VMblog:  Can you give VMblog readers a quick overview of your company?

Tom Leyden:  Kasten by Veeam is the leader in Kubernetes backup and disaster recovery. Its solution helps enterprises overcome Day 2 data management challenges to confidently run applications on Kubernetes.

VMblog:  Your company is sponsoring this year's KubeCon + CloudNativeCon event.  Can you talk about what that sponsorship looks like?

Tom Leyden:  Kasten is a diamond sponsor for KubeCon and a leader in the cloud native and Kubernetes backup space. Kasten will be sponsoring the official KubeCon party. We will also be hosting a Kasten party for all to enjoy as well as a KubeCampus Learning Day, which is designed to educate companies on Kubernetes and teach their teams how to use it properly.

VMblog:  How can attendees of the event find you?  What do you have planned at your booth this year?  What type of things will attendees be able to do at your booth? 

Tom Leyden:  You can find us at booth #D6, and it will be hard for attendees to miss us! We'll have banners in the airports directing people to Kasten's booth and we're planning to have plenty of fun and engaging activities running for those who do stop by - including some giveaways! At the booth, attendees have the opportunity to learn about Kubernetes and backup management throughout the live demo area, but we will also have a meeting area for folks to dig into our technology and a keynote session by our team on learning how to build bridges in the Kubernetes community.

VMblog:  Are you and your company excited for this event to be in person this year in Detroit?  What are your thoughts and expectations for the show?  Are attendees ready to come back in person, in full force? 

Tom Leyden:  We are excited for KubeCon to be in person this year, and we expect to see more attendees than in previous years. This event, like all events, had to reboot after the pandemic. We've been present during the virtual events where the turnout wasn't as busy as years prior, but since bringing back the in-person element of the event (like we experienced this past May in Spain at KubeCon EU), we saw an increase in attendance and expect that to continue growing for this event. We could really feel the excitement of people ready to attend in-person and hybrid events, so we're looking forward to this year!

Detroit is a great city, and its technology scene continues to grow. While at this year's event, Kasten will be working with a lot of universities in the Detroit area for our KubeCampus learning day. This gives us such a great opportunity to connect with younger generations excited and interested to learn more about Kubernetes, we can't wait.

VMblog:  Have you sponsored KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in the past?  If so, what is it about this show that keeps you coming back as a sponsor?

Tom Leyden:  KubeCon and CloudNativeCon is the number one gathering for our audience. It is the biggest event for Kubernetes technology and is in line with how we want to be present in the market, outside of just selling our technology. Switching from traditional infrastructure to cloud native infrastructure isn't something that can be done overnight, but we aim to help organizations make the shift as seamless as possible. KubeCon and CloudNativeCon provide the means and opportunity to connect with customers and prospective customers looking to make the shift and help them learn more about Kubernetes to ensure easier integration.

VMblog:  What do you attribute to the success and growth of this industry?

Tom Leyden:  DevOps and Kubernetes have become essential to the new cloud native environments dominating today's business economy. The cloud native industry will only continue to increase in importance as more organizations realize that being successful is tied to operating, building, and deploying scaled cloud applications. More companies are adopting Kubernetes and DevOps applications to meet the requirements of current company goals, but as I mentioned, this shift doesn't happen overnight.

Kasten gives organizations the opportunity to develop and deploy applications using containers and Kubernetes - both of which are essential to meet the requirements of modern-day market demand that enterprises want to achieve.

VMblog:  Do you have any speaking sessions during the event?  If so, can you give us the details?

Tom Leyden:  Le Tran, a member of the technical staff at Kasten by Veeam will have a keynote presentation titled "Fostering Kubernetes Community Growth Through Learning" at 10 am on October 26. She will share insights on building bridges in the Kubernetes community through different initiatives, like our KubeCampus learning platform. On top of this, we will have our booth theater which will be running non-stop with information, demos, and sessions that bring high learning value to attendees.

VMblog:  What are you personally most interested in seeing or learning at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon?

Tom Leyden:  I am always excited to meet and learn about new companies entering the Kubernetes space. While we've seen a lot of innovation from our community to date, there are always new innovators entering the space. I love to see what's new and upcoming among my peers. On top of this, I enjoy learning about new innovations from more established players. Additionally, meeting customers and users to learn how they use Kubernetes, and their best practices is something I always look forward to. Having their feedback is invaluable.

VMblog:  What kind of message will an attendee hear from you this year?  What will they take back to help sell their management team and decision makers?

Tom Leyden:  Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the latest release of Kasten K10 v5.5, an update to our flagship solution Kasten K10, the #1 Kubernetes backup solution. You can find out more when we officially announce the update during this year's event. Attendees also can learn about case studies on how our customers are protecting and managing their Kubernetes clusters. 

VMblog:  Can you double click on your company's technologies?  And talk about the types of problems you solve for a KubeCon + CloudNativeCon attendee.

Tom Leyden:  Kasten K10, Kasten's data management platform purpose-built for Kubernetes, provides enterprise operations teams with an easy-to-use, scalable, and secure system for backup/restore, disaster recovery, and application mobility with unparalleled operational simplicity. 

