SUSE Recognized as a Leader in 5G Cloud-Native Platforms

We’re thrilled to announce that SUSE has been named a leader in the “5G Cloud-Native Platforms: Kubernetes, Containers, and CaaS Layer” report by ABI Research. This recognition is a testament to SUSE’s dedication to providing innovative and comprehensive solutions for the telecommunications industry.

Key Highlights from the Report

• Overall Score: SUSE Adaptive Telco Infrastructure Platform (ATIP) achieved an overall score of 81, solidifying our position as a leading provider of 5G cloud-native platforms.
• Innovation Score: SUSE ATIP received an impressive 81 out of 100 for our innovation in the 5G cloud-native platform space.
• Implementation Score: SUSE ATIP also earned an 81 for implementation capabilities, demonstrating ability to deliver effective and efficient solutions.

Breaking Down the Innovation Criteria

ABI Research evaluated SUSE’s innovation based on 5 criteria:

1. Container Orchestration, Automation, and add-ons

A robust cloud-native platform must effectively manage containers through their lifecycle. This encompasses tasks like deployment, scaling, monitoring, self-healing, and load balancing. Given the sheer volume and complexity of containers in modern applications, ABI Research believes that automation is essential. Kubernetes provides a solid framework for automation, but true innovation lies in extending these capabilities with additional features.

ABI Research valued SUSE ATIP solution’s automation capabilities. Leveraging Rancher and Elemental, SUSE ATIP allows the users to manage the OS using Kubernetes primitives so that provisioning, configuring, updating, and OS monitoring all occur within Kubernetes clusters. This simplification of the OS management frees up on-site technical expertise and streamlines operations, which is especially valuable at the edge site.

SUSE ATIP further enhances infrastructure management by integrating Cluster API and Metal3. These technologies provide a Kubernetes-native approach to managing bare-metal servers, automating tasks such as inspection, cleaning, provisioning and deprovisioning.

It was acknowledged that SUSE ATIP offers full consolidation with SUSE’s other product offerings: Harvester and Edge Virtualization for Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), Longhorn for persistent data storage, and NeuVector for container security. ABI Research also valued Rancher Prime’s platform’s versatility across private, public, hybrid and multi-cloud deployments. Kubernetes services of all major public cloud platforms, EKS, AKS and GKE, can all be run through Rancher user interface. It also allows multi-cloud and hybrid cloud (on and off premises) deployments facilitated through a single Rancher UI. 

2. Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery (CI/CD)

ABI Research accepted that the industry has broadly changed from DevOps collaborations to GitOps (Git as single-source-of-truth) for triggering automated updates to Kubernetes clusters. This helps reduce errors and speed up delivery. They looked for platforms to come prepackaged with GitOps integrations or include their own solution for single pane of glass orchestration. Rancher provides seamless GitOps integration and also includes Fleet as its own GitOps Engine.

3. Support for 5G-Advanced

Containerised applications for 5G networks have special requirements; these are not static but are advancing alongside 5G standards. ABI Research acknowledged that SUSE ATIP is well-prepared for the future of 5G. SUSE has demonstrated best-in-class commercial partnerships with innovative telcos, especially fellow members of the Linux Foundation’s Project Sylva, an open-source telco initiative. SUSE is supporting Orange’s E2E 5G Standalone with SUSE ATIP including K3s and Rancher. SUSE also powers Parallel Wireless’s Open RAN, who commercialized the first hardware-agnostic Cloud RAN network functions.

ABI Research valued that SUSE is expanding choices for operators for both hardware and software integrations, reducing time-to-service, and increasing network quality by automation.

4. Resource Efficiency

K3s, a lightweight Kubernetes distribution created by Rancher Labs and fully certified by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), as part of the SUSE ATIP solution, optimizes resource consumption, reducing costs and increasing availability for application workloads. 

5. Container Security

SUSE addresses security needs of sensitive telco workloads through integration with NeuVector, an open source, zero trust container security platform. NeuVector, as part of the SUSE ATIP solution, provides vulnerability management, data protection, and CI/CD-based security policy enforcement. It is also noteworthy that NeuVector could be deployed in public clouds, which can be a pain point for CSPs.

Conclusion

SUSE is incredibly proud of this recognition from ABI Research. You may want to check out the full report. It validates our commitment to providing innovative and reliable solutions for the 5G era. As we continue to advance our capabilities, we remain focused on helping our customers achieve their goals and drive the future of telecommunications.