An open source platform from Google for running containers across clusters of servers (see
OS virtualization). Pronounced "koo-ber-
net-eez" and often abbreviated "K8S," the name is Greek for "helmsman of a ship." Based on Google's own infrastructure for its applications and search functions, Kubernetes was made available to the public in 2014. Google's Container Engine, which is one of the many services under the Google Cloud Platform, is built on Kubernetes.
Why K8S?
Because K and S are the first and last letters, and there are eight letters in between. See
Tectonic,
Google Cloud Platform and
cloud pod.