The GitOps company launching an open-source platform framework
If you walk through the KubeCon EU 2026 expo hall in Amsterdam and stop at Booth B495, you will find a team that lives and breathes Platform Engineering — and they have something big to announce.
iits-consulting is officially launching Kubara — an open-source Kubernetes platform framework built entirely on GitOps that lets teams bootstrap a production-ready platform in under 30 minutes.
What is Kubara
Every Kubernetes team solves the same foundational problems: orchestration, secret management, policy enforcement, multi-cluster management, developer self-service. Kubara packages all of this into a single, community-maintained framework:
- Multi-cluster management via ArgoCD with a hub-and-spoke architecture
- Secret handling with External Secrets Operator
- Policy enforcement through Kyverno
- Production-ready baseline — bootstrap in under 30 minutes
- Fully modular — extend or replace any component without lock-in
Kubara grew organically from real platform engineering work at STACKIT into an open-source community effort. It is not an opinionated stack — it is a shared foundation that teams customize.
The team is actively looking for feedback. If you are building Kubernetes platforms, this is worth checking out.
What to expect at Booth B495
Book signing
Artem Lajko, Head of Platform Engineering at iits-consulting and co-author of “Implementing GitOps with Kubernetes”, will be signing copies at the booth. Fair warning: at KubeCon Salt Lake City, the line got so long that security had to shut it down. Come early.
Steam Deck giveaway
Yes, really. Stop by the booth for a chance to win.
GitOps conversations
The iits-consulting team includes platform engineers, cloud architects, and AI specialists. Whether you want to discuss:
- GitOps at scale with ArgoCD
- Internal Developer Platform design
- Multi-tenancy patterns
- How to go from “rebranded infrastructure team” to actual platform engineering
…the booth is the place.
The team
iits-consulting brings together a team of specialists in Platform Engineering, Cloud Native, and AI:
- Artem Lajko — Head of Platform Engineering, published author, community champion
- Alexander H. — Platform Engineer
- Frederik Pietzko — Senior Kumo Ambassador and Consultant
- Stephan Schwarz — Senior DevOps Engineer
- Dr. Tim Delbrugger — Head of AI and IoT
Why iits-consulting matters
In a market full of cloud consultancies, iits-consulting stands out for two reasons:
1. They build in the open. Kubara is open source. Artem’s GitOps course is free. The book is published. They contribute to the community rather than hoarding knowledge behind consulting agreements.
2. They challenge the status quo. Artem’s blog post asking whether “platform engineering” is just rebranded infrastructure management sparked industry-wide reflection. That kind of honest self-examination is rare from a consulting company.
Their philosophy is simple: the best way to demonstrate expertise is to give it away. If your GitOps course, your platform framework, and your book are all available to the community — and people still want to hire you — that says more than any sales deck.
Find them at KubeCon
- 📍 Booth B495 — KubeCon EU 2026, Amsterdam
- 📖 Book signing — grab a signed copy of Implementing GitOps with Kubernetes
- 🎮 Steam Deck giveaway — worth stopping by for
- 🔗 Kubara: kubara.io
- 🔗 Website: iits-consulting.de
See all the KubeCon 2026 companies and community leaders at the conference. I will be speaking about Multi-tenant GPUs on Bare Metal OpenShift AI.
