The simple answer is that Kubernetes isn't really any of the things it's been described as. What it /is/, though, is an operating system for the Cloud. It's a set of universal abstraction layers that can sit on top of and work with any IaaS provider and allows you to build and deploy applications using infrastructure-as-code concepts through a standardized and approachable API.
Most companies who were late on the Cloud hype cycle (which is quite a lot of F100s) got to see second-hand how using all the nice SaaS/PaaS offerings from major cloud providers puts you over a barrel and don't have any interest in being the next victim, and it's coming at the same time that these very same companies are looking to eliminate expensive commercially licensed proprietary software and revamp their ancient monolithic applications into modern microservices. The culimination of these factors is a major facet of the growth of Kubernetes in the Enterprise.
It's not just hype, it has a very specific purpose which it serves in these organizations with easily demonstrated ROI, and it works. There /are/ a lot of organizations jumping on the bandwagon and cargo-culting because they don't know any better, but there are definitely use cases where Kubernetes shines.
Most companies who were late on the Cloud hype cycle (which is quite a lot of F100s) got to see second-hand how using all the nice SaaS/PaaS offerings from major cloud providers puts you over a barrel and don't have any interest in being the next victim, and it's coming at the same time that these very same companies are looking to eliminate expensive commercially licensed proprietary software and revamp their ancient monolithic applications into modern microservices. The culimination of these factors is a major facet of the growth of Kubernetes in the Enterprise.
It's not just hype, it has a very specific purpose which it serves in these organizations with easily demonstrated ROI, and it works. There /are/ a lot of organizations jumping on the bandwagon and cargo-culting because they don't know any better, but there are definitely use cases where Kubernetes shines.