IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh, which IBM announced earlier this year, is now officially available. The new solution is a SaaS product for connecting applications to the network in a secure, easy, app-centric way.
“Just as cloud can provide a virtual platform to consume underlying resources like compute and storage, app-centric connectivity offers a new network overlay focused on application and service endpoints connectivity. It’s totally abstracted from the underlying networks that provide physical connectivity, and hence is highly simplified,” Murali Gandluru, vice president of product management and strategy at IBM Software, wrote in a blog post.
It consists of two main architecture components, the Mesh Manager and Gateways. Mesh Manager is a centralized management and policy plane. Gateways implement the data plane and act as virtual routers and connectors.
The Mesh Manager offers continuous infrastructure and application discovery, which allows it to stay on top of changes in application on the network. It is also easy for admins to connect applications themselves using the UI or CLI, and then have Mesh Manager connect the specified workloads.
IBM Hybrid Cloud Mesh is built on the principle of zero-trust, which means that it only allows communication based on user intent. In addition, all gateways are signed, and the threat surface is reduced by only allowing configuration through Mesh Manager.
Observability is also included, providing details on deployment environments, gateways, services, and connectivity metrics.
It also features several optimization capabilities, optimizing paths for cost, latency, and bandwidth.
“Hybrid Cloud Mesh is not just a network solution; it’s engineered to be a transformative force that empowers businesses to derive maximum value from modern application architecture, enabling hybrid cloud adoption and revolutionizing how multicloud environments are utilized. We hope you join us on the journey,” Gandluru wrote.
