The document discusses the evolution of Kubernetes persistent storage and what is next. It covers how Kubernetes originally consumed external storage, then introduced dynamic volume provisioning. It introduces the Container Storage Interface (CSI) standard to enable storage vendors to develop plugins that work across container orchestration systems. CSI will support dynamic provisioning/deprovisioning, attaching/detaching volumes, and mounting/unmounting volumes for both block and file-based storage. The document also discusses challenges with availability and failover of pods across availability zones in public clouds and how running the storage provider on Kubernetes can help address these challenges through improved integration and federation support across clouds. It introduces the open source Rook storage-as-a-service project