Edgeworx has integrated Kubernetes into its Eclipse ioFog software that continues a broader push toward using the container orchestration platform to help manage what is expected to be millions of applications and microservices in resource-constrained edge locations.

Farah Papaioannou, co-founder and president of Edgeworx, explained the updated platform as a “cloud-to-edge continuum” that allows developers to use the same tools and workflows to deploy applications and microservices from the cloud down to the edge. She noted that the platform is compatible with all Kubernetes iteration and distributions using a single Helm line install and can be used on any piece of edge infrastructure that runs Linux.

Papaioannou said that the Kubernetes integration followed the market, which has reached an “inflection point when it comes to edge computing.”

"Developers don’t want to have to think about where they should deploy microservices," Papaioannou noted in an email response to questions. "Instead, we have extended Kubernetes to take care of it for the developer, and for the first time they can deploy microservices based on hardware resources, GPS geo-coordinates, network latency, and bandwidth price, for example."

The Edgeworlx platform is based on the Eclipse ioFog open source project and targets developers looking to deploy and manage any application or containerized microservice at the edge.

The platform includes three basic technologies. The first is its “engine” that turns any compute hardware into an intelligent edge device capable of remotely deploying and managing microservices. It does this by monitoring the health and resources of that device to allow for operating at the edge.

The second is its Edge-to-Edge Mesh Network that creates a private connection between those edge devices. This removes the need for information to be sent to the cloud, through a VPN, or a network address translation (NAT) layer unless necessary.

The final piece is its Pure Edge Security that uses hardware root of trust and microservice verification to create a secure peer-to-peer connection. The company claims that this produces a more robust security posture as more devices are added to the network.

Papaioannou explained that in total the platform is able to power more advanced edge applications like artificial intelligence (AI) than other offerings.

“The majority of customers are coming to us to solve the problems of AI at the edge, which is something traditional IoT platforms cannot solve,” Papaioannou said.

Edgeworx emerged from stealth mode last October, joining a long list of companies looking to gain a foothold in the emerging edge computing space.

The ioFog platform itself was released under the Eclipse Foundation. That group was formed in 2004, having emerged from the Eclipse Project that IBM founded in late 2001. It’s focused on supporting Eclipse open source projects, with the most well known being the Eclipse multi-language software development environment platform.

The Eclipse Foundation last year joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) in creating the Kubernetes IoT Edge Working Group. That effort is focused on using Kubernetes to manage IoT and edge networking deployments.

While a number of vendors have begun to target Kubernetes at edge deployments, Papaioannou explained that Edgeworx was the only vendor in the market to offer “edge-aware Kubernetes,” which is “the only right way to take Kubernetes to the edge.”

Rancher Labs, for instance, earlier this year launched its K3s platform that is essentially a slimmer version of Kubernetes, which is often referred to as “k8s.” It’s targeted at resource-constrained edge locations. Rancher Labs followed that up in April with a K3s-specific operating system.

While Rancher Labs moved to strip down Kubernetes, other vendors have been plugging the full version into their efforts.

Mirantis last year plugged Kubernetes into its Cloud Platform Edge product to allows operators to deploy a combination of containers, virtual machines (VMs), and bare metal points of presence (POPs) that are connected by a unified management plane.

Another firm leaning on Kubernetes is IoTium, which last year updated its edge-cloud infrastructure that is built on remotely-managed Kubernetes. The platform places Kubernetes at an edge location where it can be inside a node. The company uses a full version of Kubernetes running on IoTium’s SD-WAN platform.