Kubernetes (K8s) has transformed cloud-native infrastructure, enabling enterprises to build scalable, agile environments. Yet, alongside its benefits, Kubernetes introduces a significant blind spot —a rapidly growing part of cloud budgets that has become more and more difficult to optimize. Excess spend is common, and is caused by incorrectly specified container resources, stranding tremendous amounts of resources while at the same time introducing significant operational risk.

The FinOps Foundation states that “For the first time, Reducing waste was the highest key priority for FinOps practitioners across all spending tiers. This may be influenced by macroeconomic trends, with businesses looking for ways to reduce spending without reducing the value they are getting from their cloud investments.”

In cloud-native environments, autoscaling and optimization are often confused, yet they serve different purposes. While Kubernetes offers several built-in autoscaling features, these are often mistaken for optimization. In reality, autoscaling is reactive, responding to changing demands, whereas optimization is proactive, focused on configuring workloads efficiently from the start.

At Intel Vision April 2024, Densify won Intel Partner of the year for Cloud Solutions. This award recognizes the impact of our jointly developed offering: Intel® Cloud Optimizer. Densify – Cloud: For Densify’s collaboration with Intel to continuously fine-tune the Intel Cloud Optimizer software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, to include a sophisticated understanding of key Intel hardware features and how they benefit specific customer workloads.

On this episode of Densify Talks, we welcome Gokul Naidu, Senior Manager, Cloud Operations for SAP’s SuccessFactors Product Suite. Andrew and Gokul discuss an array of topics in the episode. The general theme of the discussion focuses on cost management and the importance of being prepared, aware, and executing the right planning in order to avoid sticker shock.

Densify has just been recognized by GigaOm as a Leader and “Fast Mover” in the market for Kubernetes Resource Management. This is the second year in a row that Densify has gained this distinction and comes in addition to also being named a leader and outperformer in GigaOm’s report on Cloud Resource Optimization in June of last year.

Time and time again we hear the same statements from FinOps teams with respect to what is holding back optimization of wasteful cloud resource consumption. Engineers and App Owners are interested in helping but stop short at actually taking actions to reduce that waste. There are many reasons for this main sticking point when it comes to application owners and developers taking action.

Time and time again we hear the same statements from FinOps teams with respect to what is holding back optimization of wasteful resource consumption. Engineers and App Owners are interested in helping but stop short at actually taking actions to reduce that waste. There are many reasons for this main sticking point when it comes to application owners and developers taking action.

If you’re sick with a cold then measuring your body temperature is a wise move or maybe if things are really bad a visit to a doctor might result in testing vs. what are considered “normal” levels in order to diagnose the issue; seasonal flu or infection? To improve our health after picking up a bad bug, we do things that affect our situation back to normal levels once again where we can then declare ourselves healthy.

We’ve seen two general approaches to getting optimization done to reduce cloud costs in our customers; the first and most popular is “the stick” where FinOps teams campaign against lines of business development teams with a mantra of “spend less”!