{ "edition": "2026-10-13", "years": [ 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 ], "ai_labels": [ [ "infra", "AI workload support" ], [ "stack", "AI platform stack" ], [ "ops", "AI-assisted operations" ], [ "agents", "Agent openness" ] ], "index_weights": { "cap": 35, "cred": 20, "safety": 20, "ai": 10, "integ": 10, "mom": 5 }, "domains": [ { "key": "lifecycle", "label": "Install, upgrade and lifecycle", "weight": 12 }, { "key": "infra", "label": "Bare metal, edge and on-prem infrastructure", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "fleet", "label": "Multi-cluster and fleet management", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "network", "label": "Networking", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "storage", "label": "Storage and data protection", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "security", "label": "Security and compliance", "weight": 12 }, { "key": "devplat", "label": "Developer platform", "weight": 8 }, { "key": "ops", "label": "Observability and day-2 operations", "weight": 8 }, { "key": "virt", "label": "VMs on Kubernetes (VMware exit)", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "accel", "label": "GPU and accelerator workloads", "weight": 10 } ], "platforms": [ { "key": "openshift", "name": "Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (with Kubernetes Engine, Virtualization Engine, Platform Plus)", "short": "OpenShift", "kind": "product", "group": "leader", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Full-stack enterprise platform", "grade": "A", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 17, "C": 42, "M": 17, "U": 25, "P": 0 }, "idx": 0.22, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 3, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 4, "2020": 4, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "infra": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 2.5, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 4, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 5, "2026": 5 }, "fleet": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "network": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 4.5, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 5, "2026": 5 }, "storage": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "security": { "2016": 3.5, "2017": 3.5, "2018": 3.5, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 4, "2021": 4.5, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": 3.5, "2017": 3.5, "2018": 3.5, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 4.5, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 5, "2025": 5, "2026": 5 }, "ops": { "2016": 3, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 1, "2020": 3, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 5, "2026": 5 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 2, "2019": 2, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4.5, "About three minors a year, each with dated GA errata and published life-cycle dates; 4.20 to 4.22 kept the rhythm" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 4, "Public release notes with preview trackers, public life-cycle API and enhancement repo; roadmap sessions mostly event-only" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "13 of 19 due previews or dated promises GA within 12 months (68%); Lightspeed missed its late-2024 date" ], [ "Velocity", 5, "Several substantive features per minor, for example 4.20 arbiter clusters, sigstore GA and user namespaces GA" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 4.5, "EUS minors supported 24 months, paid terms to 36 and 48; forced reinstall only at the 3.x to 4.x move" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2, "Bare-metal metric changed twice: socket pair widened from 64 to 128 cores in 2025, replaced by per-node in 2026; new VM-only edition 2025" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 1.5, "Four editions from VM-only to Platform Plus, per core-pair or per node; no free supported edition" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Docs and trials open, broad partner channel; updates and support need a subscription" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "IBM subsidiary since 2019, run as a separate unit; no product line sold or wound down" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2, "Each minor needs upgrading within 18 to 24 months unless EUS terms are bought; ACM, ACS and ODF cost extra outside Platform Plus" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 2.5, "CNCF conformant every minor, but routes, SCCs, BuildConfigs and image streams are OpenShift APIs; Gateway API GA since 4.19" ], [ "Export path", 2, "OADP (Velero) backup and restore documented; no Red Hat guide for leaving OpenShift" ], [ "Stack coupling", 3.5, "RHCOS required on every node; OVN-Kubernetes default since 4.12; CSI choice open" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0.5, "x86, ARM, Power and Z on bare metal, vSphere, Nutanix, OpenStack and clouds; installs fully disconnected" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2, "oc, operators and MachineConfigs are OpenShift-specific but the skill pool is the largest in the category" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 4.5, "Large open partner programme and certified operator ecosystem; programme tiers not re-checked in this pass" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 5, "Projects and RBAC, user-defined network isolation GA in 4.18, hosted control planes per tenant GA in 4.14" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3.5, "Ansible collections, Helm, GitOps and Cluster API underneath; no official Terraform provider for self-managed clusters confirmed" ], [ "Skills and certification", 4.5, "Red Hat certification exams for OpenShift administration and development; exam list not re-checked in this pass" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Red Hat is turning OpenShift into one subscription platform for containers, VMs and AI, with its own OS, fleet manager and security add-ons. The record is dense and dated: three minors a year, most previews GA within a year, long EUS terms, but upstream Kubernetes lands about six months late. Buyers get the broadest capability in the category in exchange for RHCOS coupling, OpenShift-specific APIs and pricing that changed metric twice since 2025.", "report": "reports/01-openshift.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "agents": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 3 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "OCP 4.22: JobSet operator for distributed training", "stack": "OpenShift AI 3.0 GA November 2025 with distributed inference", "ops": "OpenShift Lightspeed GA May 2025, natural-language assistant in the console; cluster interaction still preview", "agents": "OCP 4.22: MCP server for OpenShift and MCP gateway as Technology Preview with RBAC" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 4 tracked, 2 GA (Lightspeed about 5 to 6 months late, DRA GPU allocation on time), 1 pending (MCP server preview), 1 not confirmed (Lightspeed cluster interaction). Lightspeed answers questions and reads cluster context in preview; it does not act on the cluster." }, { "key": "rancher", "name": "SUSE Rancher Prime (RKE2, K3s, SUSE Virtualization)", "short": "Rancher", "kind": "product", "group": "leader", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Open multi-cluster manager", "grade": "A", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 9, "C": 27, "M": 18, "U": 27, "P": 18 }, "idx": 0.17, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "infra": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "network": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "storage": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "security": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4.5, "2023": 4.5, "2024": 4.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4.5, "Rancher minors about every four months since 2.9 and monthly RKE2/K3s patches, dates published on SUSE lifecycle page" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 4, "Public GitHub issues, milestones and detailed release notes; no written multi-year roadmap found" ], [ "Say-do", 4.5, "7 of 7 verifiable promises 2023-2026 delivered on time or within five months; 2 unconfirmed, 2 pending" ], [ "Velocity", 4, "Several substantive features per minor, for example Turtles, IPv6, ARM64, CAPI providers, Harvester vGPU" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "About 18 months per Rancher minor, no LTS; RKE1 end of life July 2025 forced replatforming to RKE2" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1.5, "Rancher Enterprise single package and price (Mar 2024); Istio moved to Prime-only Application Collection (2.12)" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 1, "Free community edition of every component; Prime sold to any size, prices not published" ], [ "Channel and access", 1, "Open downloads, public docs and GitHub, open SUSE One partner programme" ], [ "Owner stability", 3, "EQT private equity owner since the November 2023 take-private" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2, "Free community updates, but Prime minors supported about 18 months and some builds Prime-only" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 0.5, "CNCF-certified RKE2 and K3s every minor; Rancher CRDs live only in the management cluster" ], [ "Export path", 1, "Downstream clusters keep running when detached; standard Velero-style backups apply" ], [ "Stack coupling", 0.5, "Choice of Linux OS, five bundled upstream CNIs, any CSI driver" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0, "Any hardware, fully air-gapped installs, no mandatory SaaS" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1, "Standard kubectl, Helm and GitOps skills; Rancher UI and Fleet add some own concepts" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 4, "SUSE One Partner Program with open application and six specialisations" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Projects with RBAC and quotas, virtual clusters GA (Nov 2025), Harvester multi-tenancy via Rancher" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4.5, "Official rancher2 Terraform provider (54.8 million downloads), Rancher Turtles and CAPI RKE2 provider, Helm" ], [ "Skills and certification", 3.5, "SUSE exams for Rancher Prime and SUSE Virtualization; very large K3s and Rancher community" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "SUSE is turning Rancher into a Cluster API based manager for any Kubernetes plus KubeVirt virtualization and an AI assistant for operators. The record is strong on shipping: upstream minors land in RKE2 or K3s within about three weeks, and the few dated promises found were kept. The trade-off is short 18-month support per Rancher minor, a private-equity owner, and a long list of critical management-plane advisories that need prompt patching.", "report": "reports/02-rancher.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 1, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "agents": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "SUSE AI adds an inference engine on Rancher Prime (Nov 2025)", "stack": "SUSE AI with inference engine, observability and MCP proxy preview (Nov 2025)", "ops": "Liz GA (Mar 2026): multi-agent assistant that can update resources, human approval for actions", "agents": "Rancher MCP server 1.0 (Mar 2026) acting with the user's Rancher token and RBAC; external MCP servers" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 4 announced, 2 GA (SUSE AI, Liz), 1 preview pending (MCP proxy), 1 not confirmed (MLflow agents). Liz reads cluster state through the Rancher MCP server under the user's permissions and can propose and, with approval, apply changes." }, { "key": "vmware", "name": "VMware vSphere Kubernetes Service (formerly Tanzu Kubernetes Grid, PKS)", "short": "VMware VKS", "kind": "product", "group": "leader", "since": 2018, "archetype": "Hypervisor-bound Kubernetes", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 0, "C": 27, "M": 27, "U": 18, "P": 27 }, "idx": 0.0, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4.5 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0.5, "2019": 0.5, "2020": 0.5, "2021": 0.