Red Hat, Inc., introduced a number of new capabilities embedded in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift. These new capabilities are designed to help enterprises push their edge computing to the hybrid cloud.
New features in Red Hat Enterprise Linux allow the world’s leading Linux platform to maximize system stability and maintain independent workloads in less physical space. Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading enterprise Kubernetes platform, now has a node architecture so that workers working remotely can implement Kubernetes in a limited space or remotely.
According to IDC’s Worldwide Edge Spending Guide, the worldwide edge computing market is expected to reach US $ 250.6 billion by 2024, with edge-related software accounting for at least 21 percent of that expenditure. Red Hat firmly believes that edge computing requires an open hybrid cloud, built on an enterprise-class Linux foundation and production-ready Kubernetes. With today’s update, both Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift are increasingly better equipped to meet these demands.
Enterprise Linux, Ready for Edge
The small physical space, remote locations, and limited connectivity of edge devices have presented challenges to traditional but feature-packed operating systems, but not Red Hat Enterprise Linux. With improvements to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3, the world’s leading enterprise-class Linux platform can be deployed on both the core datacenter and on a variety of remote servers located in tight spaces. It also provides the level of support, stability, and security features required for an enterprise-class edge implementation
Edge-focused updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux include:
Fast operating system image creation for edge via a feature called Image Builder. This feature will make it easier for IT organizations to create images that are specially created to solve the various architectural problems inherent in edge computing, but can also be tailored to specific needs.
Remote device updates via mirroring to perform various updates when a device or power source reboots, helping to limit downtime and manual intervention by the IT response team.
Over-the-air updates that transfer less data while pushing the code required, making it an ideal feature for locations with limited connectivity.
Intelligent rollbacks are built based on OSTree capabilities, so that users can check for problems specific to their workload, such as detecting conflicts or code problems. When a problem is detected, the image will automatically search for the latest and greatest updates, thus preventing unnecessary downtime on the edge.
With all these capabilities, Red Hat Enterprise Linux can become a single Linux platform that is ready to support a variety of applications across an enterprise environment, from servers on-premises to public clouds and from datacenter cores to remote edge devices. This standardization of open innovation can become the backbone for open hybrid cloud, so that companies can focus on application and service innovation and solve the challenges of competence and integration that occur in the IT environment.
Extend the edge architecture with Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes
In August 2020, Red Hat OpenShift introduced 3-node cluster support, which enables the industry-leading enterprise Kubernetes platform to run at the edge of a network, in a smaller footprint. Today, OpenShift extends its support to the edge architecture with the presence of nodes for remote workers.
Nodes for remote workers will allow IT organizations to place a single remote worker node in remote / remote locations managed by supervisor nodes in a larger facility, such as a central or regional datacenter. This provides additional topology options for organizations looking to explore Kubernetes innovations at the edge.
When combined with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, IT teams can build more consistent and stable Kubernetes clusters and related resources, wherever an internet connection is available across the open hybrid cloud. An example is a telecommunications service provider who will need to run a RAN Distributed Unit (DU) in locations where less space is required, and the controller will manage a number of DU locations and run supervisor nodes in the central unit.
In addition, the industrial manufacturing AI / ML blueprint is also available as a complete GitOps repository, which users can use, study, and contribute.
Complete edge ecosystem, driven by the open hybrid cloud
In addition to the new capabilities of hybrid cloud technology, Red Hat also provides an extensive partner ecosystem for running a complete enterprise-class edge. Recent collaborations with Samsung and NVIDIA demonstrate that this collaboration has helped extend Red Hat’s leadership reach in the edge field across all enterprise use cases, to support critical edge workloads, including AI and 5G.
Stefanie Chiras, senior vice president and general manager, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat said, “Red Hat firmly believes that without open hybrid cloud, the concept of edge computing as we know it today, would not exist. Enterprise-class Linux and a robust Kubernetes platform. comprehensive has become the backbone for the hybrid cloud, so the presence of these technologies is increasingly needed by growing edge computing. The new capabilities of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift have enabled enterprises to create open standards-based innovations across their IT environment. , from server rooms and virtual environments to the public cloud and even the most remote locations of their enterprise network. ”
Meanwhile, Dave McCarthy, research director, Edge Strategies, IDC said, “Products and services at the edge have created the next wave of digital transformation globally and across nearly all industries, with edge technology vendors looking for substantial market opportunities in several The next year, software providers such as Red Hat, which feature a variety of existing datacenter technologies, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift, are clearly well positioned to take advantage of this trend towards advancing edge computing. “