KubeCon + CloudNativeCon is not just one of the largest open source ‘tech’ events in the world—it’s more about people, community and culture. It’s one of the most welcoming events I have ever attended, and being at KubeCon feels like a living, breathing ecosystem where the conversations evolve just as fast as the technology. At this year’s KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe in London, one company stood out for its fresh perspective on edge computing and cloud democratization: Akamai.

Unlike traditional heavyweights like Google, AWS, and Microsoft—who have been part of KubeCon since the inception of the CNCF—Akamai is a relatively new entrant. However, its presence at the event has been growing each year, along with its support for and commitment to the CNCF and the broader cloud-native ecosystem.

Jay Jenkins, CTO of Cloud Computing at Akamai, brought an almost poetic lens to the state of cloud-native development. Reflecting on his time in New York City, Jenkins shared an analogy that resonated with developers and architects alike, “The city will be great when it’s finished—but New York is always under construction.”

The same, he says, is true for Kubernetes and the broader CNCF landscape. It’s not just about building better tech—it’s about constantly rebuilding, refining, and reimagining how we solve real-world problems.

Jenkins shared his perspective on how KubeCon’s focus has shifted over time—from AI buzz to serious conversations about security and, more recently, simplification. As Jenkins put it, the ecosystem is moving beyond complex, developer-centric tooling toward more streamlined platforms where the heavy lifting is increasingly done behind the scenes. This shift aligns closely with Akamai’s mission: to make computing not only faster and more efficient, but also more accessible and cost-effective across the globe.

Major Announcement: VPUs at the Edge

Among Akamai’s key announcements was the launch of Video Processing Units (VPUs) in the cloud. Traditionally available only to large organizations via on-prem infrastructure, VPUs are now being offered publicly for the first time—an industry-first that opens the door to massively more efficient video transcoding. Jenkins highlighted that these specialized chips are up to 20 times more efficient than traditional CPUs when handling high-resolution, live media.

This innovation comes at a crucial time. With rising demand for 4K and 8K video streaming, and a growing push to reduce energy use and carbon footprints, Akamai’s cloud-based VPUs provide both economic and environmental advantages.

A Broader Vision: Democratizing Compute

Beyond just video, Akamai’s broader goal is to democratize computing resources in the same way it democratized access to content with its CDN decades ago. Jenkins emphasized the importance of application portability and dynamic resource allocation, enabling workloads to run not where it’s most convenient, but where it makes the most sense—whether that’s for performance, cost, energy efficiency, or compliance.

At the heart of this strategy is Akamai’s massive distributed infrastructure: 4,300 global points of presence, offering the ability to push compute closer to users for low-latency experiences. Whether it’s AI inference, video processing, or general-purpose workloads, this continuum of compute allows developers to right-size resources and optimize their deployments in real time.

Easing the Burden of Cloud Complexity

But Jenkins’ most powerful insight might have come toward the end of the conversation. He challenged developers and organizations to rethink the constraints they’ve grown used to: “The cloud of today isn’t limited like the cloud of yesterday—but we often keep building as if it is.”

For Akamai, that means enabling dynamic resource allocation, allowing workloads to be moved based on cost, carbon footprint, real-time demand, or compliance. It also means removing friction—like high egress fees—that can hold back smart, scalable architectures.

Jenkins also acknowledged the challenges organizations face in moving away from outdated architectures. Many enterprises still operate under constraints that no longer exist—such as high egress costs or limited region-based clustering. Akamai is walking the talk, offering low-cost egress (as little as $0.005/GB, compared to five cents or more at major cloud providers) multi-cluster orchestration, giving developers the freedom to run applications where it makes the most sense—not just where it’s cheapest or closest; and ongoing alignment with CNCF initiatives like dynamic resource allocation.

As Jenkins put it, “We want to remove the tax on good architecture.” That means eliminating barriers that prevent developers from using the best tool for the job—regardless of cloud provider or geography.

Jenkins’ takeaway from KubeCon? The future of cloud computing isn’t just about new tools—it’s about new thinking. “You leave with a million ideas,” he said. “And the challenge is turning those into something achievable before the next one.”

With Akamai helping to lay the new foundations—from video streaming to AI to distributed orchestration—it’s clear the construction is far from over. And maybe that’s the point.

Because like New York, the cloud will be great when it’s finished—but it’s always under construction.

Guest: Jay Jenkins (LinkedIn)
Companies: Akamai
Show: KubeStruck