The solution is part of an Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN) for multi-tenant isolation. The Zenlayer Edge Cloud is composed of bare metal servers, VMs, and containers, and offers premium services with high-density computing capacity, high-performance storage, ultra-low network latency to local regions, and can also enable service integrations with public clouds.

Lightbits storage makes the difference

During their evaluation period, Zenlayer engineers compared the Lightbits, software defined and architected for NVMe/TCP cloud data platform, to other storage solutions such as RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI). Findings showed Lightbits has equivalent or better performance and is easier to implement. Using Lightbits instead of RoCE enabled Zenlayer to avoid having to implement their own dedicated fabric, which would have increased their cost significantly. Lightbits invented the NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) standard. It’s simple, flexible, and easy to deploy at scale on ubiquitous TCP/IP networks, requiring no special hardware, NICs, drivers, or hypervisor on the storage nodes—simplifying storage for cloud implementations on bare metal, VMware, and Kubernetes environments. The native NMVe/TCP and clustered architecture, coupled with Innovative Intelligent Flash Management, eliminates the storage complexities and high costs associated with cloud-scale computing. Lightbits an ideal block-based storage solution for edge clouds, delivering millions of IOPS and lower latency. It’s simpler to implement and requires less deployment of management resources.

Another key differentiator that made Lightbits stand out from the competition: a fully automated, API-driven, flexible, and easy-to-use deployment model for provisioning customer environments. Zenlayer’s customers retain complete control of their applications. And the disaggregated architecture provides the flexibility they need to immediately respond to changing customer demands for capacity and performance. Customers are also assured that their data is more secure with dual [or triple] replication enabled for business continuity in the event of a failure. These factors made Lightbits the primary choice for Zenlayer’s edge cloud requirements.

A vision realized

By choosing to integrate Lightbits software accelerated by Intel technologies into their Bare Metal Cloud (BMC) offering, Zenlayer can now offer an edge cloud service with the highest end-to-end performance, security, and elasticity. Zenlayer can serve their customers easier and with less management involvement, and with an NVMe/TCParchitecture deliver a high performance with ultra low latency simple API calls to provision storage and data services aligned to Zenlayer’s requirements and reduces systems management stress for the Zenlayer team while delivering reliable, secure, fast storage for customers. Zenlayer customers also benefit from the solution with better application interactivity and communication between users. Customers can connect directly to their servers in multiple regions and public clouds for a completely interconnected solution. They also benefit from a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) by eliminating the stranded capacity problem present in DAS deployments, robust business continuity, and the ability to scale easily due to fast, dynamic provisioning.

Zenlayer can now offer reliable, high-performance volume services to their customers that are dynamically adjustable and offer all the flexibility of the cloud, but with greater efficiencies and rich enterprise data services. To get started contact your Lightbits or Intel representative today.

For more information on Lightbits: www.lightbitslabs.com

For more information on Zenlayer Bare Metal Cloud: www.zenlayer.com

For more information on Intel: www.intel.com

1- https://www.zenlayer.com/

Intel