Every AI Cloud-Native Expert Starts with Kubernetes | API Gateways vs Service Mesh Explained

Danny Thompson sits down with Marino Wijay, Staff Solutions Architect at Kong and CNCF Ambassador, for a wide-ranging conversation on modern cloud-native development. They start with Kubernetes as the entry point into the ecosystem and explore what it really means to be a CNCF ambassador. Marino explains the difference between an API gateway and a service mesh, when small teams should adopt each, and why managed services often make more sense than running infrastructure yourself.The discussion then shifts to reliability and observability, with a focus on automation, pipelines, and creating a seamless developer experience. Finally, Marino shares lessons from working with enterprises rolling out AI, covering vector caching, cost optimization, latency concerns, and the importance of data governance when dealing with LLM traffic. It’s an episode full of practical advice for builders navigating the realities of APIs, microservices, and AI in production today.Key points from this episode:- Kubernetes remains the entry point into the cloud-native ecosystem, giving teams the foundation to operationalize applications and join the CNCF community.- Marino breaks down the distinction between an API gateway and a service mesh, showing how a gateway like Kong secures APIs at the edge while a mesh like Kuma manages traffic, authentication, and encryption between services.- For smaller teams, the smartest path is to rely on managed services and an API gateway, introducing a service mesh only when scale and complexity demand it.- As organizations adopt AI, Marino highlights how vector caching, governance policies, and PII sanitization help control costs, cut latency, and protect sensitive data when working with LLMs.Marino Wijay on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwijay/Rob Ocel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robocel/Danny Thompson on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dthompsondev/This Dot Labs Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotLabsThis Dot Media Twitter: https://x.com/ThisDotMediaThis Dot Labs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisdotlabs/This Dot Labs Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisdot/This Dot Labs Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thisdotlabs.bsky.socialSponsored by This Dot Labs: https://ai.thisdot.co/