DPUs are particularly important because they address critical challenges in today’s AI-centric infrastructure landscape. First, they help mitigate performance bottlenecks by managing networking and security tasks that traditionally consume CPU resources, thereby reducing latency and boosting system throughput. They also offer scalability, enabling data centers to handle larger workloads without a decrease in performance. In addition, DPUs enhance security by incorporating features like encryption and real-time threat detection, which protect data during processing and transfer. These capabilities are especially valuable in industries with strict data security and compliance requirements.

The key benefits of DPUs include improved data flow, enhanced system security, and reduced operational costs. By taking over networking and storage functions, DPUs free up CPU resources, allowing for more efficient data movement and improved overall system performance. Their built-in security features provide advanced data protection, which is critical in sectors like finance and healthcare. Furthermore, DPUs contribute to cost savings by optimizing resource use, leading to reduced energy consumption and lower infrastructure expenses. Increasing programmability in newer DPU models also offers flexibility, allowing businesses to customize DPUs to meet specific workload needs.

Organizations that deal with large amounts of data—such as cloud providers, financial institutions, telecom operators, and generative AI companies—can greatly benefit from integrating DPUs into their infrastructures. Tech leaders in these sectors should consider DPUs to enhance data center efficiency, improve security, and support the growing complexity of modern workloads such as large language model (LLM) processing and real-time predictive analytics.

This report provides an in-depth look at the DPU market, analyzing leading vendors, their solutions, and how they meet modern data processing needs. It evaluates the strengths and challenges of different DPUs, focusing on throughput in networking, storage, and security performance. The report includes both specialized (Feature Play) and integrated (Platform Play) solutions but does not cover traditional computing hardware like CPUs and GPUs, as the focus is on specialized data processing technologies.

Year-over-year, the DPU market has evolved significantly. While the scope of the report remains focused on DPUs, vendors have introduced new capabilities, particularly in areas like programmability and security. Some vendors have repositioned themselves or moved out of the market, reflecting the fast-paced changes driven by emerging technologies such as generative AI and machine learning.

DPUs are becoming a crucial technology for organizations looking to optimize their infrastructure for modern workloads. This report outlines the current market landscape, helping tech decision-makers understand the role of DPUs and how to select the right solution to meet their organization’s needs in a rapidly evolving digital environment.

This is the fourth year that GigaOm has reported on the DPU space in the context of our Sonar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Sonar report provides an overview of the market’s vendors and their available offerings, outlines the key characteristics that prospective buyers should consider when evaluating solutions, and equips IT decision-makers with the information they need to select the best solution for their business and use case requirements.

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Why is NaaS suddenly on every CXO’s radar? With digital transformation no longer a “nice to have” but a business imperative, companies are racing to modernize their infrastructure. Gone are the days when networking was the backroom’s problem. Today, it sits squarely on the C-suite agenda because it impacts the top line and bottom line alike.

NaaS offers a solution that not only meets current demands but future-proofs the organization, making it relevant to everyone from the CIO to the CFO. From a CxO’s lens, NaaS is crucial because it aligns directly with strategic goals—business agility, cost efficiency, and risk mitigation. Traditional networking models are slow, expensive, and notoriously difficult to scale. In an era when businesses are expanding globally overnight, launching new digital services, and consuming cloud at an accelerating pace, the network must keep up. NaaS offers that “just-in-time” networking solution without the capital expense burden. It’s as if your network could run as smoothly as your Netflix subscription—streamlined, reliable, and customized for you.

Additionally, with security threats multiplying and regulations tightening, NaaS often comes with integrated security features baked in, reducing the complexity and cost of managing disparate security systems. To put it simply: if your network isn’t as agile as your business strategy, you’re already behind. For this report, we’re focusing on NaaS offerings that can stand alone. Solutions must be robust enough to operate independently without being locked into a specific vendor’s ecosystem. It’s not just about ticking the box for standard networking features (we’re beyond that); it’s about innovating.

This report includes NaaS solutions that offer a multicloud approach, edge networking capabilities, and baked-in security features—making them not just reactive but proactive in addressing modern enterprise needs. What you won’t find in this report are vendors that treat NaaS as a side project or simply a repackaging of old tech under a shiny new name. We’re cutting through the fluff to highlight the real innovators who are pushing boundaries, not just riding trends.