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "VKS minors about every four months since 2024 with dated release notes; VKr patches monthly" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Public TechDocs release notes; direction only through Explore keynotes and press releases" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "3 of 5 verifiable promises 2023-2026 delivered within 12 months; both AI assistants still preview" ], [ "Velocity", 3.5, "One or two substantive capabilities per VKS release, for example SR-IOV, RHEL nodes, in-place updates" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 1.5, "Line renamed PKS, TKGI, TKG, TKG Service, VKS; standalone TKG ended 2025; TKC API removed 2026" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 5, "December 2023: perpetual licences and SnS renewals ended, portfolio folded into VCF and VVF subscriptions" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 4.5, "Kubernetes runtime only available inside VCF or VVF subscriptions; no standalone or free edition" ], [ "Channel and access", 3.5, "Partners moved to Broadcom Advantage with standardised pricing; Broadcom takes strategic accounts direct" ], [ "Owner stability", 4, "Acquired by Broadcom November 2023, followed by portfolio cuts and the end of standalone TKG" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 4, "Subscription required for any support; VKS versions drop VKr support within about 16 months before 1.34" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 2.5, "Conformant VKr clusters, but VMware ClusterClasses, Supervisor and VM Service CRDs are vSphere-only" ], [ "Export path", 2, "Velero path for container workloads; VM Service VMs and cluster definitions need rebuilding elsewhere" ], [ "Stack coupling", 4, "ESXi, vCenter and VCF networking and storage required; RHEL and custom CNI options only since 2026" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 3, "Any vSphere-certified x86 server; offline operation possible; no option outside vSphere" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 3, "kubectl plus vSphere, NSX and VCF administration skills" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Broadcom Advantage programme with standardised pricing and direct handling of strategic accounts" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "vSphere Namespaces with VM classes and storage policies, per-tenant EncryptionClass (3.6.1)" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4, "HashiCorp vsphere and VMware TMC and VCF Terraform providers, Cluster API with CAPV, community Ansible" ], [ "Skills and certification", 4, "Very large VMware administrator base and Broadcom-hosted VMware certifications" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Broadcom is folding Kubernetes into VMware Cloud Foundation as one feature of a private-cloud subscription, next to VMs and Private AI. Since VKS became a separately updated service in 2024 it ships new Kubernetes minors in about two months, but the product line was renamed or cut five times and the AI assistants announced in 2023 and 2025 are still previews. Buyers get strong VM and Kubernetes integration on vSphere at the price of full VCF subscription terms and tight coupling to ESXi and vCenter.", "report": "reports/03-vmware.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "VCF 9.0 GPU-as-a-Service with multi-tenancy and vGPU profile visibility (Jun 2025)", "stack": "VCF 9.1 Private AI Services with model runtime and agent builder, announced as included in VCF", "ops": "Tanzu with Intelligent Assist tech preview (Aug 2023); still preview as Intelligent Assist in VCF 9.1.1", "agents": "VCF 9.1 MCP support for agents in Private AI Services; no official VKS MCP server found" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 5 announced, 2 GA (Private AI Foundation, MCP support), 2 assistants still preview after over 12 months, 1 unconfirmed. The AI work targets running customer models on VCF; operator assistance remains a support chatbot in preview." }, { "key": "nkp", "name": "Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (ex D2iQ DKP / Konvoy)", "short": "Nutanix NKP", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2019, "archetype": "Nutanix-centred CAPI platform", "grade": "A", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 22, "C": 44, "M": 22, "U": 0, "P": 11 }, "idx": 0.25, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 4 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3.5, "Seven NKP minors Aug 2024 to Jul 2026, three to six months apart; dates published in the EOL table, no stated rhythm" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Public release notes and EOL table, but no public roadmap; current notes and limits sit behind the portal login" ], [ "Say-do", 4, "5 of 6 resolved promises GA within 12 months (NKP launch on time); NDK in NKP Pro slipped about 17 months" ], [ "Velocity", 3.5, "Two to four substantive features per release, e.g. STIG image and NDK (2.17), FIPS 140-3 and MCP (2.18)" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2.5, "15-19 months per minor, no extended support; Konvoy 1 to DKP 2 rewrite and NKE line ended 2025" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2.5, "DKP Essential and Enterprise replaced by NKP Pro and Ultimate (2024), Starter and Full Stack added, per-core metric" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2.5, "No free edition; sold per core of worker vCPUs; Starter tier limited to Nutanix AHV" ], [ "Channel and access", 2, "Docs and guides public, downloads and current release notes need a registered portal account" ], [ "Owner stability", 2, "Stable listed owner, but the product line came from a 2023 asset purchase of a wound-down D2iQ" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "15-19 months per minor with no extended support; NKE customers had to move to NKP by 2025" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1, "CNCF-certified every minor 1.24-1.36; Kommander and NKPCluster CRDs only on the management side" ], [ "Export path", 1.5, "Velero backup and restore documented; no NKP migration-off guide" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1, "Rocky, Ubuntu, RHEL or Flatcar images; Cilium, Calico or Flow CNI; any CSI" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0.5, "x86 hardware or clouds, air-gapped supported; AI Navigator needs internet, Starter needs AHV" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1.5, "kubectl, Cluster API and Flux skills plus NKP CLI and Kommander workspace concepts" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3.5, "Nutanix partner programme and NKP partner catalog for certified apps (2.16); tiers not verified" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Workspaces and projects with RBAC, quotas, network policies and per-tenant login URL" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "Cluster API based with CAPX provider; Terraform and Ansible cover Nutanix infrastructure, not NKP clusters" ], [ "Skills and certification", 3, "NCP-CN certification for NKP (7.5 beta Sep 2026); small community compared with OpenShift or Rancher" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Nutanix is folding the D2iQ platform into its stack: NKP gains AHV, Prism Central, NDK data services and NKP Metal, while keeping vSphere and cloud providers. The record since the 2024 relaunch is steady, with a release every three to six months and the launch promise kept, but new Kubernetes minors arrive seven to eight months after upstream and there is no VM-on-Kubernetes option. Buyers get a conformant, air-gap capable platform with strong day-2 tooling, at the cost of tier-gated features, login-gated release information and a product line that has changed owner and name twice.", "report": "reports/04-nkp.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 4 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "NKP 2.18 CNCF AI Conformant with DRA served (Aug 2026)", "stack": "Nutanix Enterprise AI GA (May 2025), paid product deployable from the NKP catalog", "ops": "NKP 2.18: AI Navigator answers from live cluster data via MCP; read-only, no actions", "agents": "NKP MCP Server GA in 2.18 with per-user Kubernetes RBAC, scoped to AI Navigator" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 2 tracked, 2 shipped (Nutanix Enterprise AI GA, AI Navigator with live cluster data). AI Navigator explains and drafts commands from docs and live cluster data but does not act; it uses a Nutanix-managed Azure OpenAI service and is unavailable air-gapped." }, { "key": "canonical", "name": "Canonical Kubernetes (Charmed Kubernetes, MicroK8s, k8s snap)", "short": "Canonical", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Long-support upstream packager", "grade": "A", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 25, "C": 38, "M": 12, "U": 12, "P": 12 }, "idx": 0.33, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "infra": { "2016": 3, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 2 }, "network": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4.5 }, "storage": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 4 }, "devplat": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "ops": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "New minors every four months by stated policy, mostly within days; snap 1.33 and 1.36 came two to four months late" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Public release notes, GitHub repos and docs sources; no written roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "3 of 4 resolved promises kept (Ubuntu Pro GA, biennial LTS, dqlite removal); four-month cadence only partly kept" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "One to three substantive features per release, e.g. FIPS and STIG (1.34), kube-proxy replacement (1.36)" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 4, "12-year LTS and 14-month interims, but three parallel product lines and k8s-dqlite removed without migration" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1, "Ubuntu Pro since Jan 2023 with stable per-machine pricing; no licence change found" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 0.5, "Free open-source software for any size; support per machine, free personal tier up to 5 machines" ], [ "Channel and access", 0.5, "Open downloads, public docs and source" ], [ "Owner stability", 1, "Private, founder-controlled company; no ownership change" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 1, "Free updates; LTS minors with at least 12 years of security fixes under Ubuntu Pro" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 0.5, "CNCF-certified across all three lines; standard upstream components and APIs" ], [ "Export path", 1, "Velero backup and restore documented; workloads portable" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1.5, "Snap and Juju charm delivery on Ubuntu; CNI and storage replaceable" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0, "Four CPU architectures, bare metal or clouds, air-gapped installs" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2, "Charmed operations need Juju and charm skills; the k8s snap needs only kubectl" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Canonical partner programmes exist; current tiers and Kubernetes specialisation not verified" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 1.5, "Namespaces and RBAC only; no projects, tenant UI or hosted control planes" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3.5, "Cluster API bootstrap and control-plane providers, Terraform modules, Juju" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "No Canonical Kubernetes certification found; CNCF CKA applies" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Canonical is consolidating its three Kubernetes lines around the k8s snap, with upstream minors in days and a 12-year LTS track sold through Ubuntu Pro. The record shows fast, conformant packaging, FIPS and STIG work and strong telco networking, but no fleet manager, developer platform, VM support or AI assistant. Buyers get low lock-in and low cost at the price of assembling management, policy and virtualization themselves.", "report": "reports/05-canonical.