Guest: Ildiko Vancsa (LinkedIn)
Organization/Foundation: OpenInfra Foundation (Twitter)

In this episode of TFiR Let’s Talk recorded at the KubeCon in Detroit, Swapnil Bhartiya sits down with Ildiko Vancsa, Senior Manager of Community & Ecosystem at OpenInfra Foundation, to discuss StarlingX, a complete cloud infrastructure software stack optimized specifically for the edge, and how it addresses the operational challenges related to deploying and managing distributed networks.

Key highlights from this video interview:

• At the OpenInfra Foundation, Vancsa’s focus areas are telecommunications, NFV, and edge computing. She is also the community manager for the StarlingX project.
• StarlingX is for anyone with an edge computing use case who is looking for an infrastructure solution. Since the compute power and cloud computing are at the edge closer to end users, StarlingX is focused on managing geographically distributed systems for you. Since it provides container-based infrastructure, it creates a fusion of OpenStack and Kubernetes.
• StarlingX is currently running in production at large telco companies since they are pioneers in the edge computing space. It is currently running at the data centers and locations of Verizon Vodafone and T-Systems backbone infrastructure powering 5G and Open RAN workloads.
• The term “edge computing” can mean different things for different people, but Vancsa and the Edge Computing Working Group define end-to-end edge infrastructure as a scope, i.e., what they look into is from the central cloud and data center out to the edge, as opposed to just looking at an edge side of an application. For them, edge computing essentially covers the end-to-end geographically distributed systems.
• The StarlingX project aims to use open-source components to help companies manage the complexity that comes with thousands of sites. Vancsa discusses the key features, including a single-pane-of-glass dashboard in the central cloud.
• Vancsa describes two use cases for the project: smart cars and factory floors. She explains how the project implements things like precision time protocol for mission-critical workloads and the role it plays in ensuring human safety.
• StarlingX 7.0 was released in September. Key enhancements include audit logging, certificate management, security, precision time protocol, and support for the Debian operating system.

The summary of the show is written by Emily Nicholls.