VMblog:  While thinking about your company's solutions, can you give readers a few examples of how your offerings are unique?  What are your differentiators?  What sets you apart from the competition?

Tom Leyden:  Kasten breaks away from competition in three ways. First, Kasten eliminates the status-quo or inaction, where there is a misplaced belief that data protection for containerized workloads can be taken for granted based on legacy backup solutions already in place. Second, Kasten beats out BYO-type data protection using open-source components such as Velero. Third, Kasten surpasses commercial, made for Kubernetes products. Those products are tied to a particular storage vendor and would inherently limit the customers' choice. 

Ransomware continues to grow in frequency, making it the highest concern for organizations. In the past year, 76% of organizations have been affected by ransomware, according to Veeam's Data Protection Trends Report 2022. When attacked, businesses are unable to quickly recover an average of 36% of the data they lose. The threat landscape is as volatile, with attacks taking place simultaneously as companies attempt to move their data into Kubernetes environments. Companies need a comprehensive risk management strategy to help continuously identify risk, protect data, detect attacks, and deliver disaster recovery for cloud native applications. Kasten K10 helps enterprises minimize the impact caused by attacks on data and cloud applications. Additionally, the solution supports developer needs for backup solutions that not only integrate with the CI/CD tools they use but pave the way for automation to detect and protect applications as they get deployed.

VMblog:  Where does your company fit within the container, cloud, Kubernetes ecosystem?

Tom Leyden:  We are the number one Kubernetes backup solution. Kasten, a platinum sponsor for CNCF and member of OSS Forum, provides enterprise operations teams an easy-to-use, scalable, and secure system for backup/restore, disaster recovery and mobility of Kubernetes applications. We enable companies with application mobility comprised of a full set of cloud native data management capabilities. We also have several open-source solutions like Kubester and Kanister.

VMblog:  KubeCon + CloudNativeCon is typically a great venue for a company to launch a new product or an update to an existing product.  Will your company be announcing anything new?  If so, can you give us a sneak preview?

Tom Leyden:  Kasten will be launching Kasten K10 v5.5, a data management platform which simplifies Kubernetes data protection at scale. The new capabilities we will be announcing during the event will address the data protection and backup challenges historically found in Kubernetes around operational complexity at scale, especially due to the diversity of deployment environments. Stop by our booth for a demo!

VMblog:  Where are we at in 2022 with regard to containers and Kubernetes?  Is there anything still holding it back from a wider distribution?  If so, what is it?  And how do we overcome it?   

Tom Leyden:  Many companies are still just starting to research and investigate the use of Kubernetes for their business operations, but this is only the beginning for Kubernetes. The adoption of Kubernetes will see explosive growth through the coming years. Fully integrating Kubernetes into an organization is a big shift and takes time but educating your teams on how to properly use Kubernetes is key for supporting this growth.

This is why our KubeCampus learning platform is so important because as leaders, it's our responsibility to teach companies about Kubernetes, help them with the shift, and provide them with the tools to then go on and teach their employees. Our KubeCampus Learning platform consists of two tracks, rookies and pros, created to meet people at their current Kubernetes knowledge level. These hands-on labs will allow participants to connect with Kubernetes thought leaders and learn real-world cloud native skills.

VMblog:  Are companies going all in for the cloud?  Or do you see a return back to on-premises?  Are there roadblocks in place keeping companies from going all cloud? 

Tom Leyden:  Overall, hybrid cloud environments will be key. We are seeing some companies return to on-premises, and while it's not necessarily a substantial shift back, we will always see companies operating on-premises to an extent. The current split between cloud and on-premises will likely remain with a bit of variation among organizations. The short answer is that companies will remain hybrid. It allows companies to move from the cloud to on-premises seamlessly. We enable companies to be able to keep this model because our products provide application mobility, so organizations don't have to choose.

VMblog:  The keynote stage will be covering a number of big topics, but what big changes or trends does your company see taking shape as we head into 2023?

Tom Leyden:  Kubernetes security will remain front and center for the year ahead. We will see more attacks on Kubernetes as they are integrated into more companies. There is a lot of noise around defining what guardrails should be in place, so companies should be laser focused on protecting those workloads. Companies should pay close attention to how applications are governed in an environment where changes happen frequently. Companies should also look into integrating additional layers of protection, like Infrastructure as code, and regularly monitor policies to ensure they are up to date across various environments.   

VMblog:  Are you giving away any prizes at your booth or participating in any prize giveaways?

Tom Leyden:  We have a few different activities that include giveaways. Attendees can participate in a raffle, participate in a t-shirt giveaway, and we also have goodie bags for those who attend the theater session, demo and KubeCampus session.

VMblog:  Is your company sponsoring any type of party or get together during the event that you'd like to notify attendees about? 

Tom Leyden:  We will be sponsoring the official KubeCon + CloudNativeCon party on October 26, featuring Detroit's number one DJ and a special guest. All are welcomed! Guests can RSVP here.