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0.5, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 0.5 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "GPU operator charm for AI nodes; no inference serving at the platform layer", "stack": "Charmed Kubeflow 1.7-1.8 GA with KServe serving and air-gapped installs", "ops": "No operator AI assistant found", "agents": "k8sd API, Terraform modules and CAPI providers; no official MCP server" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 dated AI promises found; Charmed Kubeflow releases were announced at GA. AI support is the Kubeflow MLOps stack and NVIDIA operators; there is no operator assistant or official MCP server." }, { "key": "mirantis", "name": "Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE 3, MKE 4k) with k0s and k0rdent", "short": "Mirantis MKE", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2018, "archetype": "Open-source rebuild under new owner", "grade": "A", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 11, "C": 44, "M": 33, "U": 11, "P": 0 }, "idx": 0.12, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2.5 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 3, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 3, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 2, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3.5, "MKE patches every eight weeks as published, k0s minors each four months; yearly MKE 3 majors slipped to 15-16 months" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3.5, "k0s and k0rdent public GitHub milestones and releases, public MKE docs and lifecycle; no MKE roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 4, "6 of 7 promises GA within 12 months (MKE 4 on the announced day); k0s 1.29 and 1.35 50-64 days late" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "MKE 4 adds a few features per release (4.1 offline and k0rdent, 4.2 Windows and FIPS); k0rdent monthly" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2.5, "Two years per MKE 3 major, but MKE 3 to 4 is a migration without Swarm and MKE 4 restores only same version" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2.5, "MKE 4 introduced as a new licensed product (2024), MKE 4k and k0rdent Enterprise packaging; no prices published" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 1.5, "Free k0s and k0rdent for any size; MKE requires a licence, terms not public" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Public docs and open-source code; MKE and enterprise builds need a subscription" ], [ "Owner stability", 4, "Acquired by IREN, an AI cloud operator, closed Aug 2026; earlier Docker Enterprise purchase" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "Two-year support per MKE 3 major; Swarm users must stay on MKE 3 or migrate" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "CNCF-certified k0s, MKE and k0rdent; Swarm workloads on MKE 3 do not move to MKE 4" ], [ "Export path", 2, "MKE 3 to 4 migration documented; MKE 4 backups restore only to the same version" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1, "Choice of RHEL, Ubuntu or Rocky; Calico or unmanaged CNI; any CSI" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0, "Any x86 hardware or cloud, offline installs, no SaaS dependency" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1.5, "kubectl skills plus mkectl, k0sctl, k0rdent templates; Swarm skills for MKE 3" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Mirantis partner programme exists; tiers not verified" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 3.5, "k0smotron hosted control planes and k0rdent child clusters per team; RBAC groups in MKE 4" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4, "Terraform providers for MKE and Launchpad, k0smotron Cluster API providers, k0sctl, k0rdent CRDs" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2.5, "k0s community (6,524 stars); Mirantis training not verified; CKA applies" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Mirantis is moving customers from the Docker-era MKE 3 to a Kubernetes-only MKE 4 built on its open-source k0s and k0rdent, now adding KubeVirt VMs and AI inference products. The record shows k0s tracking upstream within about six weeks and MKE 4 shipping on its announced date, but MKE itself trails upstream by five months and skips minors. Buyers get open, low-lock-in building blocks, but face a Swarm-to-Kubernetes migration and a new AI-cloud owner since August 2026 whose priorities may differ.", "report": "reports/06-mirantis.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0.5 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 1 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "k0rdent AI Inference Runtime and Mesh announced May 2026, maturity not confirmed", "stack": "k0rdent AI Model Registry announced May 2026, separate product, maturity not confirmed", "ops": "Lens Prism (Jul 2025): read-only natural-language assistant in paid Lens desktop plans, any cluster", "agents": "mkectl, k0rdent CRDs and Terraform providers; no official MCP server for MKE" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 1 tracked, 0 confirmed GA, 1 pending (k0rdent AI inference products). Lens Prism explains and drafts commands from live cluster data under the user's RBAC but does not act; MKE itself ships only NVIDIA GPU enablement." }, { "key": "gdc", "name": "Google Distributed Cloud, software only (ex Anthos clusters on VMware and bare metal)", "short": "Google Distributed Cloud", "kind": "product", "group": "hyperscaler", "since": 2019, "archetype": "Cloud-tethered hybrid kubernetes", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 0, "C": 54, "M": 8, "U": 15, "P": 23 }, "idx": 0.0, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "A minor every four to five months since 1.28, 106 to 146 days after upstream; final patch dates and a written support policy" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Detailed dated release notes and version history; no public roadmap, tracker or direction beyond Next blog posts" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "14 of 19 previews reached GA within 12 months (median 121 days); 5 stay in preview 13 to 30 months; mostly small features" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "One or two substantive capabilities per release: parallel upgrades, Identity Service v2, Node Agent, skip-minor upgrades, VPA" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "12-month minors with in-place upgrades, but renamed three times since 2019 and folded into GKE Enterprise in 2023; no extended support" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2, "Renamed Anthos to GDC Virtual 2022-06-17 and into GKE Enterprise 2023-11-15 with no on-prem price change; GKE editions consolidated September 2025" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 1.5, "Pay as you go per vCPU hour through a Google Cloud billing account; custom quotes for commitments; no minimum seen" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Documentation and release notes open; partner programme exists; billing and fleet registration require a Google Cloud project" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "Alphabet is stable, but the Anthos brand and product line were restructured twice and the software-only line is a minor part of the portfolio" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "Free updates but a 12-month window per minor, mandatory upgrades every year and new OS floors (cgroup v2, RHEL 8.10, Ansible 2.18)" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 2, "Workloads use upstream APIs; VMs and cluster lifecycle use vm.cluster.gke.io and baremetal.cluster.gke.io CRDs; no CNCF conformance listing found" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "Standard manifests move; bmctl backup restores control-plane state into GDC only; no documented migration path off the platform" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2, "Bring your own OS and any CSI; Cilium-based Dataplane V2, MetalLB and Config Sync are the supported network and policy stack" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 4, "Docs call a permanent Google Cloud connection the design; create and upgrade need it, fleet registration and metering are mandatory" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "bmctl, gkectl, gcloud and Google Cloud console skills on top of kubectl" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Google Cloud Partner Advantage and storage Ready partners; hybrid specialisation details not opened" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 2.5, "Admin and user clusters, namespaces, RBAC, fleet; no hosted control planes" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4, "GKE On-Prem API with gcloud and Terraform resources for bare metal and VMware clusters; Terraform provider has 2.6 billion downloads" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2.5, "Google Cloud certifications exist; none specific to GDC found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": false, "reading": "Google sells the on-premises clusters as an extension of its cloud: fleet, billing, identity and the install and upgrade path all run through a Google Cloud project. The release notes show steady, dated delivery and a solid VM Runtime, but no public roadmap, GPU features stuck in preview and no CNCF conformance listing. It suits teams already on Google Cloud that accept a standing connection; it does not suit disconnected sites.", "report": "reports/07-gdc.