Section announced its new patent-pending
Kubernetes Edge Interface (KEI),
allowing organizations to deploy application workloads across a
distributed edge as though it were a single cluster. KEI lets
development teams already building Kubernetes applications continue
using familiar tools and workflows, such as kubectl or Helm, yet deploy
their application to a superior multi-cloud, multi-region and
multi-provider network. Teams interact with deployed applications as
though running on a single cluster, while Section's patented Adaptive
Edge Engine (AEE) employs policy-driven controls to automatically tune,
shape and optimize application workloads in the background across
Section's Composable Edge Cloud.
"Edge
deployment is simply better than centralized data centers or single
clouds in most every important metric - performance, scale, efficiency,
resilience, usability, etc.," said Stewart McGrath, Section's CEO. "Yet
organizations historically put off edge adoption because it's been
complicated. With Section's KEI, teams don't have to change tools or
workflows; the distributed edge effectively becomes a cluster of
Kubernetes clusters and our AEE automation and Composable Edge Cloud
handles the rest."
The
Kubernetes API is the most popular method for developers to orchestrate
and control containers. Section's KEI extends the Kubernetes API to
connect and implement important Kubernetes resources within the Section
Edge Platform, letting developers move existing applications to the edge
with ease. KEI leverages familiar tooling and workflows for both
deployment and management, making it the simplest way to distribute
containers to multiple locations
(multi-cluster/multi-provider/multi-region). Moreover, edge presence
requirements specified via KEI are translated into policy-driven
controls for the Composable Edge Cloud via Section's Adaptive Edge
Engine. AEE will take a simple application workload policy such as run containers where there are at least 20 HTTP requests per second and continuously find and execute the optimal edge orchestration accordingly.
While KEI dramatically simplifies edge deployment and management, it provides powerful control so developers can:
- Configure service discovery, routing users to the best container instance
- Define complex applications, such as composite applications that consist of multiple containers
- Define system resource allocations
- Define scaling factors, such as the number of containers per location, and what signals should be used to scale in and out
- Enforce compliance requirements such as geographic boundaries or other network properties
- Maintain
application code, configuration and deployment manifests in an
organization's own code management systems and image registries
- Control how the Adaptive Edge Engine schedules containers, performs health management, and routes traffic
The
Section Edge Platform, the company's Edge as a Service offering, allows
organizations to easily deploy, scale and protect containers at the
edge, so they can focus more on perfecting their applications and less
on managing networks. In addition to KEI and AEE, Section offers a
Composable Edge Cloud consisting of a federation of multiple compute
providers (including AWS, Azure, GCP, Digital Ocean, Lumen, Equinix,
RackCorp and even custom cloud infrastructure) to deliver reliability,
scalability and edge reach.