Portworx Elevates Modern Virtualization at KubeCon EMEA 2025 with KubeVirt Enhancements and Enterprise Data Services

/ Cloud, Cloud-Native, Containerization, Infrastructure, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU 2025, Virtualization
Portworx Elevates Modern Virtualization at KubeCon EMEA 2025 with KubeVirt Enhancements and Enterprise Data Services

The News

At KubeCon EMEA 2025, Portworx announced significant platform advancements aimed at simplifying the adoption of Kubernetes-native virtualization using KubeVirt. Key updates include deeper Red Hat OpenShift integration, enhanced live VM migration support, synchronous disaster recovery, and GitOps-compatible multicluster management. The Portworx platform now delivers comprehensive enterprise storage and data services tailored to run VMs alongside containers on Kubernetes. 

Analysis

The virtualization market is undergoing a generational shift. According to industry analysts, by 2026, 50% of new virtual workloads will run on Kubernetes-native platforms. Portworx’s support for KubeVirt and enterprise-ready disaster recovery, backup, and performance optimizations provides a robust alternative to traditional hypervisor-based environments. For platform teams, Portworx delivers not only the data services needed to modernize virtualization but also the flexibility to operate across clouds, on-prem, and edge, without sacrificing resilience or control.

Virtualization at a Tipping Point

As organizations seek to escape legacy virtualization models, Kubernetes-native virtualization is gaining traction. According to an April 2024 survey referenced during the briefing, 81% of organizations plan to migrate or modernize their VMs on Kubernetes, with 65% targeting this transition within two years. Portworx and Red Hat are capitalizing on this momentum by tightly integrating KubeVirt-based virtualization with enterprise-grade data services, delivering a scalable, lower-cost alternative to VMware and other legacy stacks.

Addressing Real-World Virtualization Challenges

Portworx is solving common KubeVirt challenges, such as limited high availability (HA), disaster recovery, and storage scalability, through a unified platform approach:

  • Disaster Recovery: With synchronous DR (SyncDR) and asynchronous DR (AsyncDR), Portworx enables zero RPO and flexible RTOs depending on workload criticality.
  • High Availability: Demonstrated VM HA restart capabilities and RWX block storage support ensure continuous operations.
  • Live Migration: Portworx supports seamless live migration of VMs, a key requirement for workload mobility and lifecycle management.
  • Multicluster Scalability: GitOps-compatible configuration across hundreds of clusters supports enterprise-grade operations with declarative infrastructure-as-code.

Product Differentiation: Portworx + KubeVirt vs. Legacy Virtualization

Portworx enhances KubeVirt by adding key capabilities that bridge the gap with legacy virtualization stacks such as VMware:

  • Application Portability: Live migration and storage mobility mirror vMotion-like capabilities.
  • Data Protection: Kubernetes-aware backups, synthetic restore, and file-level backups rival or exceed traditional VM backup tools.
  • Performance & Scale: High-performance storage and autoscaling make it viable for high-throughput VM workloads.
  • Ecosystem Integrations: Support for SUSE Harvester, Spectro Cloud, and Spectro Cloud-native databases ensures portability and flexibility.

Strategic Partnership with Red Hat

Red Hat and Portworx are aligned on delivering a modern virtualization stack that consolidates containers and VMs within OpenShift environments. As Red Hat VP Mike Barrett emphasized, the joint solution offers customers operational efficiency, deployment flexibility, and cost savings—an increasingly critical value proposition as CIOs reassess their long-term virtualization strategies.

Looking Ahead

Portworx is rapidly positioning itself as a key enabler of the post-VMware era. The roadmap for 2H 2025 includes enhancements like Storage DRS, synthetic backups for faster recovery, support for nested virtualization, and more ecosystem integrations. These capabilities will be essential as Kubernetes-native virtualization moves from early adopters into mainstream enterprise adoption.

With growing support for hybrid and multicloud deployment models and increasing enterprise demand for simplified infrastructure operations, Portworx stands to be a strategic cornerstone for organizations migrating legacy VMs to modern Kubernetes platforms.

Author

  • Paul Nashawaty, Practice Leader and Lead Principal Analyst, specializes in application modernization across build, release and operations. With a wealth of expertise in digital transformation initiatives spanning front-end and back-end systems, he also possesses comprehensive knowledge of the underlying infrastructure ecosystem crucial for supporting modernization endeavors. With over 25 years of experience, Paul has a proven track record in implementing effective go-to-market strategies, including the identification of new market channels, the growth and cultivation of partner ecosystems, and the successful execution of strategic plans resulting in positive business outcomes for his clients.

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