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "1.33 (2025-09-02): bundled GPU Operator and Dynamic Resource Allocation in preview; vLLM serving guides", "stack": "none", "ops": "none", "agents": "GKE On-Prem API (gcloud, Terraform, REST) enrollment GA in 1.16, 2023-08-25; no official MCP server for GDC" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 2 announced, 0 GA, 2 preview, 2 pending, 0 dropped; GPU support is real but the AI platform, assistant and MCP work Google announced is for its connected and air-gapped hardware, not for software only." }, { "key": "eksa", "name": "Amazon EKS Anywhere (open source, with paid Enterprise Subscription)", "short": "Amazon EKS Anywhere", "kind": "product", "group": "hyperscaler", "since": 2021, "archetype": "Open-source Cluster API toolkit", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 8, "C": 50, "M": 0, "U": 8, "P": 33 }, "idx": 0.14, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4.5, "A minor every four months since v0.19 (2024-02-29, 06-28, 10-30, 2025-02-28, 06-28, 11-06, 2026-03-02, 07-17); docs publish the rhythm and the patch policy" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3.5, "Open repository with issues, design docs and detailed release notes; roadmap only as quarter labels on six issues" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "8 of 10 capability items shipped (of 5 labelled items: 1 on time, 2 late by 2 to 3 months, 2 still open); 2 of 3 announced removals done on time" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "One or two substantive items per minor (in-place upgrades, extended support, failure domains, Cilium build); many releases are dependency refreshes" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3.5, "14 months plus 12 months extended per Kubernetes minor and no forced upgrades, but CloudStack, Bottlerocket on bare metal and the bundled CSI driver were removed and Snow is slated" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1.5, "Subscription price unchanged at $24,000 and $18,000 since self-service purchase in 2023-11; extended support added at no extra charge 2025-02" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3.5, "Per-cluster flat price, but a subscription requires an AWS Enterprise Support or Enterprise On-Ramp plan; not sold in some regions" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Apache-2.0 code, docs and patches public; Curated Packages and extended support need a subscription and licence token" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "Amazon is stable, but EKS Hybrid Nodes (2024-12-01) is the cloud-connected path and providers keep being removed" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "CVE patches only in the latest and previous minor; 14 months standard, further 12 only with a paid licence" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1, "CNCF-listed for Kubernetes 1.24 to 1.36; EKS Anywhere CRDs only drive cluster lifecycle on upstream Cluster API" ], [ "Export path", 1.5, "Standard manifests and Cluster API objects; clusters keep running unsupported; no documented migration tool off the product" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1.5, "Bring your own Ubuntu or RHEL image or use Bottlerocket on vSphere; Cilium default but replaceable; Tinkerbell for bare metal" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1.5, "Self-hosted management cluster, air-gapped install documented; subscription and licence tokens go through an AWS account" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1.5, "eksctl anywhere, Cluster API, Flux and kubectl skills" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Validated ISV partner list per provider and AWS partner network; programme terms not opened" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 2.5, "Namespaces and RBAC; management cluster drives workload clusters; no hosted control planes" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3.5, "Cluster API based, Kubernetes API, Flux and Helm; Terraform only through the Kubernetes provider, no official provider" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "No EKS Anywhere certification found; AWS and CKA paths only" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "EKS Anywhere is a free, self-hosted Cluster API toolkit that AWS supports for a flat per-cluster fee. It is conformant and runs air-gapped, and the project delivers a minor every four months with dated, detailed notes, but it has no VM support, no FIPS or STIG material, no fleet console and a shrinking provider list. It suits isolated sites that want a thin, upstream-style distribution with AWS support, not a full platform.", "report": "reports/08-eksa.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "v0.21.0 (2024-10-30) GPU support for Nutanix and an NVIDIA GPU Operator guide for Bare Metal", "stack": "none", "ops": "none", "agents": "Kubernetes API, Cluster API and eksctl CLI; the AWS EKS MCP server targets Amazon EKS, not EKS Anywhere" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 announced, 0 GA, 0 preview, 0 pending, 0 dropped; the first-pass AI operator, DRA and assistant claims have no source, and the real AI content is GPU enablement only." }, { "key": "aksarc", "name": "Microsoft AKS on Azure Local (AKS enabled by Azure Arc, ex AKS on Azure Stack HCI)", "short": "AKS on Azure Local", "kind": "product", "group": "hyperscaler", "since": 2021, "archetype": "Azure-managed hybrid Kubernetes", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 17, "C": 33, "M": 8, "U": 25, "P": 17 }, "idx": 0.29, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.25 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3.5, "Azure Local ships monthly trains but the docs promise a Kubernetes minor about every three months while minors arrive 267 to 381 days after upstream" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Dated release notes, docs source and Kubernetes calendar are public; no roadmap, tracker or direction beyond events" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "4 of 7 preview or announced capability items reached GA in 36 to 120 days; workload identity, Terraform and offline download stay preview 23 to 28 months" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "One or two substantive items per release: Azure RBAC, Arc Gateway, KMS v2, GPU models, availability sets" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2, "Six-month support per Azure Local release, redeploy needed between AKS-HCI and 23H2, 22H2 ended May 2025, Windows Server line retires March 2028" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1.5, "Azure Stack HCI renamed Azure Local in 2024-11 and AKS made free with Azure Local from January 2025; Azure Local host and Windows guest fees unchanged" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3.5, "AKS only through Azure Local on validated hardware with an Azure subscription and per-core host fee; no separate purchase" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Docs, release notes and trial open; hardware through OEM partners, Azure subscription required" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "Microsoft is stable, but the line was renamed three times, split into two code lines and the Windows Server line is retiring" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 3.5, "Each Azure Local release supported six months, Kubernetes N to N-2, Arc Resource Bridge needs yearly updates; no extended support" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "Upstream Kubernetes APIs in the cluster; clusters are Azure resources; Microsoft says conformant but no CNCF listing found" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "Standard manifests move; no migration tooling off Azure Local and 22H2 to 23H2 needs redeploy" ], [ "Stack coupling", 3.5, "Azure Local and Hyper-V, Azure Linux nodes, Arc agents and Calico only" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 4, "Validated hardware and a standing Azure connection for create, upgrade and delete; 30-day limit for temporary disconnection" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 3, "Azure CLI, ARM and Arc skills alongside kubectl" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Azure Local OEM hardware partners and Microsoft partner programme; terms not opened" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 3, "Azure RBAC and Entra ID, one control-plane set per cluster, 32 clusters per Azure Local instance" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4, "az aksarc, ARM, Bicep and PowerShell; Terraform in preview; no Cluster API" ], [ "Skills and certification", 3, "Broad Microsoft certification paths, none specific to AKS on Azure Local" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": false, "reading": "Microsoft is turning AKS on Azure Local into the Kubernetes layer of its Azure Local platform: clusters are Azure resources, created and upgraded from Azure, and included at no extra cost. The record shows steady dated releases but Kubernetes minors arriving about ten months behind upstream, several features stuck in preview for two years and two code lines with a forced redeploy between them. It fits teams already committed to Azure Local hardware and Azure management; it is a weak fit for disconnected or multi-vendor estates.", "report": "reports/09-aksarc.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 0.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "KAITO extension for open models in preview, about 2025-03 (half step)", "stack": "Edge RAG listed for Azure Local; maturity not stated", "ops": "none", "agents": "Azure Resource Manager API, az aksarc and PowerShell; the AKS MCP server targets AKS in Azure" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 2 announced, 1 GA (GPU pools), 1 preview (KAITO), 0 dropped; first-pass Copilot, DRA and AI operator claims have no source and no assistant or MCP server for AKS on Azure Local was found." }, { "key": "ocne", "name": "Oracle Cloud Native Environment (OCNE 1.x olcnectl platform, OCNE 2.x ocne CLI with OCK images)", "short": "Oracle CNE", "kind": "product", "group": "niche", "since": 2019, "archetype": "Image-based Oracle Linux Kubernetes", "grade": "B", "driver": "U", "mix": { "V": 20, "C": 20, "M": 0, "U": 40, "P": 20 }, "idx": 0.5, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0.5, "2020": 0.5, "2021": 0.5, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3, "Releases in 2024-09, 2025-02, 2025-07, 2026-01 and 2026-09 (gaps of 5 to 8 months); lifecycle table lists dates but no cadence is published" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Release notes and an open GitHub tracker with 292 issues; no milestones, roadmap or direction beyond the docs" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "8 of 10 requested capabilities shipped within 275 days; KubeVirt and vSphere providers still open after 25 months; Kubernetes 1.34 shipped 385 days late" ], [ "Velocity", 2.5, "One or two substantive items per release: OLVM provider, dual stack, AI Assistant; Kubernetes two minors behind after a 273-day median lag" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2, "Release 1 to 2 broke the architecture, 1.8 and 1.9 are in Sustaining Support, each release has 16 months, Ingress NGINX, Fluentd and Keycloak deprecated" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2, "Included with Oracle Linux Premier Support with no price change found; OCNE 2.0 replaced the platform and removed modules and Verrazzano" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2, "Bought as part of an Oracle Linux Premier subscription per system; free to download and use unsupported" ], [ "Channel and access", 2, "Docs, CLI and catalog public; errata and support through Oracle Linux Support and ULN" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "Oracle is stable, but OCNE is a small part of the Oracle Linux line and was re-architected once in 2024" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 3.5, "16-month support per release, Release 1 clusters must migrate, 1.8 and 1.9 already in Sustaining Support" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1, "CNCF-listed for 1.24 to 1.33 and 1.35; upstream APIs, Cluster API and Helm" ], [ "Export path", 2, "Standard manifests; only a one-way Release 1 to 2 migration is documented" ], [ "Stack coupling", 3.5, "Oracle Linux with UEK in the OCK image is required; custom images must use Oracle Linux and UEK" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Self-hosted with an ephemeral cluster, air-gapped mirroring supported, no mandatory cloud" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "ocne CLI, OSTree and Ignition skills on top of kubectl" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Oracle PartnerNetwork exists; no OCNE-specific programme found" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 2, "Namespaces, RBAC, Dex and oauth2-proxy; one control plane per cluster" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "ocne CLI with YAML configs, Cluster API providers for OCI and OLVM, Helm catalog; no Terraform provider found" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "No OCNE certification found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "OCNE 2 turns Oracle Linux and Kubernetes into one OSTree image that the ocne CLI stages and updates, with Cluster API providers for OCI and Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager. The record shows steady small releases and a clean public tracker, but a slow Kubernetes cadence (273 days median), no GPU, FIPS or fleet story, and open requests for VMware and KubeVirt providers. It suits Oracle Linux shops that already pay for Premier Support and want the cluster bundled; it is a narrow choice elsewhere.", "report": "reports/10-ocne.