SUSE Releases Edge 3.0: Highly Validated Edge Optimized Stack

Edge: The new frontier of innovation

Organizations need to be at the forefront—they are looking to accelerate transformation and deliver differentiation at the edge. They face challenges, scale being one of the hardest to overcome, and have to navigate skilled resource constraints and the burden of pre-existing technology debt. They are stretched to meet the innovation demands from the business while maximizing the customer experience. 

IDC analysts remain very optimistic about the growth of the edge infrastructure market, predicting that infrastructure deployed at edge locations will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8% through 2027. According to the “Edge Worldwide Spending Guide,” IDC Research, Mar 14, 2024, the total edge spend will reach $350 billion by 2027.

Today, we are announcing the new SUSE Edge 3.0 platform, which brings the power of open source to the edge. Using SUSE Edge 3.0’s highly validated, scalable, and tightly-integrated stack, organizations can not only deliver innovation at the edge, but also build a sustainable competitive advantage over their competition.

Scalability, security, and consistency in operations are three of the most important priorities SUSE addresses in the latest release. With SUSE Edge 3.0, customers can confidently deploy and manage at edge scale, knowing their vast number of edge devices in the field are equipped with data center-grade security built upon SUSE’s thirty years of experience in delivering Linux solutions.

Customer demands are increasing rapidly to deliver superior edge experiences

Since its founding in 1995, Danelec has emerged as a pioneer in maritime technology, specializing in Voyage Data Recorders (VDRs), Shaft Power Meters and Ship Performance Monitoring systems.

Aiming to meet and exceed its customers’ needs, Danelec adopted SUSE Edge to innovate maritime edge computing. The resulting solution delivered unprecedented savings for Danelec’s client — over $30,000 per edge device per month — thanks to increased operational efficiencies, enhanced compliance, significant scalability and improved data reporting. Set to become a cornerstone of its product offerings, Danelec’s innovative, Kubernetes-based solution not only positions Danelec for compounded growth but also promises to revolutionize global maritime operations.

What is SUSE Edge, and what’s new in 3.0?

Simply put, SUSE Edge is a purpose-built cloud-native edge computing platform for managing the full lifecycle of edge devices at scale. Since its inception, SUSE Edge has been adopted across industries such as manufacturing, telco, retail, healthcare and others, each challenged with delivering:

• A fully integrated, cloud native edge platform: Increase efficiency across your edge infrastructure.
• Scalability: Easily deploy and manage edge infrastructure, from hundreds to tens of thousands of nodes.
• Enterprise-grade security: Full platform, data center-grade security to every edge device, wherever it is located.

SUSE Edge 3.0 is focused on three key areas:

1. Bring the full power of open source to the edge with a highly validated, reliable, and edge-optimized stack.

Why does a validated edge stack matter? Organizations need more than a freely downloadable stack of technology components. They need prescribed, opinionated, and tested configurations that work seamlessly in their business environment. Instead of spending time integrating, customizing, and troubleshooting, they can focus on building business value.

With SUSE Edge 3.0, organizations can take the guesswork out and instead, use a validated design with finely integrated configurations that have been comprehensively tested in industry use cases.

The SUSE Edge 3.0 stack is purpose-built to run in resource-constrained, remote locations with intermittent internet connectivity (ideal for embedded devices). Edge 3.0 is underpinned by SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) Micro and leverages CNCF-certificated Kubernetes distributions, K3s/RKE2, supporting the management and execution of containers, virtual machines, and microservices.

     2. Manage distributed edge environments at scale with an easy-to-deploy, purpose-built edge stack.

Scale amplifies everything—every extra step in configuration, every onboarding error, and every security flaw. SUSE Edge 3.0 further simplifies the onboarding process so organizations can truly benefit from zero-touch provisioning (ZTP). 

• Rancher Prime, at the heart of the Edge 3.0 stack, enables customers to perform zero-touch provisioning and multi-cluster management of their Edge infrastructure. API-driven infrastructure, such as GitOps-based management of Kubernetes, supports frequent additions, modifications, and deletions of thousands of devices and services without human intervention. 
• Components like Edge Image Builder enable customers to build fully customized deployment artifacts to bootstrap edge clusters at scale, even in the most remote locations where connectivity cannot be guaranteed. Full operating system customization, comprehensive network management, and the air-gapping of Kubernetes resources and customer workloads are a few of the capabilities customers can rely on.   

      3. Secure the edge with enterprise-grade security capabilities.

The Edge 3.0 platform ensures security and reliability in the Build, Deploy and Runtime phases. NeuVector supports zero-trust, cloud native security by performing vulnerability scanning and implementing security policies with runtime policing. SLE Micro is both a reliable and secure operating system for the Edge, with a pre-installed SELinux security framework, an immutable file system, and provides the ability to enable FIPS-mode, ensuring strict compliance with NIST-validated cryptographical modules and enforcing system hardening best practices.  

How do we implement an Edge solution? Where do we start, and how do we start right the first time?

Implementing an Edge solution is a strategic decision. The outcome of implementing a successful edge infrastructure can translate into exceptionally superior customer experiences, which is the desired goal for most organizations. Here is an example of an edge journey.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) aims for the industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, with a significant milestone set to slash emissions by 30% by 2030. Achieving these goals requires clean technologies, alternative fuels and dual-fuel vessels. However, the average age of commercial fleets is 21.9 years, meaning it will take at least 30 years before the global fleet can be renewed. As a result, the shipping industry is looking for digital solutions to optimize efficiencies further and document the environmental impact of sea-level transportation.

From this context, a major shipping company contacted Danelec, looking for a hassle-free solution for hosting its voyage optimization applications.

Lacking in-house Kubernetes expertise and recognizing the need for a sophisticated yet easily manageable solution, Danelec turned to the market for a comprehensive Kubernetes edge solution.

Danelec initially explored the Microsoft Azure ecosystem for a solution, attracted by the familiarity and integration potential within its existing Azure services. However, the R&D team quickly encountered limitations with Azure AKS Edge Essential during its proof of concept (POC), prompting them to search for a more suitable partner. This search led them to discover SUSE Edge.

This sums up a typical starting point: an organization explores an edge solution, does its research and discovers that a purpose-built open source solution will work best for its business goals.

Strategic foundation

“The solution we built with SUSE Edge is primed for twofold growth,” says Zenth. “For one, there’s a trend in the industry where more and more vessel owners are looking for a solution just like ours. For another, we plan to migrate our legacy offerings onto this platform to enhance their value and utility.”

Confident in the solution’s viability, Danelec is ready to redefine operations for the high seas, setting sail for a greener future and compound company growth.

Reach out to SUSE and explore how we can help you in your journey to implement edge solutions that work the best for you.

Meet us at KubeCon

We are showcasing SUSE Edge 3.0 at KubeCon EU in Paris. Meet the SUSE team and learn about the latest Rancher, NeuVector, SLE Micro and SUSE Edge 3.0 releases. Plus, check out some of the cool demos and join the Rancher community.

Want to learn more?

We recommend downloading these assets below to gain a full understanding of SUSE Edge: