With Deutsche Telekom’s “Liquid Metal” Kubernetes Cluster as a Service (CaaS) platform as proof of concept, Weaveworks says it can simplify cloud infrastructure opertions for CSPs
Backed by investments from AWS, Ericsson, and Deutsche Telekom (DT), Weaveworks‘ mission is to simplify cloud infrastructure and app management. And buoyed by its recent successes, Weaveworks wants telecom operators to use its services to manage cloud-native 5G operations, from Open RAN to the network core. Its message is clear: Kubernetes is essential to deliver 5G, and Weaveworks can help.
Weaveworks’ products manage Kubernetes clusters, and more broadly, cloud app lifecycle management. The Weave platform and products leverage GitOps, the programming discipline already broadly associated with Kubernetes.
GitOps applies the principles of DevOps to help manage code infrastructure which can be declaratively managed. While the principles aren’t specific to Kubernetes container management, GitOps is common in Kubernetes environments. Weaveworks founder Alexis Richardson first described GitOps practices and coined the term in 2017.
Declarative programming is essential to developing Infrastructure As Code (IAC). Every change in a GitOps repository is made using a Pull Request, which identifies what changes have been made to code, and a Commit, a discrete change made to the file. This makes GitOps operations easily auditable, and, more importantly, easily reversible if things go wrong.
GitOps for telco and enterprise
Weaveworks’ product line includes Weave Cloud, an automation and management Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. Weave GitOps Core is its open-source continuous delivery product to run apps in any Kubernetes environment.
Weave GitOps Enterprise is its latest release. The solution provides “bullet-proof application delivery and fleet management cross hybrid cloud, multi cloud and edge infrastructures.” The company issued its first general release of GitOps Enterprise in November, following earlier test releases.
Weaveworks announced in November that customer (and investor) Deutsche Telekom uses Weave GitOps to deliver Kubernetes to the edge at scale. DT’s Liquid Metal Kubernetes Cluster-as-a-Service (CaaS) platform. Liquid Metal dynamically creates and manages clusters on both Virtual Machines (VMs) and on bare-metal hosts. The system uses microVM solutions like AWS Firecracker for lightweight deployments.
“Liquid Metal enables Kubernetes to run bare metal, so it can access hardware features directly, such as Radio Access Networks (RAN) for 5G. Kubernetes clusters can be provisioned dynamically on both bare metal and lightweight virtualized nodes (microVMs). It was developed by Weaveworks and Deutsche Telekom, specifically for high-performance cases where hardware acceleration is needed, such as 5G,” said the company.
In a white paper, Weaveworks spelled out its value proposition to operators. “With new, open standards now in place for delivering cloud-based virtual networks, including 5G radio access network (RAN) aggregation, the time is right for network operators to transition away from the monolithic infrastructure on which 3G and 4G was built, and realize the benefits of cloud native. Weaveworks is well-placed to assist with this process, thanks to a number of recent engagements in the telco sector, not least a long partnership with Deutsche Telekom (a key Weaveworks investor),” said Weaveworks.
