Leading up to and at KubeCon + Cloud NativeCon North America 2021, Kasten by Veeam released Kasten K10 V4.5 and launched free Kubernetes training on Learning.kasten.io. Learn more about the new platform and how you can contribute.
KubeCon + Cloud NativeCon North America 2021 is a wrap! If you followed our Tips blog for attending, you’ve come out the other side well-learned -- and maybe exhausted!
Like many in the Kubernetes world, Kasten by Veeam took part in KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2021 in Los Angeles. “Taking part” included a physical booth on the solutions showcase floor, a virtual booth (live-streamed presentations and “office hours” for those not attending in person), a live in-person keynote, co-sponsoring an offsite and evening event, and having conversations with hundreds of participants and vendors. It was a fast-paced week, and we loved every minute of it.
The team at Kasten spent months preparing for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2021, and we marked several accomplishments leading up to and at the show itself. First and foremost, we released Kasten K10 V4.5. Second, we launched Learning.kasten.io, a dedicated site designed to help Kubernetes users of all levels gain knowledge and acquire valuable skills. Riding on that momentum, we went to the conference ready to connect with the community, share what we know about Kubernetes backup and data management, and help cloud native users succeed.
Welcome to Cloud Native, We're Here to Help
Thursday morning Oct 14th at 9:15am PT, Kasten co-founder and CTO, Vaibhav Kamra took the stage and presented his keynote, “Welcome to Cloud Native - We’re Here to Help”. His comments relating to the launch of the Learning platform drove spontaneous applause from the live KubeCon + CloudNativeCon audience.
Why is this such a big deal? Well, for one, we were able to defy expectations. When I joined Kasten, Niraj Tolia, Co-founder and SVP of Strategy, told me that marketing in the cloud native space would be very different from anything I had done before. The DevOps community is not terribly keen on marketing (except for the free t-shirts, maybe).
When Vaibhav Kamra presented Learning.kasten.io as one of the key Kasten community initiatives, and when he got that applause, I could not have been more proud of the team that made this happen. Not only was it a successful team effort, we were able to launch the learning site in just three months. Anyone who has created a new website with media assets knows this is a big deal.
For the Community, By the Community
Learning.kasten.io was 100% created for the community, and it was also a marketing initiative. Over the last year, and in particular at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU in May 2021, so many of the conversations we had were with people "Learning Kubernetes." Clearly, there was an opportunity to bring more users into the Kubernetes fold. Rather than creating more datasheets, we put our efforts toward building the Learning platform with Kubernetes experts.
And now, those efforts are paying off. In just a few weeks, without much of a push, more than 4,500 learners have registered, and they have taken more than 1000 hands-on labs.
Learn Kubernetes Hands-On
The hands-on labs are what make this initiative unique: Learning.kasten.io is not another YouTube channel, nor is it another blog with an expert waxing poetically about an obscure tip or trick. It is a comprehensive Kubernetes learning platform that provides real, hands-on labs, in addition to the more traditional assets.
On top of all the content, Learning.kasten.io is a free resource. One of our goals was to make the content — and the learning itself — as engaging as possible. So in addition to the sense of accomplishment, we offer incentives like digital badges that users can share on their social media profiles.
Back to KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2021, it was great fun to see young students at the event challenge each other to complete the labs as quickly as possible. Outside of the event, the feedback we’re getting is also very positive. Moving forward, we will continue to scale. More labs. More instructors. More learning.
Get Started and Contribute today!
I encourage anyone looking to expand their Kubernetes know-how to visit the site, take an assessment, and join us on the journey and if you’d like to contribute content to the Learning platform, please let us know: email learning@kasten.io.
Tom Leyden is the VP of Marketing for Kasten by Veeam. As a marketing professional with networks in the USA, Europe and Israel, he has over the past 15 years built a track record with market-disrupting start-up companies in Cloud Computing, Storage, and Artificial Intelligence. His start-up successes include dedupe pioneer DCT (Symantec), early cloud innovator Q-layer (Sun/Oracle), Amplidata (HGST), and Elastic NVMe innovator Excelero. Belgium is home; the world is his workspace.
