Hyperscaler Shaker, Civo’s Light Touch to Heavy Clouds

Clouds are heavy – both kinds. Cloud Computing Clouds, like their meteorological counterparts, offer large amounts of water (data), the complexity of the internal weather system (connecting network layers), and great potential for exerting exercise intensity and energy (big data analysis, AI machine learning capabilities, real time processing, etc.).

The analogy can be repeated here, but the most important sentiment that seems to be emanating from the cloud computing industry today relates to the complexity of cloud orchestration and management. The cloud (the thing or type of computing that sits above us) is often a vortex of power that we can’t harness as well as we should, especially if we’re paying for them.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom and the United States, Civo is on a mission to disrupt the world of cloud computing currently established by the big three cloud service provider (CSP) hyperscalers. The company expanded its nascent cloud-native services based on his K3s, his lightweight Kubernetes distribution. It is a popular open source technology used to orchestrate cloud containers (small components of cloud functionality) and manage their deployment, scaling, and management.

What is weight reduction technology?

Note that lightweight is a strange term in enterprise software. In technology engineering terms, lightweight usually refers to algorithmically efficient software code that is inherently optimized for the task it is built to perform. Lightweight can be very powerful because it is software built to do a precisely designed function and do it well. Create more functional and cost-effective cloud computing services.

UK-born Civo CEO Mark Boost and his team of engineers have a proven track record in hosting, connectivity and data centers. Civo now wants his technology proposal to be seen not just as his Kubernetes platform, but as a template for how the modern cloud works, with community at the center of its culture.

“Five years ago, our team was building a cloud platform for a UK cloud hosting company (called LCN.com) that was later sold. That’s when we realized the need for a cloud platform with a community-driven approach that was focused on, and that was the beginning of Civo,” explains Boost. “We turned to Rancher Labs K3s, a lightweight Kubernetes distribution, which is our vision for creating a quick and easy platform for developers to integrate with their ongoing computing efforts. It fit the bill…and was ideally positioned to take advantage of future growth as edge computing advances and the Internet of Things (IoT) is on its way to becoming ubiquitous. It’s approaching.”

Platform Evolution, Secure by Design

Like other enterprise software products in the worthy cloud-native space, Civo is now turning its attention to reinforcing its already robust security stance. Kubernetes allows for strict version control where vulnerabilities are discovered (and allows for quick rollbacks), but these features can be complex to implement. Civo is now expanding its platform to provide built-in security controls that software application developers can use right from the start. organization is based on.

After a career in motor racing up to the Formula 3 level, Civo CEO Boost left the racing grid to tap into the early days of the World Wide Web and tap into the technology of a young hobbyist related to experimenting with billboard technology. bottom. Logically moving with the times to new internet technologies, he then launched a web design agency. This spawned a broader domain his hosting business and then a small to medium size data center operation in the UK where he owns and operates two data centers.

“My approach has always been a relentless pursuit of an unparalleled level of customer service,” said Boost. “Civo itself is a kind of roots company, born out of our love for the hosting business. When we launched LCN before the 2000s, we did it without funding. In developing technology, I was probably more of a follower than a leader.When I conceived the vision for Civo, I decided to turn it upside down and create a company. We also maintain our commitment to customer service.”

company blueprint

Boost describes Civo as a company determined to drive change in an industry dominated by a few, having followed the market so closely as a de facto business policy.

“We wanted to be a company that people wanted to work with, want to work with, want to work with as customers.” , naturally avoids the hidden fees and lock-in mechanisms typical of large hyperscalers.We have been community-focused from the beginning, with nearly 15,000 software engineers in our community Slack channel. posts a wealth of free training video content.We do not exist for the benefit of our shareholders in the first place, we exist for the prosperity of our team and the people who work with us. We also have a clear commitment to sustainability.”

This image of a “perfect world” may sound a bit cheesy and fanciful to some, but on the other end of the spectrum there are more financially driven market control activities in which industry sometimes gets involved. A quick rundown of Google’s “Free Cloud Credits for Startups” gives you some insight here. For a startup that already boasts venture capital funding, the welcoming handshake is even warmer. Regulatory bodies such as his OFCOM in the United Kingdom, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, and other similar organizations are aware of the sensitivity of this area.

Boost has also introduced a four-day work week for its employees, and Civo recently invested (and launched a pilot project) in Heata, a startup that uses waste heat from servers to heat homes, and is a sustainable demonstrated commitment to sex. .

More than just vanilla

To create, design, build and maintain the cloud technology platform that operates today, the company started with a pure open source software mindset and approach. With the Rancher Labs K3s lightweight Kubernetes distribution mentioned above, the company brings to market more than just a “just vanilla” version of his K3s.

Civo has built its own ‘Kubernetes operator’, offering what it calls a ‘wide range’ of additional additional networking capabilities, various incremental storage capabilities. This is a technology designed to manage functions such as autoscaling (when the system needs to grow) and key operations. Aspects such as high-availability controls for IT systems that need to be always on, which is the case with most modern IT systems. Rancher was acquired by German open source platform company SUSE in 2020, but Civo will work with his open source K3, especially since Rancher donated it to the non-profit Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). I was able to.

“We currently have less than 50 employees, but we weigh more in terms of voice share, industry recognition, user engagement and ambition to succeed,” said Boost. increase. “Our largest market is the US, but we have a strong presence in the UK and Europe, with registered offices in all three countries. We describe ourselves as a cloud company (although we probably have boardroom staff who remember us from before), and that’s what gives us a specific approach and market-oriented technology proposition.”

Civo’s latest work highlights its partnership with Intel on the new-age Intel SGX (Software Guard Extensions) technology, which provides ‘application isolation’ control for advanced security ‘enclaves’ that are applied at the hardware level. I understand. Used in conjunction with chip giant’s next-generation Sapphire Rapids server processors, this is a new technology that is not yet fully developed at the time of writing.

Clearly, AWS points to its own Graviton3 processor, and AMD is also working on developing technology in this area.

The cornerstone of a new cloud enterprise

If Civo’s Boost and team can provide four foundations for how a cloud-native enterprise should operate, according to the vision and mantra the company has set so far, it’s four blocks of logic: There is a possibility.

This is a company committed to #1 – customer openness and clarity at the sales level. #2 developer user experience with skills training, inclusiveness, accessibility, and community support. #3 Secure cloud-native operations. In this case, it will be enhanced by future Intel hardware-based security. Ability of #4 customers to obtain cost-effective, faster, and easier-to-use cloud offerings.

Can Civo really shake up cloud hyperscalers and their market dominance? The Big 3 are probably less concerned about market share and apparent ubiquity. It’s currently a standard feature of Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and AWS.

While the dynamics of the cloud market may not experience a quake as a result of this debate, some tremors may be triggered as a result of a clean and fresh approach.