During KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe, research leader CERN is recognized as an exceptional end user of cloud native technologies

PARIS, France – KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe – March 21, 2024 – The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, today announced that CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research and one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research, has been awarded the CNCF Top End User Award. Two times a year, CNCF recognizes the significant contributions made by CNCF End User members across the cloud native ecosystem. 

Since 2020, CERN has been a CNCF end user member and has been significantly involved in the cloud native community. CERN’s infrastructure is responsible for storing and processing over 1 exabyte of data. At the core of its cloud native strategy lies Kubernetes, which allows the orchestration of containerized workloads across CERN’s infrastructure. The laboratory has also embraced CNCF projects, including Prometheus, Argo, FluentD, CoreDNS, and Harbor, which have supported the management of over 500 clusters with thousands of nodes.

“CERN’s innovative use of cloud native technologies is a shining example of how open source and collaboration can drive cutting-edge research,” said Taylor Dolezal, head of ecosystem, CNCF. “By leveraging Kubernetes and other CNCF projects at an immense scale, CERN demonstrates the power of cloud native to tackle the world’s most complex challenges. We are thrilled to recognize their outstanding contributions with the Top End User Award.”

Adopting cloud native technologies has significantly impacted CERN’s ability to operate at hyperscale. The adoption of projects beyond Kubernetes has facilitated the integration of CERN’s identity, networking, monitoring, and storage services, highlighting CERN’s commitment to cloud native principles. CERN’s initiatives, like exploring a rootless stack or promoting advanced workload scheduling primitives for integrating High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources and enhancing container management, demonstrate its forward-looking approach to leveraging cloud native technologies to address future scientific and operational challenges.

“CERN is deeply committed to promoting innovation and collaboration within the cloud native ecosystem and has made multifaceted contributions to the CNCF community,” said Ricardo Rocha, Computing Engineer at CERN as well as a member of the CNCF End User Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and CNCF Technical Oversight Committee (TOC). “By transitioning from a “build-it-yourself” culture to one emphasizing collaboration, CERN has actively engaged with the CNCF community, sharing its wealth of knowledge and best practices. This engagement has allowed CERN to focus more on its core mission of scientific research while contributing to the collective advancement of cloud native technologies. We are very honored to have been awarded this recognition and take this opportunity to thank the CNCF and the cloud native community for helping us push the boundaries of our computing infrastructure.”

CERN has also participated in CNCF events and programs, including the Google Summer of Code (GSoC). Through CNCF Online Programs, CERN hosts sessions on managing large-scale cluster deployments, sharing valuable insights into the team’s challenges, solutions, and learnings with the broader community. 

CNCF’s end user ecosystem is home to many innovative and active members, including two runner-ups for this year’s award: Expedia and Shopify.

CERN is one of more than 150 organizations in the CNCF End User Community, which meets regularly to share adoption best practices and feedback on project roadmaps and future projects for CNCF technical leaders to consider.

Additional Resources

About Cloud Native Computing Foundation

Cloud native computing empowers organizations to build and run scalable applications with an open source software stack in public, private, and hybrid clouds. The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) hosts critical components of the global technology infrastructure, including Kubernetes, Prometheus, and Envoy. CNCF brings together the industry’s top developers, end users, and vendors and runs the largest open source developer conferences in the world. Supported by more than 800 members, including the world’s largest cloud computing and software companies and innovative startups, CNCF is part of the nonprofit Linux Foundation. For more information, please visit www.cncf.io.

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