ZEDEDA Launches the Industry’s 1st Kubernetes-as-a-Service for the Distributed Edge 

SAN JOSE, Calif. and CHICAGO, Nov. 7, 2023 -- ZEDEDA, a leader in edge infrastructure orchestration, today announced ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service, an industry-first, fully managed Kubernetes service for the distributed edge. The new service includes a Kubernetes runtime that is curated, managed and supported by ZEDEDA, as well as integrations with industry-leading orchestrators.

Containerized workloads at the edge are exploding, with Gartner predicting that “by 2028, 80% of customer software running at the physical edge will be deployed in containers, which is an increase from 10% in 2023.”* As a result, organizations will increasingly need to deploy Kubernetes to run these containerized workloads and applications at the edge.

Deploying Kubernetes at the edge is challenging because it was built for centralized data centers and scale-out clouds and, therefore, not for inherently constrained and distributed edge environments. ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service is a fully managed service that simplifies Kubernetes deployments at the edge, allowing customers to focus on their applications instead of managing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure. The new service eliminates the struggles typically associated with Kubernetes deployments at the edge, such as highly remote or distributed locations, constrained devices, unreliable security, lack of skilled IT personnel in the field and undependable network connectivity. ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service enables organizations to deploy and run Kubernetes infrastructure at the distributed edge remotely, securely and cost-efficiently.

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

“Our Enterprise Strategy Group research shows modernization, including containerization, at the edge is where organizations want to leverage their existing investments and often run into challenges,” said Paul Nashawaty, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “In fact, we see 64% of organizations deploy 26% or more of modern applications at the edge locations. ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service addresses an existing gap between these environments and Kubernetes tools, enabling customers to focus on their workloads instead of how they will run them.”

Earlier this year, technology-focused analyst firm GigaOm recognized ZEDEDA as a "Leader" and "Outperformer" in its Radar Report for Kubernetes for Edge Computing, with “Exceptional” ratings in 11 different categories, including interoperability, lifecycle management, customized deployment support and connectivity.

ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service Provides Full Lifecycle-Managed Kubernetes

The combined popularity of edge computing and Kubernetes is undeniable. Earlier this year, Deloitte Global predicted that the enterprise market for edge computing will grow at 22% in 2023, four to five times more than spending on enterprise networking equipment and overall enterprise IT. At the same time, Kubernetes is now regarded as the default choice for overseeing the management of containerized applications in typical IT environments. A record high of 96% of organizations reported they are either using or evaluating Kubernetes — a major increase from 83% in 2020 and 78% in 2019.

ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service, built on ZEDEDA’s market-leading edge orchestration technology, addresses the intersection of these demands, even for air-gapped environments, by providing full lifecycle-managed Kubernetes through ZEDEDA, including a runtime curated, managed and supported by ZEDEDA. ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service reduces the cost of managing and orchestrating distributed edge infrastructure and applications while increasing visibility, security and control. The new service integrates with and supports industry-leading orchestrators, including Avassa, Rafay, Red Hat OpenShift, SUSE Rancher and VMware Tanzu.

“SUSE continues to provide foundational and industry-leading solutions that meet the unique demands within edge,” said Keith Basil, Edge general manager, SUSE. “While challenging, successfully implementing Kubernetes at the edge is critical as it means solving cloud-native scale, security and connectivity. We are glad ZEDEDA recognizes the enterprise value of K3s and our Linux offerings such as SLE Micro, which, when combined, provide specific, purpose-built features for efficiently enabling Kubernetes in remote locations.”

"Rafay is excited to collaborate with ZEDEDA on the groundbreaking Edge Kubernetes Service," said Mohan Atreya, SVP of products and solutions at Rafay Systems. "Together, we will redefine how companies manage applications and Kubernetes at the distributed edge, ensuring unparalleled automation, control and efficiency for enterprises and their platform teams."

“We see technology stacks at the edge shifting away from legacy vendor stovepipes toward platforms that support a mix of VMs and container workloads. From an application viewpoint, there's a strong desire to manage containers in a simple, secure and automated way,” said Carl Moberg, CTO and co-founder of Avassa. “Together, we provide a complete infrastructure-to-application edge solution that allows users to mix container engines, Kubernetes, and VMs powered by ZEDEDA with Avassa adding the ability to easily extend a self-service developer experience for their container application stack — onto the very same hardware.”

To learn more about ZEDEDA Edge Kubernetes Service, visit zededa.com/products/edge-kubernetes.

ZEDEDA also will be sharing details about the new service at Booth P15 in the Solutions Showcase at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America, Nov. 6-9 in Chicago.

About ZEDEDA

ZEDEDA makes edge computing effortless, open and intrinsically secure — extending the cloud experience to the edge. ZEDEDA reduces the cost of managing and orchestrating distributed edge infrastructure and applications while increasing visibility, security and control. ZEDEDA’s edge orchestration service includes an open-source edge operating system from the Linux Foundation and a cloud-based management console. Customers can use cloud APIs to manage diverse and large fleets of edge compute and deploy any combination of legacy and cloud-native AI edge applications, as well as supporting services. ZEDEDA ensures extensibility and flexibility by utilizing an open partner ecosystem with a robust app marketplace, enabling customers to bring their own applications and services.

Source: ZEDEDA