If you’ve followed the evolution of this report, you’ll notice some changes. We’ve streamlined our approach, collapsing what used to be multiple radar reports into a single, more comprehensive one. Why? Because the market has matured, and it makes more sense to offer a unified view. We’ve also sharpened our focus to reflect how the NaaS landscape has evolved—today’s offerings are more about full-stack solutions that cover everything from cloud connectivity to edge computing. NaaS isn’t just a technological shift; it’s a business strategy. In this report, we peel back the layers to show you how NaaS can deliver on its promises: agility, scalability, and security. As you explore the findings, remember that the question isn’t whether you need NaaS, but how quickly you can adopt it to stay competitive in today’s fast-moving digital economy.

This is our fourth year evaluating the NaaS solutions space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This report builds on our previous analysis and considers how the market has evolved over the last year.

This GigaOm Radar report examines 21 of the top NaaS solutions and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading NaaS solutions offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.

The post GigaOm Radar for Network as a Service Solutions appeared first on Gigaom.

Kubernetes observability tools collect key data—such as metrics, logs, and traces—from all parts of the system, helping teams monitor the way applications are performing and quickly troubleshoot any issues. This type of observability is especially important for DevOps teams, platform engineers, and site reliability engineers (SREs) who need a clear view of what’s going on in fast-moving, containerized environments.

For businesses, having solid Kubernetes observability in place is critical to ensuring everything runs smoothly. As more companies adopt containerized applications and microservices, being able to see how everything is performing in real time becomes essential for staying efficient and avoiding disruptions. Kubernetes’ dynamic environments make traditional monitoring tools less effective.

With proper observability, teams can track performance in real time, spot issues before they become bigger problems, and keep downtime to a minimum. For CIOs, CTOs, and CDOs, investing in Kubernetes observability means protecting uptime, reducing risks, and making sure their systems can handle customer demands for fast and reliable services. Plus, it helps businesses optimize their cloud resources, saving costs while maintaining performance. The demand for Kubernetes observability is evolving as the technology and customer needs grow. Organizations now want tools that give them full visibility across the entire Kubernetes stack—from infrastructure to applications—so they can manage everything in one place. As a result, vendors are offering more comprehensive solutions that bring together metrics, log analysis, tracing, and overall system visibility. There’s also increasing pressure to find tools that reduce operational complexity, making it easier to manage large and distributed Kubernetes workloads. With more companies using hybrid and multicloud strategies, the need for observability tools that can integrate with various cloud providers and scale across complex environments is greater than ever.

As Kubernetes observability continues to grow and mature, businesses should think carefully about their specific needs and choose tools that are flexible, scalable, and easy to integrate. Whether it’s improving performance, cutting costs, or boosting operational resilience, having the right observability in place is key to success in today’s cloud-native world. This is our first year evaluating the Kubernetes observability space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports.

This GigaOm Radar report examines 17 of the top Kubernetes observability solutions and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading Kubernetes observability offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.

The post GigaOm Radar for Kubernetes Observability appeared first on Gigaom.

Kubernetes has become the standard for container orchestration, enabling organizations to deploy, scale, and manage containerized applications efficiently. However, the inherent complexity and dynamic nature of Kubernetes environments present significant challenges in maintaining visibility and control. Observability is crucial for several reasons: it allows teams to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize resource utilization, facilitates rapid identification and resolution of issues, minimizes downtime and service disruption, helps detect and respond to security threats, ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, and enables proactive management of the infrastructure, reducing operational overhead and improving overall efficiency.

Kubernetes observability is essential for various stakeholders within an organization, including: DevOps teams responsible for maintaining the health and performance of applications and infrastructure, developers for debugging and optimizing application code, site reliability engineers (SREs) for ensuring the reliability, availability, and performance of services, security teams for monitoring and responding to security incidents, and executives (CxOs) for ensuring that the IT infrastructure supports business objectives and delivers value.

Business Imperative
From a CxO perspective, Kubernetes observability is both a technical necessity and a strategic business imperative for today’s hyper-changing environments. Enhanced customer experience is a key benefit because ensuring the reliability and performance of applications directly contributes to better customer satisfaction, which is crucial for maintaining competitive advantage and customer loyalty. Observability also aids in cost management by optimizing resource utilization, leading to significant savings in cloud infrastructure and operational expenses. It creates agility and innovation by providing comprehensive visibility, enabling organizations to accelerate their development and deployment cycles, fostering innovation, and enabling faster time-to-market. Additionally, observability helps mitigate risks through proactive monitoring and alerting systems, identifying potential issues before they escalate, and ensuring service continuity. Lastly, the insights derived from observability data enable informed decision-making, which supports strategic planning and iterative operational improvements.

Sector Adoption Score
To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of a Kubernetes observability solution deployment to the business, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of a Kubernetes observability solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 1) of 4.2 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This indicates that a Kubernetes observability solution is a credible candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for Kubernetes observability are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.