>> Love that....
Savannah Peterson
>> with her grocery store shopping recipe app.
Bobby Allen
>> Love that.
Savannah Peterson
>> I was so moved by that because it speaks to the culture within Google that, I say this with love as one, that a woman not only felt confident jumping in by herself, team of one, but also at her first hackathon, managed to win.
Bobby Allen
>> To win. And there were some killer entries in the other part of the... I mean, this wasn't a softball.
Savannah Peterson
>> No, no. And what it shows me, I'll give you all this affirmation unsolicited, is how accessible the GKE platform is and the tools built within that and leveraging Gemini to be able to achieve those kind of results as a first-timer.
Bobby Allen
>> I love that because people don't have to be OGs in GKE to create something great. They can get a quick introduction at a conference like a KubeCon or by way of some of the other material that we put out online. Maybe they popped into ContainerDays that Gary does, but we want to bring the experience to people where they are at the level where they are and they feel like they can jump on this train with us and just go build the future.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yes, absolutely. And they can. I mean, Amy is absolutely a testament to that. I hope that Amy and women like Kaslin also inspire that next generation of creators, just like your daughter who we'll get to see a little bit later today, which is very exciting. Kelsey had mentioned that he always envisioned this as a 20-year technology, even when it was just a project back in the day. You surprised me, but refreshed me with your honesty, by saying that you didn't quite anticipate that GKE would be the backbone for AI that it is today. I'm curious as we're looking forward, what announcements on the GKE side got you most excited at KubeCon?
Bobby Allen
>> I think for sure the GKE Agentic Sandbox. Obviously, agents are all the rage right now, but we have to do that safely. And so, having a way where you can lease your creativity, but not cannibalize your environment. So, let's make sure that we can experiment, but then don't burn the house down. Try a new recipe, but don't set the house on fire. I think that balance is going to be really cool because we have to make sure we can innovate and operate at the same time. And so, these should not be seen as two things that are fighting, but let's put some guardrails around it so that as our agents are adding more tools and more capabilities, they don't blow up the other things that are paying our salaries.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. It was outstanding to get to go into a deep dive with Brandon about that specifically. I feel like I had a light bulb moment in that interview, y'all have to go check it out, because there's a lot of risk when we're talking about rolling out agenda, particularly at scale. Even in small instances, I think it can actually be quite risky and wild. And knowing that you can do that and that you can come back to whatever settings you want or however you want to configure that with ease, I think it's compelling and I think it's going to be a huge solution for a lot of folks. What types of things, solutions, value-add, do you think people are going to create as a result of this sandbox?
Bobby Allen
>> I think they're going to create things we can't even imagine right now, honestly. I think what's going to be cool is people are going to create things that make their lives better personally, that make their customers' lives better, that hopefully accelerate revenue, accelerate customer satisfaction. I think all the metrics and markers across the board are going to move up and to the right. And I think the folks are going to feel like they can just be unleashed. That creativity now has enough structure that they can just go build something new and not worry about breaking things too much.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I do like it as unleashing the creativity, unlocking that. We talk about democratizing AI all the time. A, if you can't access the tools, that's no democracy. And B, if you can't really play with them and make a little bit of a mess on the floor, then you're not going to be able to create anything wild. I'm curious, you've been on the road basically as much as I have the last couple of weeks, both talking to Googlers, as well as talking to customers and just the broader community. Do you have any favorite examples of GKE solutions that you like or love talking about?
Bobby Allen
>> Probably Autopilot still. Probably Autopilot, just because I think when folks see that the knock against GKE and Kubernetes ultimately was complexity. And so the fact that there's this mode of operation that automates a lot of the things like, oh, I don't have to worry about what I'm provisioning or what I'm allocating. There's actually someone behind the scenes, a feature in GKE that can scale things up or down without me, that actually can close a lot of the security gaps, which are one of the biggest things. Misconfiguration, that's another good side effect of that that can react to my needs. So, I don't have to be up monitoring the logs and looking at the metrics. If I have a great idea that gets a lot of demand and then it goes down. Autopilot is there to have your back and to help you do a lot of the things that you want to at scale without having to be an expert in all the dials and the knobs. So, I think that's what I'm most excited about still.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. It gives customers a confidence. On the customer side, what are some examples of products or companies that the audience might know that are built on GKE? I know you've got a few.
