Google, IBM and Lyft have worked in collaboration to launch a new open technology called Istio, a service that allows developers to connect, manage and secure networks of different microservices regardless of the vendor or platform.
The new initiative from the tech giants aims to support traffic flow management and telemetry data aggregation between microservices. In addition to this the service will also aid the enforcement of access policy.
The thinking behind the creation of Istio is the growing number of developers that are now using microservices to build applications. Developers are choosing this option because microservices allow for the easy development of large scale software in the cloud.
Istio is able to provide this support due to the fact that it uses pre-existing application code from work undertaken by Google, IBM and Lyft; this benefits developers as they will not need to make alterations themselves.
The technology works by converting disparate microservices into an integrated service mesh; this is achieved via a shared management layer and programmable routing.
Kubernetes platforms currently support Istio, but its design is not platform specific, meaning that it is not restricted to using the IBM Bluemix Container Service for example. The versatility of Istio is owed to its open source nature, with other platforms, with CloudFoundry and VMs included in its project plan.
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Andy Randall, Tigera co-founder and CEO said: “It takes more than just open sourcing technology to drive innovation. There has to be an open, active multi-vendor community, and as a true believer in the power of open collaboration, IBM is playing an essential role in fostering that community around Kubernetes and related projects including Calico and Istio. We have been thrilled with our partnership and look forward to ongoing collaboration for the benefit of all users of these technologies.”
