A fully managed Kubernetes service for the dispersed edge, ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service is the new offering from edge infrastructure orchestration solutions vendor ZEDEDA. This new service integrates with “industry-leading” orchestrators and offers a Kubernetes runtime that is curated, managed, and supported by ZEDEDA.

According to Gartner, “by 2028, 80% of customer software running at the physical edge will be deployed in containers, which is an increase from 10% in 2023.” Containerized workloads at the edge are rapidly growing. Because of this, companies would increasingly need to execute these containerized workloads and applications at the edge via Kubernetes deployments.

Kubernetes was designed for scale-out clouds and centralized data centers, not for naturally scattered and limited edge situations, which would make it difficult to deploy at the edge. With the fully managed ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service, users can concentrate on their applications rather than managing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure. This service would make Kubernetes deployments at the edge simpler.

The new solution by ZEDEDA would remove the challenges that are often encountered when implementing Kubernetes at the edge, including very distant or dispersed sites, limited devices, unstable security, a shortage of qualified IT staff on the ground, and unstable network access. Organizations may remotely install and manage Kubernetes infrastructure at the distributed edge “securely and economically” with the help of ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service.

Said Ouissal, the CEO and founder of ZEDEDA, said, “Our customers are industry leaders who are pushing the boundaries of innovation at the distributed edge. Working with them, we realized the need for an edge service that would remove the obstacles of deploying Kubernetes in these environments. ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service is a first-of-its-kind fully managed edge solution that gives our customers a clear path to modernize edge infrastructure while leveraging existing IT investments and allows them to use any Kubernetes tools that fit their needs.”

Paul Nashawaty, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said, “Our research shows modernization, including containerization, at the edge is where organizations want to leverage their existing investments and often run into challenges. In actuality, 64 percent of businesses use the edge locations for at least 26 percent of their contemporary application deployments. By filling in the gap between these environments and Kubernetes tools, ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service let users concentrate on their workloads rather than how they will be executed.”

Edge Orchestration Technology

Deloitte Global made a prediction earlier this year that the corporate edge computing market will increase at a rate of 22% in 2023, which would be four to five times faster than the growth rate of business IT expenditure overall and on enterprise networking equipment. Simultaneously, Kubernetes would now be thought of as the standard option for managing containerized workloads in standard IT settings. 96% of businesses said they are either using or assessing Kubernetes, which is a record high and a significant rise from 83% in 2020 and 78% in 2019.

Based on ZEDEDA’s edge orchestration technology, ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service provides complete lifecycle-managed Kubernetes via ZEDEDA, including a runtime that is curated, managed, and supported by ZEDEDA. This solution meets the intersection of these criteria, even for for air-gapped environments. By improving visibility, security, and control, ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service would lower the cost of managing and orchestrating distributed edge applications and infrastructure. Leading orchestrators in the market, such as Avassa, Rafay, Red Hat OpenShift, SUSE Rancher, and VMware Tanzu, are supported and integrated with the new service.

According to Keith Basil, General Manager at SUSE Edge, “SUSE continues to provide foundational and industry-leading solutions that meet the unique demands within edge. Although difficult, Kubernetes at the edge implementation is essential since it addresses cloud-native scaling, security, and connectivity. We are happy that ZEDEDA acknowledges the business value of K3s and our Linux products, including SLE Micro, which together provide specialized capabilities that are specifically designed to enable Kubernetes in distant locations with efficiency.”