Bobby Allen
>> Yeah. So, this is not from KubeCon, but from a prior example. For those who listen to Spotify, Spotify's AI DJ runs on GKE. So, when you're consuming those tunes online, that's probably powered by GKE in many ways. In addition to, for those who are gamers, things like Tekkan and Street Fighter also run on GKE. So, from gaming to music, to shopping, things like Shopify, a lot of things in your everyday life run on top of GKE. It's a very proud moment every time I think about that.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you are truly a part of the central nervous system of the digital world right now and the physical world. I mean, AI is physical as well, which is also super exciting. Well, to you, what's the most exciting or compelling market signals that you're seeing that are impacting the GKE roadmap?
Bobby Allen
>> I think the compelling market signals that we're seeing are, and it's going to seem like a little bit of a contradiction, people like the new stuff, but they haven't mined all the gold from the old stuff. So, when we go to a conference and we do some of our customer-facing events like ContainerDay that Gary leads, a great job doing those internationally, folks are like, "I knew about this, but I didn't know we could do all of that." And so, they like the new pace of innovation, but they also like that there's still mileage they can get from things that are already present in their environment. So, I love that people don't feel like they've got to throw the baby out with the bath water to adopt all the new stuff. The new and the old are coming together in a special way and for people to feel like they can adopt at the pace that suits them, but they can still get value today and tomorrow.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. No, it's true. That's where Google is less of a vendor, more of a partner in these instances. Clearly, big part of why we're here in Michigan as well. I haven't asked you this before, this is going to be a fun one. If you could reach out to a dream company or entrepreneur or athlete, I know we're both athletes, who do you wish or would you like to invite to build with you on GKE? Fantasy customer?
Bobby Allen
>> Fantasy customer? I'll do athlete first and then I got to think about the customer more. Athlete, I'm a Charlotte guy, Steph Curry. I got to go with Steph Curry because he changed the game. Steph Curry's not seven feet tall. He's a surefire hall-of-famer and I love his confidence. You have to have guts of steel to be in the Olympics in a championship game, Kevin Durant and LeBron James are there, you take the shot and you hit it.
Savannah Peterson
>> Ooh, I just got goosebumps as you said that.
Bobby Allen
>> I love him. So, if I could pick one, Steph. If I could party with you-
Savannah Peterson
>> Steph, brother, We're thinking of you....
Bobby Allen
>> I would love it. I would.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, and you could take the franchises with that. Those could be your customer.
Bobby Allen
>> I would love that.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah.
Bobby Allen
>> If there was a company that I could take, this is so hard because there's so many different, just wonderful companies out there. What would I want to do? The NBA would be cool. I never played basketball, but if there was a way that the NBA could work with Google to revolutionize what they're doing, the NBA and the WNBA, right? Got to give a shout-out to the ladies who are killing it. If there's anything we could-
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah, we love our Golden State Valkyries.
Bobby Allen
>> If there's anything we could do to supercharge what they're doing, because just the experience of basketball, the stats, the camaraderie, the partnership, just the elite levels of athleticism, if there's a way that we could do something with that and also youth sports who are making their way to that, whether it's training or diet or coaching, if something in that world of athletes, making that more accessible, I think that would be awesome.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yeah, absolutely. I'll have to send you a segment we did on the Sevilla Football Club in Spain that is a little bit on this note, but I actually thought of you when we were filming that. Final question for you, what's the best part of working at Google?
Bobby Allen
>> Oh, man. Honestly, being here on campus, being able to have a chance to impact... And by the way, shout out to my bosses and my managers, people like Drew Bradstock and -
Savannah Peterson
>> I was going to say, what's up, Drew?...
Bobby Allen
>> that have given me a lot of leeway to do stuff like this. So, being able to invest in the next generation, that's absolutely the best part of my job.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yes, it is. And none of it matters if we're not building a better world for that gen.
Bobby Allen
>> Agreed.
Savannah Peterson
>> Thank you, Bobby, as always.
Bobby Allen
>> Thank you, Savannah.
Savannah Peterson
>> And thank you for bringing us to the big house and bringing us to Michigan. Such a fun field trip for the team.
Bobby Allen
>> Absolutely. Have to do it again.
Savannah Peterson
>> Yes, absolutely. We're going to a game next time.
Bobby Allen
>> Yes.
Savannah Peterson
>> And thank all of you for tuning in to our special and very exclusive coverage of the 10-year anniversary of the Google Kubernetes engine. My name's Savannah Peterson, coming to you from Ann Arbor, Michigan. You're watching theCUBE, the leading source for enterprise tech news.
