SaaS-managed hybrid cloud platform provider
Platform9 Systems (Platform9) has launched a free SaaS-managed Kubernetes offering. Platform9, which has headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, United States, was established in 2013. The company specializes in a range of areas including cloud computing, infrastructure automation, virtualization, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and Kubernetes. Backed by HPE and a number of financial institutions, Platform9’s hybrid cloud solution “turns existing infrastructure into a cloud, instantly”. The company deals with customers that include Autodesk, Splunk, Bitly, and Aruba. Its free managed Kubernetes service offers “automated Day 2 operations” - product features that are operational in nature such as “one-click upgrades, security patching, and monitoring”.
Platform9’s free solution represents an entirely new tier of service for the company. It works alongside existing SaaS environments to allow users to create infrastructure-based Kubernetes clusters that facilitate “remotely access automated management of Kubernetes operations”.
These clusters offer automated upgrades, security patching, Prometheus monitoring, alerts and logging. They can be established on “developer laptops, bare metal or virtual servers, public clouds, and at the edge”.
“We found that a vast majority of companies are struggling with the complexity of operating Kubernetes in production. Kubernetes is complex and notoriously difficult to manage, particularly in on-premises or multi-cloud environments,” explained Kamesh Pemmaraju on the company’s blog. “Day 2 operations are incredibly challenging: how do you handle upgrades to your clusters when there's a new version or a security patch? How do you do the monitoring? HA? Scaling? Compliance? And more. The operational pain is compounded by the industry-wide talent scarcity and skills gap. Most companies are struggling to hire the much sought-after Kubernetes experts, and they lack advanced Kubernetes experience to ensure smooth operations at scale”.
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