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 3 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "none", "stack": "none", "ops": "OCNE 2.3.0 (CLI 2026-01-14): AI Assistant in the UI with own API key or local Ollama model; explains, generates YAML and runs commands", "agents": "olcnectl and platform API server; later Kubernetes and Cluster API only, no MCP server found" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 announced, 1 GA unannounced (AI Assistant), 0 preview, 0 pending, 0 dropped; there is no GPU, AI platform or MCP content, and the first-pass DRA, AI operator and MCP claims have no source." }, { "key": "talos", "name": "Sidero Labs Talos Linux and Omni (Talos Enterprise Linux)", "short": "Sidero Talos", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2019, "archetype": "Immutable OS, new owner", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 15, "C": 31, "M": 23, "U": 8, "P": 23 }, "idx": 0.22, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0.5, "2020": 0.5, "2021": 0.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.25 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0.5, "2020": 0.5, "2021": 0.5, "2022": 0.5, "2023": 0.5, "2024": 0.5, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 1 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0.5, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 1 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4.5, "A Talos minor every four to five months since 1.3, within 10 days of Kubernetes except 1.31; no published schedule" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Detailed release notes and open GitHub issues; milestones carry no dates, no written roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "Few dated promises: FIPS options took about 12 months, image signature verification 4 months; three new products pending" ], [ "Velocity", 4.5, "SELinux, image signature verification, native BGP, LVM and sandboxd in successive minors; Omni releases monthly" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "Support about nine months with no LTS; Sidero Metal and Cluster API providers ended; sold to Yardi in 2026" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 3, "Omni moved to Business Source License 2024-02-29; Omni Enterprise folded into $1,000 per node Talos Enterprise Linux 2026-09-15" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2, "Free OS and $10 hobby tier; enterprise 10-node minimum; production Omni needs a licence" ], [ "Channel and access", 1, "Open downloads and docs; partner programme with reseller, solution and technology tiers" ], [ "Owner stability", 3, "Acquired by Yardi 2026-09-14, a profitable private owner; strategy now includes hypervisor, Director and AI products" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "Self-hosted Omni users told to update monthly with no backports; FIPS, SBOM and VEX only in the paid tier" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 0.5, "Conformant Kubernetes; workloads use upstream APIs and no proprietary CRDs" ], [ "Export path", 1.5, "Standard manifests and Velero move off; hosts must be reprovisioned onto another OS" ], [ "Stack coupling", 3, "Talos is the only OS and has no shell; CNI and CSI remain open" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Any x86 or Arm hardware, air-gapped Omni available; hosted Omni optional" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 3, "talosctl and machine-config skills, not SSH or Linux administration" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Reseller, solution provider and technology tiers; CDW and European partners listed" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 3, "Omni roles, ACLs and SAML/OIDC; no hosted control planes" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4, "Terraform provider with 5.6M downloads, Omni provider, omnictl; Cluster API providers moved to community" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "Training and readiness reviews sold as services; no certification found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Sidero builds toward a full data-centre stack on one immutable OS, adding a hypervisor, Director and an AI platform after Yardi bought it in September 2026. The record is a Talos minor every four to five months within days of Kubernetes, steady security hardening and few dated promises; three new products are one month old. A buyer gets a lean, strict OS and fast Kubernetes uptake, but accepts one OS, a nine-month support window and Omni under a source-available licence.", "report": "reports/11-talos.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 2, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "CNCF Kubernetes AI Conformance certification 2025-11-11; 1.13 CDI and GPU Operator path in 2026", "stack": "Talos Cupar Limited Availability 2026-10-01, GA planned March 2027", "ops": "none", "agents": "Documented gRPC machine API and omnictl; only a documentation MCP and llms.txt, no control MCP server" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 2 announced (Cupar, Talos Linux for AI), 0 GA, 2 preview or undated, 0 pending beyond them, 0 dropped; the real AI work is GPU driver and operator support, with a commercial AI platform one month old." }, { "key": "spectro", "name": "Spectro Cloud Palette (Palette Enterprise, Palette VerteX, Palette Edge, VMO, PaletteAI)", "short": "Spectro Palette", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2020, "archetype": "Edge-first fleet manager", "grade": "B", "driver": "M", "mix": { "V": 23, "C": 15, "M": 46, "U": 0, "P": 15 }, "idx": 0.27, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4.5, "2026": 4.25 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "A Palette minor every three to six months plus weekly component updates; no published schedule" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Dated release notes and public advisories in an open docs repo; no roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "Preview to production took 5 to 13.5 months for three features, FedRAMP 38.5 months, Nutanix preview open 33 months" ], [ "Velocity", 4.5, "VMO, Edge, Agent Mode, PaletteAI, MCP server and Hadron in three years" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "N-3 Kubernetes minors for 14 months, extension on request, no LTS; OpenStack removed in 2026" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1.5, "No public price list or licence change found since 2023; focus shifted to PaletteAI in 2025" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3, "Sales-led; VerteX access by request; no public prices, trial limits unknown" ], [ "Channel and access", 2, "Docs and release notes open; partner portal, VerteX installer on request" ], [ "Owner stability", 2, "Independent venture-backed company, new $100M round in July 2026; no acquisition" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2, "14-month window with extension on request; OpenStack and virtual-cluster K3s deprecated" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "Workload clusters run PXK, RKE2, K3s or managed Kubernetes; Cluster Profiles and packs are Palette's own model" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "Imported clusters are supported; a documented path to detach Palette-built clusters was not found" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1, "Choice of OS, Kubernetes distribution, CNI and CSI through packs" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Self-hosted and air-gapped options; SaaS is the default management plane" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "Profile, pack and Palette Terraform skills are product-specific" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Partner portal and channel partners; tiers not opened" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4.5, "Tenants, projects, Workspaces, RBAC, virtual clusters and dedicated SaaS" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4.5, "Terraform provider with 7.0M downloads, Go and TypeScript SDKs, Crossplane provider, CLI" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "Docs and tutorials; no certification programme found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Spectro is moving Palette from Kubernetes fleet management towards AI and VM infrastructure under the PaletteAI name, funded by a $100M round in July 2026. The record is steady preview-to-production delivery within about a year on edge features, slow Kubernetes minor uptake of about four and a half months, and one critical flaw in the Edge upload service. A buyer gets a strong edge and multi-tenant console and a VMware migration path, but pays through an unpublished price list and waits on Nutanix, the MCP server and the self-hosted appliance.", "report": "reports/12-spectro.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 3 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "AMD GPU Operator and ROCm, NVIDIA DPF packs through PaletteAI", "stack": "Inference Launchpad 2026-07-21 added to PaletteAI", "ops": "none", "agents": "Palette MCP Server in Tech Preview since 4.9.5 (2026-05-03), read-only by default, writes behind a flag" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 4 AI items found, 3 GA (PaletteAI, Inference Launchpad, AI packs), 1 preview (MCP server), 0 dropped; the AI is a GPU and inference platform plus an agent interface, not an operator assistant." }, { "key": "kkp", "name": "Kubermatic Kubernetes Platform (Community and Enterprise editions) with KubeOne, KubeLB and Kubermatic Virtualization", "short": "Kubermatic KKP", "kind": "product", "group": "challenger", "since": 2017, "archetype": "Open-core hosted control planes", "grade": "B", "driver": "V", "mix": { "V": 33, "C": 8, "M": 33, "U": 25, "P": 0 }, "idx": 0.45, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": 0.5, "2018": 0.5, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 3 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "Published rhythm of monthly patches and triannual minors; observed 4 to 7 months between minors" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3.5, "Per-PR changelogs and docs source in public repositories; proposals folder; no dated roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "Edge provider experimental for 31 months, Baremetal for 24, seed GitOps still early; KubeVirt GA and Gateway API shipped in about six months" ], [ "Velocity", 3.5, "Steady minors with new providers and applications; new products KubeV, KDP and Kubermatic AI" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "Latest three KKP minors supported, no LTS; Equinix Metal provider removed in four months" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1.5, "No price or licence change found since 2023; open core with a read-only enterprise licence" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2, "Community Edition free; Enterprise Edition by subscription, aimed at over 50 clusters" ], [ "Channel and access", 1.5, "Docs and source open; Enterprise downloads by subscription; partners page returns 404" ], [ "Owner stability", 1.5, "Independent small company with seed funding; no acquisition" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2, "Support window of three KKP minors; Kubernetes minors dropped at upstream end of life" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1, "User clusters run upstream Kubernetes through kubeadm; KKP CRDs live on the master and seed" ], [ "Export path", 2, "KubeOne clusters can be imported; exit documentation for KKP-built clusters not found" ], [ "Stack coupling", 1, "Choice of operating system through Operating System Manager and of CNI and CSI" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Self-hosted master and seed; no SaaS requirement; air-gapped mirror tooling" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2, "KKP, seed and machine-controller concepts; kubectl and Helm otherwise" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "CNCF Certified Service Provider and Training Partner (vendor claim); partners page returns 404" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4.5, "Projects, quotas, per-tenant identity providers and hosted control planes in seed clusters" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "CRDs, REST API, Go SDK; Terraform provider has only 7.6K downloads and no release since 2022" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2.5, "Kubermatic Academy and training services; no certification found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Kubermatic is widening KKP from multi-cloud cluster management into a family of products for virtualization, a developer platform, load balancing, secrets and AI, while keeping KKP itself an open-core master and seed design. The record is on-time minors about 78 days behind Kubernetes, solid vSphere, Nutanix, OpenStack and KubeVirt support, and bare metal and Edge providers that have stayed experimental for two years or more. A buyer gets strong multi-tenancy and sovereignty positioning, but no FIPS build, no extended support and no first-class bare-metal path.", "report": "reports/13-kkp.