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Nearly all major technology companies are saying the same thing. Kubernetes is the next big thing in computing.

The Greek word for helmsman or pilot, Kubernetes is accelerating the transition away for legacy client-server technology by making cloud-native software development easier, better and faster.

Last week, more than 12,000 developers and executives gathered in San Diego at the largest annual Kubernetes conference called KubeCon. Thats up from just 550 attendees four years ago. The conference goers are all looking for ways to take advantage of Kubernetes and its ability to automatically deploy, manage, and scale software workloads in the cloud.

To understand the trend, lets start with the changing dynamics of software in the cloud. Cloud apps increasingly run in aptly-named containers. The containers hold an application, its settings, and other related instructions. The trick is that these containers arent tied down to one piece of hardware and can run nearly anywhereacross different servers and clouds. Its how Google manages to scale Gmail and Google Maps across a billion-plus users.

Alphabets (ticker: GOOGL) Google long ago developed software called Borg to orchestrate its in-house containersspinning them up and down as needed. In 2014, the search giant opted to make a version of Borg open source, calling it Kubernetes. Today, the major cloud providers all offer a Kubernetes option to customers.

Aparna Sinha, the director of product for Kubernetes at Google, notes that Kubernetes is built by the same team that created Borg. We are quite confident in its ability and how it enables applications to run more reliably, more efficiently, and more affordably, Sinha says. Kubernetes has really taken off.

Gartner says more than 75% of global companies will run containerized applications by 2022, from less than 30% today. Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for these managing containers.

As enterprises modernize their infrastructure and adopt a hybrid multicloud strategy, we see Kubernetes and containers rapidly emerging as the standard, Jason McGee, chief technology officer of IBM Cloud Platform, told Barrons in an email.

In terms of who will thrive in the shift to Kubernetes, there are some early leaders. Last month, Microsoft (MSFT) Azure Chief Technology Officer Mark Russinovich told Barrons he thinks Microsofts Kubernetes service is best-of-breed.

Some industry analysts are pointing to other companies. When asked for the Kubernetes vendors that came up the most during discussions with customers, Gartner analyst Arun Chandrasekaran listed Amazon Web Services (AMZN), Google Cloud, and IBM (IBM) Red Hat OpenShift. For on-premise companies looking to use multiple clouds, IDC analyst Gary Chen added, Red Hat right now is the leader in Kubernetes software. They have the early lead.

It is still early in this new big trend. One thing is for sure, get ready to hear a lot more from technology companies on their Kubernetes strategies. The race is on.

Write to Tae Kim at tae.kim@barrons.com

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Kubernetes Is the Future of Computing. Everything You Should Know. - Barron's