본지는 수세코리아 최근홍 지사장을 만나 제조 환경에서의 클라우드 관리 솔루션과 수세의 국내 시장 전략에 대해 들어보는 자리를 마련했다.
“Solve complex hybrid cloud ‘Suse’ at once”
'Rancher' Kubernetes integrated management platform
Providing edge computing solutions for the manufacturing industry
Korean Linux, Cloud, Edge, and Security Strategy
[Editor's Note] Recently, companies are adopting hybrid clouds to enjoy the benefits of both public cloud and on-premise environments at the same time. However, in a hybrid cloud infrastructure environment, various products and demands are mixed, making not only the infrastructure but also the operating system (OS) that manages the infrastructure complex. SUSE, known as an open source software Linux specialist, helps companies easily manage their hybrid environments by integrating them as a whole. SUSE also presents solutions suitable for operating lightweight Kubernetes clusters at the edge in manufacturing environments, and is recently expanding into the telecommunications, finance, and public sectors. Our magazine met with CEO Choi Geun-hong of Suse Korea to hear about cloud management solutions for manufacturing environments and Suse's domestic market strategy.
▲Recently Hong, CEO of Suseo Korea
■ Please introduce SUSE and its main business areas. SUSE of Germany was founded in 1992, the year after the open source operating system (OS) Linux was released. The name SUSE means 'software and system development'. SUSE has been providing enterprise-level open source solutions to companies for 30 years.
SUSE's software products are largely divided into the Linux and cloud areas. First of all, SUSE Linux can be described as the industry's only 'adoptable Linux'.
Usually, Linux is not a simple OS, but is scaled to fit various environments with CPUs and memories, such as Android, desktops, PCs, and POS terminals. For example, when companies use Linux, general-purpose servers used by companies, such as Intel x86 servers, IBM's Power series servers, and Arm servers, also vary depending on the hardware architecture. In addition, even among servers, there are areas such as general-purpose, SAP-specific, and high-performance computing called supercomputers, so it is difficult to configure and supply Linux that fits each area.
SUSE provides all the Linux you need for every area that has CPU and memory. From ultra-small, lightweight environments to Linux for high-performance supercomputers, common codes are maintained through proprietary technology, while each module can be added to support use according to the purpose.
SUSE's cloud area is divided into the cloud foundry area and the container management solution area. SUSE expanded the area of its own cloud solution through a merger and acquisition with 'Rancher', which was well-received in the market in 2020.
By quickly integrating Rancher into the SUSE product portfolio, SUSE has grown into a company with many customers worldwide. The logo of Rancher, which means ranch owner, is a cow image, and when combined with SUSE's logo, a chameleon, it is also called the 'Caumeleon'.
■ What is the 'Lancher' of the water system? The recently released 'Rancher Prime 2.0' is a Kubernetes management platform with the special features of easy and fast installation and implementation. Kubernetes is an open source orchestration platform used to deploy, manage, and expand containerized applications.
Rancher is equipped with an intuitive UI that is easy for actual users to learn and use, so even non-expert users can install and configure the relevant environment within an hour.
Recently, public cloud service providers such as Amazon and Google have been providing Kubernetes container operating environments based on cloud infrastructure. However, if you configure and use the container environment directly in these hosted environments, the cluster may increase and management may become difficult. A complex cloud environment may be created, with each department adopting a different company's cloud or operating within its own data center.
When it is difficult to operate a hybrid environment, Rancher provides an environment that can be managed in a unified manner. Customers can manage all the conditions required for a Kubernetes container environment at once with one Rancher from SUSE. Rancher can support management of the entire life cycle from applications to Kubernetes and OS even on edge devices.
In addition to cluster management, the rancher also includes additional key solutions. When the cloud computing open source group 'Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)' develops and certifies technology and releases it, people share and use the software. SUSE supports integrated solutions such as 'K3S (lightweight Kubernetes management technology)', 'Longhorn (block storage)', 'Newvector (security)', and 'HCI (hyper-converged infrastructure)', so you can use it right away without additional effort.
■ A way to effectively manage the hybrid infrastructure environment of Suse The forms of configuring infrastructure have become more diverse. Customers have more choices, from the on-premise environment of the computer room to the public cloud service form. Afterwards, as the use of public clouds expanded, private clouds emerged to internalize resources rather than use external resources due to issues such as security, cost, and internal manpower, and a method of virtualizing and using bare metal instead of the cloud also emerged.
In the manufacturing industry, sensor data must be collected and analyzed in terms of factory automation, and computing resources are placed at the sensor or intermediate point to minimize delays in processing speed when data moves from the sensor to the server. This is called edge computing, and servers are also deployed at the edge, so that various types of servers are ubiquitous.
