Microsoft wants to make service mesh invisible

At KubeCon EU 2026, Microsoft unveiled Azure Kubernetes Application Network, a managed Kubernetes networking product built on Istio ambient mode.

The service aims to make mesh features invisible to users while enabling default mTLS, without marketing itself as a service mesh.

Microsoft says ambient mode can cut upgrade pain versus sidecars and is better suited for AI traffic patterns.

The company is also tying the product to multi-cluster networking and new policy controls for inference and agent workloads.