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 3 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "2.29 DRA gates, Kueue, GPU labels; AIKit and LocalAI applications", "stack": "Kubermatic AI launched 2026-09-01 as a shared GPU and model platform; maturity not labelled", "ops": "2.25 K8sGPT in the web terminal and as an operator application; third-party tool", "agents": "2.30 ships a third-party Kubernetes MCP server as an application; KDP 1.2 has its own MCP server (separate product)" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 8 items, 6 shipped, 1 alpha (GPU quotas), 1 enablement only (DRA), 0 dropped; the AI work is GPU enablement, K8sGPT diagnostics and a month-old AI platform." }, { "key": "platform9", "name": "Platform9 Managed Kubernetes (PMK, SMCP) and Private Cloud Director Kubernetes", "short": "Platform9", "kind": "product", "group": "niche", "since": 2019, "archetype": "VMware exit first", "grade": "B", "driver": "C", "mix": { "V": 10, "C": 30, "M": 20, "U": 20, "P": 20 }, "idx": 0.17, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3.5, "PMK minors every three to seven months and monthly PCD releases; no published schedule" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Public release notes and a futures page whose dates are TBD; no roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 2.5, "No dated promises; Arlon dropped after a year, CAPI GA not found, Kubernetes 6 months behind" ], [ "Velocity", 3, "Two Kubernetes minors a year plus PCD features; Kubernetes work is secondary to the VM platform" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2.5, "PMK is to be migrated to PCD; releases four versions behind need a new control plane; Argo CD and Arlon removed" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2.5, "Strategy shifted to a VMware-alternative platform in 2024; PMK slated to move to PCD; no price list to compare" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2.5, "Sales-led; no public prices; free single-region Community Edition for PCD" ], [ "Channel and access", 2, "Docs and release notes open; channel programme 2025 and cloud solution provider programme 2026" ], [ "Owner stability", 3.5, "Venture-backed; CEO change in 2021, last funding found in 2022, strategy reversal toward VMware migration in 2024" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 3.5, "End of support at two versions behind, end of life at four with forced control plane migration; Kubernetes minors dropped at each release" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "CNCF-conformant Kubernetes; Platform9 nodelet and Qbert agents manage the nodes" ], [ "Export path", 3, "End-of-life releases cannot upgrade or renew without moving to a new Platform9 control plane; no exit guide found" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2.5, "New PMK clusters only on Ubuntu 24.04 with Cilium 1.18.4; PCD brings its own KVM and OpenStack-derived layers" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 2, "SaaS-managed by default; self-hosted and air-gapped options exist" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "Platform9 console, airctl and pf9 tooling" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Channel programme (2025-03) and cloud solution provider programme (2026-06)" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Tenants, quotas and hosted (Managed) control planes" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "REST and Cluster API; Terraform provider with 15.8K downloads, new PCD provider in 2026" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "Hands-on labs and knowledge base; no certification found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Platform9 now sells itself as a VMware alternative, with Kubernetes a secondary service and a stated plan to move PMK customers to Private Cloud Director. The record is two Kubernetes minors a year landing about six months after upstream, steady GPU and bare-metal additions to PCD, and one dropped GitOps product. A buyer gets a self-hosted or SaaS plane with hosted control planes and a VM platform alongside, but should expect slow Kubernetes uptake and a product line in transition.", "report": "reports/14-platform9.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "2026-01 automatic GPU Operator and 2026-08 vGPU live migration", "stack": "none", "ops": "none", "agents": "Documented REST API" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 4 GPU items found (3 GA, 1 beta), no AI platform, assistant or MCP server, 0 dropped; the AI work is GPU virtualization for the VM platform." }, { "key": "okd", "name": "OKD, the community distribution of Kubernetes behind Red Hat OpenShift (formerly OpenShift Origin)", "short": "OKD", "kind": "product", "group": "community", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Community upstream of OpenShift", "grade": "B", "driver": "P", "mix": { "V": 0, "C": 29, "M": 0, "U": 14, "P": 57 }, "idx": 0.0, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 2.5, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 2.5, "2018": 2.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 }, "network": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": 2.5, "2017": 3, "2018": 3, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "security": { "2016": 3.5, "2017": 3.5, "2018": 3.5, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 4, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "devplat": { "2016": 3.5, "2017": 3.5, "2018": 3.5, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 4, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": 3, "2017": 3, "2018": 3.5, "2019": 3.5, "2020": 4, "2021": 4, "2022": 4, "2023": 4, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3, "Stable builds every few weeks and a minor about every four months since 2025, but no stable release from March to December 2024" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Public blog, release notes and Working Group meetings; no written roadmap; GitHub milestones unused since 2020" ], [ "Say-do", 4, "6 of 7 due items shipped within 12 months (86%); OKD Streams dropped" ], [ "Velocity", 4, "Inherits OpenShift features each minor, minus Red Hat-only operators" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 1.5, "No support window; OS switched FCOS to SCOS (2024) and to CentOS Stream 10 (2025); 4.16 only a pass-through" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Maintainer concentration", 4, "Builds and release notes by Red Hat engineers; okd-project/okd has 36 contributors; Working Group co-chairs run the community side" ], [ "Backer health", 1.5, "Red Hat funds CI and hosts the new update service on its AppSRE platform; Red Hat is profitable under IBM" ], [ "Licence-change risk", 2, "Apache 2.0, but RHEL content found in 2023 forced a rebuild on CentOS Stream; depends on Red Hat keeping sources open" ], [ "Abandonment signs", 2.5, "Nine-month release halt 2024 and OKD Streams suspended; since 2025 regular releases, OKD 5.0 and Cincinnati" ], [ "Security response", 3, "No project advisories; reports go to Red Hat Product Security; fixes come only as rebuilt stable builds, none for nine months in 2024" ] ], "risk": "sustainability", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 2.5, "Same OpenShift APIs as OCP: routes, SCCs, builds, image streams; not itself CNCF certified" ], [ "Export path", 2, "Moving to OpenShift needs no API changes; leaving for other Kubernetes is the same work as leaving OpenShift" ], [ "Stack coupling", 3.5, "OKD's own CoreOS (FCOS, now SCOS 10) required on every node; OVN-Kubernetes" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Any x86_64 hardware or hypervisor, offline mirroring; builds x86_64 only since 2024" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2, "OpenShift skills transfer directly" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 0.5, "No partner programme or commercial support" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Projects, RBAC and network isolation; user-defined networks GA in 4.19" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "Same installer, Ansible and Cluster API underpinnings as OpenShift; OKD Ansible collection not re-checked" ], [ "Skills and certification", 3, "Red Hat OpenShift certifications apply; no OKD-specific certification" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": false, "reading": "OKD is Red Hat's community build of OpenShift, now rebuilt on CentOS Stream CoreOS so it can be shipped without RHEL content. The record shows a nine-month halt in 2024 and repeated OS switches, followed since 2025 by a steady rhythm, Kubernetes 1.36 in OKD 5.0 ahead of OpenShift, and a real update service. Buyers get OpenShift's core for free but no support window, no Red Hat add-ons such as ACM, ODF or Gateway API support, and a project that depends on Red Hat's engineers.", "report": "reports/15-okd.