Linux, the OS that runs the servers in the factory, is an essential element. Linux supports environments of all sizes, including computing resources in public or private clouds, data centers, and the edge. Of course, there may be Linux from other companies, such as Red Hat, in addition to SuSE.
A hybrid environment means heterogeneity. As different infrastructures become more complex, the OS for managing the infrastructure also becomes more complex. The problem is that when the OS becomes more complex, the software is not perfect, so it needs to be continuously updated with new versions, and if there are security issues such as bugs, patches are required, etc., so constant management is required. In the end, the products are diverse, the environments and versions are diverse, and the requirements are diverse, so it becomes difficult to respond appropriately and manage them.
'SUSE Manager' is a tool that helps customers manage quickly and automatically. This is a solution that can automate and collectively manage the entire life cycle of heterogeneous Linuxes, including updates and patches, regardless of the infrastructure environment and Linux manufacturer.
Meanwhile, while software used to be attached to large QMO computer room servers in a monolithic form, the term 'microservices architecture' has been used recently as hardware infrastructure has become more complex, divided into container units. Software that is becoming smaller, more numerous, and more complex also requires management.
Simply put, SUSE provides a solution that can solve both HW and SW complexity. In order to manage the complexity that occurs due to duplication, hardware Linux OS can be managed with the 'SUSE Manager' solution, and software can adopt 'Rancher' to manage various clouds and clusters.
■ The Korean business strategy of Su-se The homework that Su-se said last November would be to double its growth over the next three years is fully achievable. Su-se sees four trends as the basis for the change.
First, in the Linux area, the cost has increased due to the discontinuation of support for 'CentOS Linux' by third parties and changes in third party products, which has increased the burden on customers. So, SUSE sees this as an opportunity in the Linux area as well.
Next, cloud-native containerization has not yet fully begun. Some leading companies see opportunities in the trend toward containerization while maintaining the benefits of a cloud-native environment.
Additionally, with the advancement of IT, the security field is emerging. In particular, when managing the overall network in Kubernetes, the existing security system focused on visible network equipment, firewalls, and server software is not sufficient to secure the container environment. A security solution that meets the new container-specific requirements is needed, and this is expected to expand further as containers are introduced.
Finally, there are opportunities in the maturation of SW and IT technologies in factory automation and smart factories over the next 1-2 years, and in the form of edge computing.
■ What are the three security solutions? NeuVector is one of SUSE's container security solutions. NeuVector, acquired in 2021, is a solution that has been granted 11 patents in the United States, and was converted to open source after SUSE acquired the commercial product.
As a 100% open source zero trust container security platform, the solution can be downloaded and installed for free from GitHub. SUSE has a business model that provides technical support required for the process of using software released as open source.
NewVector provides real-time visibility into the runtime environment in which container apps are actually deployed and operated, and has achieved the industry's first network level 7 level. Another differentiator is that it learns what containers do, allowing companies to learn and patternize the normal activity of containers and leverage that as security code through automatic code transition capabilities as security policies.
The actual container security is a manual task that requires coding and actual deployment of security policies, which the actual security team is accustomed to in the traditional way, but the difference is that all of these parts can be automated. It can be seen as an AI function of the initial model, and it is planned to be advanced in relation to AI in the future.
■ Please introduce the SUSE edge computing solution that will be covered at the IIoT event on March 27th. This event will cover SUSE's edge computing solutions and real-world application cases. SUSE's edge solutions are centered around 'K3S', which can manage lightweight Kubernetes, and 'SLE Micro', which is a Linux for ultra-small, lightweight hardware. A storage solution for managing data is attached here.
This is combined with solutions such as 'Harvester' that can be converted to a private cloud form, and data centers are built for each factory required for factory automation. SUSE provides environments where various workloads of small cloud-based servers can be managed in the form of containers. Edge computing requires many of these types of solutions.
For example, SUSE has a real-world example of developing and improving products with BMW and launching them on the market. SUSE’s edge solutions have been applied to automated facilities around the world, providing an environment where functions can be operated at each plant level. Home Depot has about 2,200 warehouse stores around the world. They are small businesses that require separate computer rooms, but rather than managing them through a centralized data center, they distribute the necessary resources to individual centers and operate them through a SUSE edge solution.
Also, as telecommunication companies are recently moving to a container-based system after 5G, SUSE is working with companies such as Deutsche Telekom in the US and Germany to create a platform-based case that can be used universally, and is configuring an architecture called the 'Adaptive Telco Infrastructure Platform (ATIP)' and connecting solutions to make it concrete. Version 2 was recently officially announced, and edge computing transition cases are occurring mainly in the US, Germany, and France.
We expect there to be a lot of demand for edge solutions in Korea as well, and we plan to introduce various solutions at this event.
thank you