2 Business aspect #
Agility is driving developers toward more cloud-native methodologies that focus on microservices architectures and streamlined workflows. Container technologies, like Kubernetes, embody this agile approach and help enable cloud-native transformation.
By unifying IT operations with Kubernetes, organizations realize key benefits like increased reliability, improved security and greater efficiencies with standardized automation. Therefore, Kubernetes infrastructure platforms are adopted by enterprises to deliver:
- Cluster Operations
Improved Production and DevOps efficiencies with simplified cluster usage and robust operations
- Security Policy & User Management
Consistent security policy enforcement plus advanced user management on any Kubernetes infrastructure
- Access to Shared Tools & Services
A high level of reliability with easy, consistent access to a broad set of tools and services
2.1 Business problem #
Kubernetes is the leading solution to address edge computing use cases in industry verticals such as manufacturing, transportation, power generation, healthcare, retail and banking. Typical edge systems that leverage Kubernetes to run complex workloads include energy meters, aircraft engines, gas & oil rigs, cruise ships, high-speed trains, retail scanners, wind turbine base stations, internet-connected cars, ATMs and much more.
For such target edge systems, which are often unattended, resource constrained and remote, orchestrating containerized workloads on Kubernetes deployments may seem overbearingly complex.
2.2 Business value #
After two years of research and development in June 2020, K3s was donated to the CNCF. The donation is a testament of the commitment to the open source community and their mission to run Kubernetes everywhere.
- Perfect for Edge
K3s is a highly available, certified Kubernetes distribution specifically designed for production workloads in unattended, resource-constrained, remote locations or inside IoT appliances.
- Simplified & Secure
K3s is packaged as a tiny, single binary that reduces the dependencies and steps needed to install, run and auto-update a production Kubernetes cluster. For workloads, automated Manifest and Helm Chart managment deployments can be used. Also, multiple architectures, like x86_64, ARM64, and ARMv7, are supported with binaries and images available.
Given its extensive Kubernetes capabilities, K3s can also be a suitable choice for:
embedded platforms,
continuous integration and continuous deployment platforms,
branch locations or individual developer deployments, and
even core or cloud production instances
When K3s is imported and combined with SUSE Rancher, organizations are equipped with an easy, complete and reliable management solution for Kubernetes at the edge.
With this increased consistency of the deployed and managed Kubernetes infrastructure clusters, organizations benefit from an even higher level of the Cloud Native Computing model where each layer only relies upon the API and version of the adjacent layer, such as:
- Compute Platform
Using the above software application and technology solutions with the Edge Server platforms offered by Lenovo provides the highest reliability and uptime for growing small business to enterprise workloads, offering the unmatched value, flexibility and industry-leading efficiency, including:
low setup costs
reduced complexity
easy scalability