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0.5, "2024": 0.5, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 0.5 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "No AI-specific platform features beyond Kubernetes; Kueue or LeaderWorkerSet only as community add-ons", "stack": "Open Data Hub, the community upstream of OpenShift AI, runs on OKD as a community add-on (half credit)", "ops": "No AI assistant; OpenShift Lightspeed is a Red Hat subscription operator", "agents": "Documented Kubernetes and OpenShift REST APIs and oc CLI; no official MCP server" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 announced by the project 2023-2026. OKD offers no AI assistant or MCP server; AI platforms come only from community add-ons such as Open Data Hub." }, { "key": "kubesphere", "name": "KubeSphere (QingCloud): Enterprise and Community Edition", "short": "KubeSphere", "kind": "product", "group": "regional", "since": 2019, "archetype": "Licence-gated China platform", "grade": "B", "driver": "M", "mix": { "V": 20, "C": 10, "M": 30, "U": 10, "P": 30 }, "idx": 0.33, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 2, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 3, "2020": 3.5, "2021": 3.5, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3, "Enterprise minors Apr 2024, Jul 2025, Aug 2026, patch Jan 2026; lifecycle policy published; no stated rhythm" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 2.5, "Release notes public; no roadmap since 2021; open-source releases stopped at v4.1.3, 2025-03-24" ], [ "Say-do", 3.5, "3 of 4 counted promises GA within 12 months; v3 to v4 upgrade path took about 20 months" ], [ "Velocity", 3.5, "v4.2.1 and v4.3.0 add device manager, Volcano, Copilot, kubectl debug; several extensions per release" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2, "v3 to v4 had no upgrade for about 20 months; open-source downloads suspended 2025-07-31; v3.x Enterprise ended 2025" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 5, "Licence changed to Apache 2.0 plus commercial limits for 4.x (2024-09-06); open-source downloads stopped 2025-07-31; new licence quota model 2026-01" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3, "Community Edition free but capped at 128 vCPU and one cluster, licence key by email; Enterprise by quote" ], [ "Channel and access", 2.5, "Docs and release notes open; official open-source downloads suspended; licence applied for through a web form" ], [ "Owner stability", 3.5, "Listed owner since 2021-03; strategy reversal from open source to licensed editions in 2025" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 4, "Free updates ended for the open-source edition; Enterprise gets 36 months of full support, extended support by approval" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "CNCF certified distribution; workloads are plain Kubernetes; tenancy and extensions use platform CRDs" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "No exit guide found; standard manifests and Helm charts move; v3 to v4 needed a dedicated upgrade guide" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2.5, "Supported CNIs are Calico and Flannel; limited OS list (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS 8, AlmaLinux, Kylin)" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1.5, "Any x86 or arm hosts; licence key tied to the cluster ID, issued by email, free keys expire" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "KubeSphere console, extension model and licence tooling; documentation mainly Chinese first" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 3, "Extension partner programme and marketplace exist; terms not read; no certification track found" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Workspaces, projects, platform, workspace and project roles, node groups bound to workspaces (4.2.1)" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "REST API, KubeKey YAML, Helm; ks-mcp-server v0.1.1; no Terraform or Cluster API provider found" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "No certification found; 179 GitHub contributors; vendor says community code is under 1% of core" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "KubeSphere is moving from a free open-source console to a licence-keyed product line: a source-available repository, an Enterprise edition and a capped free Community Edition. The record shows steady extension work (observability, DevOps, GPU management, an AI assistant) but no VM support, no public roadmap and a 2025 distribution cut that left open-source users without official downloads. A buyer gets a capable multi-tenant console on conformant Kubernetes, and pays for it in licence terms that have changed twice since 2024.", "report": "reports/16-kubesphere.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2, "2026": 2.5 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 3 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "v4.2.1 (2026-01): Volcano queues and gang scheduling for training jobs", "stack": "none", "ops": "Copilot 1.0.0 in v4.3.0 (2026-08): natural-language troubleshooting and AI diagnosis, recommends, does not act", "agents": "ks-mcp-server v0.1.0 and v0.1.1 (2025-04-30), early release, no governance; Skills packages 2026-04" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 1 announced with a promise, 0 confirmed; 5 items delivered without a prior promise (GPU Operator, device manager, MCP server 0.1.1, Skills, Copilot 1.0.0); Copilot recommends only and the MCP server has had no release since 2025-04-30." }, { "key": "deckhouse", "name": "Deckhouse Kubernetes Platform (Flant), now Deckhouse Platform", "short": "Deckhouse", "kind": "product", "group": "regional", "since": 2022, "archetype": "Russian modular platform", "grade": "B", "driver": "M", "mix": { "V": 18, "C": 9, "M": 36, "U": 9, "P": 27 }, "idx": 0.29, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0.5, "2023": 0.5, "2024": 0.5, "2025": 0.5, "2026": 3 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 1, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4, "A minor every 2 to 3 months (1.68 Feb 2025 to 1.77 Sep 2026) with published channel matrix" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Detailed public changelogs and milestones; roadmap and work-board links removed from README (2023, 2025)" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "2 of 4 counted items within 12 months; virtualization redesign took about 22 months" ], [ "Velocity", 4, "Each minor adds several items: DVP, GPU modes, Prom++, signature verification, provider GA" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2.5, "Delivery module removed 2024; first virtualization module discontinued 2023; rename 2026; no extended support found" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 3, "Rename to Deckhouse Platform and edition list changed in 1.76 (2026-06); product line merged (event 2026-09-17); licence of Community Edition unchanged" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 2.5, "Free Community Edition; paid editions by quote; trial and callback forms; Western purchase terms not found" ], [ "Channel and access", 3, "Docs and GitHub open; Russian-first site; partner programme by request; availability to buyers under sanctions regimes not established" ], [ "Owner stability", 3.5, "Privately held Russian vendor; Flant said in 2025 that paying a foreign nonprofit created legal risks and left CNCF" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 3, "Each release supports about five minors, old ones dropped one per release; no extended support found; some modules Enterprise only" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 2, "Cluster and module state in Deckhouse CRDs; workloads standard; CNCF certification lapsed after 1.31" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "No exit guide found; workloads move as standard manifests" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2.5, "Cilium or Flannel CNI; node-manager controls node components; limited OS list; storage choice open" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1, "Any hardware; in-cluster operator; offline operation with the registry Local mode" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 3, "Deckhouse CLI, ModuleConfig and release-channel model; documentation Russian first" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Partner programme by request form; partner terms not read" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Projects and project templates, user-authz rules, namespace lists filtered by access (1.75, 1.77)" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "dhctl, d8 CLI, OpenTofu for providers, Cluster API in node-manager, Commander API; CRD-driven configuration" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "Training and consulting page exists; no certification programme found" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": false, "reading": "Deckhouse is a modular in-cluster platform that bundles its own virtualization, GPU, observability and fleet products and ships a new minor every two to three months. The record is strong on delivery and weak on openness: no public roadmap, a CNCF certification that stopped at Kubernetes 1.31 after Flant left CNCF in 2025, and a 2026 rename and edition reshuffle. A buyer outside Russia gets a capable platform with unproven conformance and unclear purchase terms.", "report": "reports/17-deckhouse.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 1 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "ai-models module 0.1.0 (Enterprise, Experimental): model catalog and node cache; ai-inference 0.0.55 Experimental", "stack": "none", "ops": "none", "agents": "Kubernetes API and Deckhouse CRDs only" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 promises found; 2 Enterprise modules (ai-models, ai-inference) both Experimental; no operator assistant and no MCP server found." }, { "key": "daocloud", "name": "DaoCloud Enterprise (DCE 5.0)", "short": "DaoCloud DCE", "kind": "product", "group": "regional", "since": 2022, "archetype": "Modular China platform", "grade": "B", "driver": "M", "mix": { "V": 17, "C": 25, "M": 50, "U": 8, "P": 0 }, "idx": 0.18, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "network": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "storage": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "security": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "devplat": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 4, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 2, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "accel": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 3, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 4.5, "Month-end release notes per module; 48 installer versions from 2022-11-30 to 2026-08-31 without a gap in the last 24 months" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 3, "Public docs repository with release notes and open-source projects; no roadmap or milestones" ], [ "Say-do", 2.5, "No dated public promises found, so nothing to test; one limitation (default Kubernetes 1.24) cleared in about 7 months" ], [ "Velocity", 4, "Many capabilities per year: VMs, AI Lab, LLM Studio, GPU management, Device Management, ClawOS; VirtNest quiet since 2025-07" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3, "No support windows published; DCE 4 to 5 needed a limited-scenario migration; product lines split into d.run lines 2026" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 2, "No licence or price change found; product lines reorganised into d.run Token Factory, d.run AI OS and DCE" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3, "Quote-based subscription, free trial and download pages; no public price or minimum" ], [ "Channel and access", 2.5, "Docs and release notes open; English coverage thin; ecosystem page, partner terms not read" ], [ "Owner stability", 3, "Private, venture funded; Series D reported 2024-02-01; no profitability data found" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 3, "No published support window or extended support; monthly updates; some modules paid" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "CNCF certified for Kubernetes 1.24 to 1.36; lifecycle through open-source Kubean and Karmada; standard workload APIs" ], [ "Export path", 2.5, "DCE4 to DCE5 migration guide and Velero backups; no guide for leaving DCE" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2, "CNI and storage choices (Cilium, Calico, Spiderpool, HwameiStor, any CSI); broad OS list" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 1.5, "Any amd64 or arm64 hardware, offline install; GPU and Cilium features need kernel 5.12 or later" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 2.5, "DCE module ecosystem and workspace model; documentation Chinese first; Kubespray-style lifecycle" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "Ecosystem page in docs hub; partner terms not read" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 4, "Global Management workspaces, resource groups, custom roles, LDAP, OIDC and OAuth2 login" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3, "Kubean, Helm app store, module OpenAPI; no Terraform or Cluster API provider found" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2, "No certification found; open-source community around Kubean, HwameiStor and Spiderpool" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "DaoCloud sells DCE as a set of independently versioned modules (Karmada multicloud, KubeVirt VMs, Harbor registry, Argo CD workbench, OpenTelemetry observability) and has moved toward GPU, AI Lab and LLM Studio since 2024. The record is steady monthly delivery and an unbroken CNCF certification line for 13 minors, but no public roadmap, no stated promises to test and a Kubernetes lag of about 142 days. A buyer gets broad coverage and open-source components; the English documentation is thin on support terms and compliance.", "report": "reports/18-daocloud.