Aarna Networks joins EMCO Project, Linux Foundation Edge welcomes F5 and VMware

“Orchestrating distributed cloud native applications across edge, core, and public clouds is a relatively new requirement. For this reason, there is a paucity of solutions—open source or proprietary,” said Sriram Rupanagunta, co-founder and SVP Engineering at Aarna Networks.

For context, EMCO is a key part of the Aarna Networks Multi-Cluster Orchestration Platform (AMCOP), and is used by AMCOP for intent-based orchestration of the application and associated multi-cluster networking.

“EMCO is a brand new, born in the edge solution that can perform intent-based orchestration of complex distributed cloud-native applications across multiple heterogeneous Kubernetes clusters. Now that EMCO is part of Linux Foundation Networking, the project will attract more contributors and gain visibility across a large set of end-users,” he added.

At the time of writing, three Aarna contributors have reportedly upstreamed roughly 544 files, 30,000 lines of code, and 150 commits developed in the last six months.

“As we work collaboratively to build out an open-source end-to-end stack across 5G, contributions like those of Aarna Networks’ are integral to the future of networking,” said Arpit Joshipura, General Manager of Networking, Edge, and IoT at the Linux Foundation.

Moving forward, Aarna said it will continue to contribute to the MCO project, as well as collaborate with other participating companies, including Intel, Nokia, TechMahindra, Calsoft, Verizon, Equinix, Cango Networks, Samsung, Amdocs, and Huawei.

Linux Foundation Edge welcomes F5 and VMware

It’s an eventful week for the Linux Foundation, which has recently welcomed F5 and VMware as Premier members.

“Growth within the LF Edge community continues to accelerate, and we are thrilled to welcome even more industry-leading organizations to the community,” Joshipura said.

According to the technology expert, the move represents a further push in the industry as more organizations across verticals realize the power of open source at the edge.

“Our diverse set of new projects and new members works in tandem with the broader LF Edge community to enable real-world edge, IoT, IIoT, and telco solutions,” he added.

For context, F5 is a company specializing in multi-cloud application security. The company acquired universal edge-as-a-service platform Volterra last January as part of its vision to deliver code to the edge.

“F5 is excited to join the Linux Foundation Edge Board and we look forward to collaborating on an open, interoperable framework that enables industries and individuals to innovate at the edge,” commented Geng Lin, executive vice president, and CTO at F5.

“Our participation will help accelerate the delivery of an Edge 2.0 platform, a security-first, app-driven approach with unlimited scale that will empower every business to unlock the full potential of the emerging edge,” Lin added.

VMware, on the other hand, needs no introduction. The technology giant has recently partnered with Ori Industries to offer an interoperable edge, hybrid cloud for enterprises. The firm has also updated its edge portfolio earlier this month, including its Edge Compute Stack platform.

“We are working side-by-side with customers and partners to unravel the complexities that come with delivering these apps across a distributed edge,” said Kaniz Mahdi, vice president of distributed edge at VMware.

“As such, we are excited to join the LF Edge, an organization focused on building an open framework to support edge-native workloads. With virtualization in our DNA and a deep-rooted footprint in the cloud, VMware is uniquely positioned to contribute to this important ambition,” Mahdi concluded.

Together with F5 and VMWare, four new General members have also joined LF Edge – mimik, Platform 9, Teal Communications, Veea – together with the Eclipse Foundation as an Associate Member.

Article Topics

5G  |  Aarna Networks  |  edge orchestration  |  F5  |  LF Edge  |  Linux Foundation  |  VMWare