Priyanka Sharma on empowering Cloud-native Ecosystems and India’s Impact

In this insightful conversation with Priyanka Sharma, Executive Director of Cloud Native Computing Foundation - CNCF, we explore the transformative impact of cloud-native technologies, their intersection with emerging trends like AI and edge computing, and the pivotal role of open source in shaping the modern IT landscape. Priyanka shares her remarkable career journey, the contributions of India’s vibrant developer community, and how CNCF fosters innovation and scalability across industries. This interview sheds light on the future of cloud-native practices and the collaborative efforts driving global digital transformation.

Excerpts:

DQ: How do you see cloud-native technologies intersecting with other industry trends like edge computing, AI/ML, and IoT? Which industries are leading in adopting cloud-native practices?

Priyanka Sharma: Cloud-native technologies act as the backbone for a variety of workloads, including edge computing, AI/ML, and IoT. These technologies provide the infrastructure needed to scale and manage these workloads effectively.

AI, in particular, has become a fascinating area where cloud-native and emerging technologies intersect. Arun Gupta, CNCF’s governing board chair, will be presenting a keynote at KubeCon India titled “Cloud Native and AI: Better Together.” This talk will emphasize how cloud-native technologies enable the scalability and operational efficiency required to deploy AI solutions.

Infrastructure leaders who initially helped companies transition to microservices are now applying their expertise to AI platforms. They are addressing challenges like scaling workloads, managing distributed systems, and ensuring reliability. This intersection is gaining momentum as AI becomes increasingly important for businesses.

In terms of industries, e-commerce has been an early adopter of cloud-native technologies. The need for rapid feature deployment, high scalability, and seamless customer experiences makes cloud-native architectures a perfect fit for e-commerce platforms. Flipkart, for example, is a key participant in KubeCon India and a leader in this space.

Telecommunications, on the other hand, faced more challenges due to its tightly coupled virtual machine-based architectures. Moving to containerized solutions was complex, but with initiatives like Cloud Native Network Functions (CNFs), telecom companies have made significant progress. This transformation ensures that telcos can achieve the scalability and reliability required for modern networks.

DQ: How are cloud-native technologies reshaping traditional IT and DevOps practices? What measurable benefits do organizations achieve by adopting them?

Priyanka Sharma: Cloud-native technologies have revolutionized IT and DevOps by introducing principles like loosely coupled architectures, resiliency, and rapid problem isolation. These principles empower companies to leverage technology more effectively, allowing them to launch products faster, address customer needs in real time, and maintain high levels of reliability.

Adopting cloud-native technologies leads to tangible business outcomes. For instance, when I worked on OpenTracing, we demonstrated that distributed tracing could reduce the mean time to resolution for debugging issues by 95%. This level of efficiency can be transformative for organizations.

Transitioning from legacy architectures to cloud-native does take time, but the benefits—speed, resilience, and scalability—far outweigh the challenges. These improvements are crucial for companies looking to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced market.

DQ: What role do open-source technologies play in cloud-native solutions, and how does CNCF ensure the sustainability and innovation of its projects?

Priyanka Sharma: Open source is the foundation of cloud-native technologies. CNCF’s flagship project, Kubernetes, has become the gold standard for container orchestration and has democratized access to cutting-edge infrastructure.

CNCF ensures the sustainability and innovation of its projects by fostering a vendor-neutral collaboration space. This environment brings together big tech, startups, and individual contributors to co-create and evolve technologies. The result is a fast-paced innovation cycle where projects like Kubernetes, Prometheus, and OpenTelemetry consistently set industry benchmarks.

CNCF also emphasizes governance and community engagement to ensure that its projects remain relevant and impactful. This collaborative approach has been instrumental in driving the adoption of cloud-native technologies across industries.

DQ: How does CNCF engage with academic institutions and startups to foster innovation at the grassroots level?

Priyanka Sharma: CNCF actively engages with both academic institutions and startups to foster innovation. Startups benefit from discounted memberships and sponsorship opportunities for events like KubeCon, allowing them to showcase their technologies and connect with a global community.

For academic institutions, CNCF provides resources, certifications, and event scholarships to nurture the next generation of cloud-native professionals. These initiatives create a strong pipeline of talent and ensure that innovation continues to thrive at the grassroots level.

DQ: How is CNCF helping developers transition to cloud-native careers? What essential skills do developers need to thrive in this domain?

Priyanka Sharma: Education is one of CNCF’s core pillars. We offer certifications like Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) and Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD), which validate developers’ expertise and open doors to new career opportunities.

In addition to certifications, CNCF hosts global events like KubeCon, which serve as platforms for learning, networking, and inspiration. These events attract developers of all experience levels and provide a space for them to share knowledge, explore real-world use cases, and grow their careers.

CNCF also collaborates with community groups and organizations to offer workshops, training sessions, and learning resources, ensuring that developers have the tools they need to succeed in the cloud-native ecosystem.

DQ: How do cloud-native technologies enable scalability and resilience for industries like e-commerce and telecommunications?

Priyanka Sharma: E-commerce is a natural fit for cloud-native technologies. The sector requires high scalability, rapid feature deployment, and seamless customer experiences—all of which are inherent to cloud-native architectures. Companies like Flipkart have embraced these technologies to deliver exceptional performance and agility.

Telecommunications, while initially slower to adopt, has made significant strides in leveraging cloud-native solutions. Initiatives like Cloud Native Network Functions (CNFs) have enabled telecom companies to transition from virtual machine-based systems to containerized architectures, ensuring improved scalability and reliability.

DQ: How do you view India’s role in the global cloud-native ecosystem? What unique opportunities exist here?

Priyanka Sharma: India is a powerhouse in the global cloud-native ecosystem. It ranks as the third-largest contributor to Kubernetes by commits, reflecting the passion, dedication, and talent of its developer community.

From an enterprise perspective, Indian organizations are maturing in their adoption of cloud-native technologies. Companies like Infosys and HCL, which are Platinum members of CNCF, are leading this transformation. While some enterprises are still transitioning from legacy systems, others are at the forefront of innovation, creating a dynamic and promising landscape.

DQ: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Priyanka Sharma:  I’d like to emphasize the power of community in driving the cloud-native movement. From contributors in India to organizations worldwide, it’s the collective effort that makes CNCF and cloud-native technologies successful. It’s truly inspiring to see how this collaboration continues to shape the future of technology.