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 2, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 3, "2025": 4, "2026": 4 }, "ops": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "agents": { "2016": null, "2017": null, "2018": null, "2019": null, "2020": null, "2021": null, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 1.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "CNCF Kubernetes AI Conformance passed 2025-10-31; vLLM inference services in AI Lab; dataset spaces", "stack": "LLM Studio v0.7.0 and v0.8.0 (2025-07, 2025-08): model catalogue, OpenAI-compatible API, rate limits, vLLM deployment", "ops": "none", "agents": "Documented OpenAPI per module and Kubernetes API; ClawOS (2026-03) runs customer agents but is not an MCP server" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 0 promises found; 5 AI items delivered (AI Lab, LLM Studio, AI Conformance, ClawOS, Volcano); no DCE operator assistant and no DCE MCP server found." }, { "key": "giantswarm", "name": "Giant Swarm managed platform (vSphere, VMware Cloud Director, Proxmox VE)", "short": "Giant Swarm", "kind": "product", "group": "niche", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Managed platform operator", "grade": "B", "driver": "M", "mix": { "V": 21, "C": 14, "M": 36, "U": 21, "P": 7 }, "idx": 0.3, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "infra": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "fleet": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "network": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "storage": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "security": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "devplat": { "2016": 0.5, "2017": 0.5, "2018": 0.5, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 4 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0.5 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 3.5, "app and patch releases weekly; Kubernetes minors reach vSphere a median 290 days after upstream (1.27 to 1.36); numbering rule published but no calendar" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 4.5, "public roadmap tracker (4,199 issues), public release notes per release, Apache-2.0 platform repositories; no dated roadmap" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "9 of 15 roadmap items delivered within 12 months of opening (60%); vendor states no dates" ], [ "Velocity", 4, "2024 to 2026 added vSphere, Cloud Director, Proxmox, EKS, Gateway API, GPU, Agent Platform; vsphere-36.1.0 on 1.36.5 in October 2026" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 2.5, "KVM line ended 2022, vintage AWS to Cluster API migration finished June 2025, App resource deprecated 2026; no support period published" ] ], "comm": [ [ "Price and licence volatility", 1, "no price or licence change found since 2023; prices not published" ], [ "Purchase constraints", 3, "managed service by contract only; no software-only purchase or self-serve trial" ], [ "Channel and access", 2.5, "docs and source public, partner page lists a few partners, no tiers" ], [ "Owner stability", 2, "independent founder-led company; 11% staff reduction on 2023-03-30; funding history unconfirmed" ], [ "Cost of staying supported", 2.5, "upgrades included; a release is deprecated once two newer majors exist; Flatcar and Cilium fixed" ] ], "risk": "commercial", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 1.5, "conformant Kubernetes, Cluster API and Flux; Giant Swarm Organization and Release resources; App resource being retired" ], [ "Export path", 1.5, "customer owns the provider account and clusters; no documented exit procedure" ], [ "Stack coupling", 2, "Flatcar images and Cilium on every cluster; provider CSI" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 2, "vSphere, Cloud Director, Proxmox, AWS, Azure only; vendor engineers need provider API and outbound internet access" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1.5, "kubectl, Flux and Cluster API skills plus Giant Swarm release and portal tooling" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 2.5, "partner page with a few integrators; no tiers or public terms" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 3.5, "organizations per team in one management cluster; multi-tenant observability; Kamaji control planes added in cluster-vsphere 2026" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 3.5, "Cluster API, Flux HelmRelease, Helm charts and kubectl-gs; Terraform provider stale since 2020" ], [ "Skills and certification", 2.5, "training catalogue in the docs; no public certification" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Giant Swarm is building toward a Cluster API platform that it operates inside the customer's own provider account, with a Backstage portal and, since 2026, an agent platform on top. The record shows steady delivery and an open roadmap, but Kubernetes minors reach vSphere a median 290 days after upstream and the on-premises product has no documented bare-metal, air-gap, backup, VM or GPU support. A buyer gets an operated, open-source stack on VMware or Proxmox with low technical lock-in, at the price of a bespoke contract, a slow upgrade cadence and a small partner ecosystem.", "report": "reports/19-giantswarm.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 3 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 2 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 3 }, "agents": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 3, "2026": 4.5 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "AI Conformance 1.34 (2026-05-21), KubeRay and Kueue tutorials, model-manager in the Agent Platform", "stack": "Agent Platform v1.0.0 (2026-06-05): agent runtime and model management; no training or MLOps platform", "ops": "portal AI chat answering cluster questions through live tool calls, docs 2026-08-31, roadmap item closed 2026-09-08", "agents": "mcp-kubernetes v1.0.0 (2026-07-02) and muster v1.0.0 (2026-07-14): OAuth 2.1 single sign-on, user identity carried to the Kubernetes API, agent calls through one gateway" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 4 announced, 3 GA, 0 preview, 1 pending, 0 dropped. The AI is GPU support, an MCP gateway with user-level identity, an agent runtime and a read-only portal chat; no AI training platform." }, { "key": "upstream", "name": "Upstream Kubernetes with kubeadm and Cluster API", "short": "Upstream Kubernetes", "kind": "product", "group": "engine", "since": 2016, "archetype": "Reference engine", "grade": "A", "driver": "U", "mix": { "V": 0, "C": 18, "M": 18, "U": 45, "P": 18 }, "idx": 0.0, "domains": { "lifecycle": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 3, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3.5, "2023": 3.5, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.5 }, "infra": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "fleet": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 2 }, "network": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "storage": { "2016": 2, "2017": 2, "2018": 2, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 3, "2021": 3, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 }, "security": { "2016": 1.5, "2017": 1.5, "2018": 1.5, "2019": 2.5, "2020": 2.5, "2021": 2.5, "2022": 3, "2023": 3, "2024": 3.5, "2025": 3.5, "2026": 3.25 }, "devplat": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1.5, "2020": 1.5, "2021": 1.5, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2, "2025": 2, "2026": 1.5 }, "ops": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2, "2023": 2, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 2.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "virt": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0.5, "2020": 0.5, "2021": 0.5, "2022": 1.5, "2023": 1.5, "2024": 1.5, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2 }, "accel": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 2, "2020": 2, "2021": 2, "2022": 2.5, "2023": 2.5, "2024": 2.5, "2025": 3, "2026": 3 } }, "cred": [ [ "Cadence", 5, "three minors a year on a published calendar, every minor from 1.26 to 1.37 on schedule; 1.38.0 proposed for 2026-12-16" ], [ "Roadmap transparency", 5, "public enhancement proposals with milestones, open issue tracker, release schedule and release history with end-of-life dates" ], [ "Say-do", 3, "8 of 13 tracked KEPs delivered within 12 months of the stated release (62%); 4 later, 1 dropped" ], [ "Velocity", 5, "17 enhancements to stable in 1.30, 23 in 1.34; several substantive capabilities every release" ], [ "Lifecycle stability", 3.5, "patch support about 14 months with clean in-place upgrades and n-3 skew, but no long-term version and forced removals (dockershim 1.24, PodSecurityPolicy 1.25, ingress-nginx 2026, Dashboard 2026)" ] ], "comm": null, "risk": "engine", "lock": [ [ "Formats", 0, "reference APIs; every conformant distribution uses the same objects" ], [ "Export path", 0, "this is the standard other platforms export to; Velero and standard tools apply" ], [ "Stack coupling", 0.5, "kubeadm needs a CRI, CNI and CSI choice made by the operator" ], [ "Hardware / cloud coupling", 0, "any Linux or Windows host, fully self-hosted" ], [ "Skills and tooling coupling", 1, "kubectl and Cluster API skills; assembly is left to the operator" ] ], "integ": [ [ "Partner programme openness", 4, "open Certified Kubernetes programme and training partners; no vendor partner tiers" ], [ "Multi-tenancy and self-service", 3, "namespaces, RBAC, quotas and network policy; hosted control planes only through third-party Cluster API providers" ], [ "API and infrastructure-as-code", 4.5, "Cluster API and kubeadm are the standard infrastructure-as-code path; Terraform and Helm are third-party" ], [ "Skills and certification", 5, "CKA, CKAD and CKS certifications from CNCF and the Linux Foundation" ] ], "alt": null, "ranked": true, "reading": "Upstream Kubernetes is the reference line for every other entry: three releases a year on schedule, public enhancement proposals, and nothing to buy. What it ships is an engine and a lifecycle tool, not a platform, so storage, networking, observability, developer tooling and virtualization are left to community add-ons or to the distributions built on it. The record is strong on cadence and openness and mixed on say-do, where six of thirteen tracked proposals reached stable later than stated and one was dropped.", "report": "reports/20-upstream.md", "ai": { "infra": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 1.5, "2026": 2.5 }, "stack": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 0, "2026": 0 }, "ops": { "2016": 0, "2017": 0, "2018": 0, "2019": 0, "2020": 0, "2021": 0, "2022": 0, "2023": 0, "2024": 0, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 }, "agents": { "2016": 1, "2017": 1, "2018": 1, "2019": 1, "2020": 1, "2021": 1, "2022": 1, "2023": 1, "2024": 1, "2025": 1, "2026": 1 } }, "ai_basis": { "infra": "image volumes stable in 1.36, Inference Extension v1.0.0, AI Gateway Working Group (2026-03-09), gang scheduling beta in 1.37", "stack": "none", "ops": "Headlamp AI Assistant plugin (2025-08-07), a community plugin for the SIG UI project, counted half", "agents": "documented Kubernetes REST API with OpenAPI; no official Kubernetes MCP server exists" }, "ai_ledger": null, "ai_reading": "AI say-do: 3 announced, 1 shipped on time, 1 shipped 364 days late, 0 preview, 0 pending, 1 dropped. Upstream ships GPU scheduling (scored under accelerators) and a few AI-adjacent pieces, but no AI platform, assistant or MCP server." } ] }