Edge-Native Kubernetes for the Software-Defined Edge
Intel® Smart Edge is an edge-native, software-defined edge computing platform that abstracts networking and deployment complexities. Network builders, edge developers, and enterprises can run the edge with the same tools and ease they expect from the cloud.
What Is Intel® Smart Edge?
Intel® Smart Edge is a Kubernetes-based, edge computing platform for deploying edge networks and delivering multi-access edge computing (MEC) for applications, containers, and virtual machines. It’s wrapped in a user-friendly platform designed to give nontechnical users the keys to their own edge computing platform.
Optimized for Performance
Intel® Smart Edge is tightly coupled with Intel® architectures to deliver accelerated networking performance, enhanced security, and workload-specific performance boosts.
Secure
Intel® Smart Edge uses hardware-based Intel® security technologies to establish zero trust security at every level—device, application, and platform.
User-Friendly Management
An edge-native Kubernetes engine supports cloud-like container orchestration, system management, and performance visibility.
Sustainable
Intel® Smart Edge constantly monitors power telemetry and can automatically adjust the frequency of a CPU core to match workloads. The platform can automatically put individual cores into a deep sleep state in which little or no power is consumed.
Edge Computing News and Analysis
A Smarter Edge
As we build out the edge, closed platforms, incompatible stacks, and point solutions threaten to stymie scale and throttle innovation.
Building the Edge through Strategic Partnerships
Launching software-defined edge services is a team effort. Getting it right takes equipment manufacturers, communications service providers, and network builders.
Real-World Success – Intel® Smart Edge
More than 100 customers have used Intel® Smart Edge in proofs of concept, trials, and commercial deployments that have scaled beyond 5,000 edge locations. Intel® Smart Edge is mature, proven, and ready for commercial applications.
Building Blocks and Ready-to-Run Solutions for Edge Computing
Intel® Smart Edge is available through an Apache 2.0 license, as royalty-free experience kits, and as a turnkey service for enterprise. Developers and builders are free to mix, match, and modify components to build the solution they need.
Test Environments for Edge Developers
Intel® Smart Edge for Edge App Developers includes our edge-native Kubernetes engine and a ready-to-deploy solution for enterprise networking.
Edge Experience Kits for Builders
Intel® Smart Edge for Edge Infrastructure Builders includes complete solutions for key edge applications like private 5G WANs, AI workloads, access edges, and SASE.
Turnkey Solutions for Enterprise
Intel® Smart Edge for Enterprise includes Intel premium support, dedicated customer success teams, and a 24/7 SLA. Vertical-specific solutions, applications, and implementations are available.
Download Intel® Smart Edge from GitHub
You can get started with Intel® Smart Edge anytime. Our GitHub repositories house the latest Intel® Smart Edge for Developers Experience Kit and edge-native Kubernetes engine, plus reference applications and implementations.
Intel® Smart Edge Services
Intel® Smart Edge runs on open-standard Intel-powered, bare-metal servers in a range of form factors from rugged base stations to blade servers in near-edge data centers. The platform creates an elastic service mesh running on self-healing Kubernetes clusters. Intel® Smart Edge uses a core set of networking functions and security services, plus services for data planes, networking, and observability to deliver distributed edge computing, containerized applications, and virtual machines that can scale indefinitely.
5G RAN Core Service
Deterministic I/O, acceleration, orchestration, and platform features for 5G RAN, including dynamic reconfiguration of RAN and core. Supports FlexRAN™ software.
SASE Service
Configuration and management of SASE CNFs enabling threat prevention, web filtering, sandboxing, DNS security, credential theft prevention, data loss prevention, and next-generation firewall policies.
Zero Trust Security
Tight integration with Intel® hardware security features delivers platform attestation, trusted execution, improved secure device onboarding, and confidential computing to help protect data at rest, in motion, and in use.
Data Plane and Networking Services
High-performance data planes and container network interfaces for various edge use cases, including Calico, eBPF, SR-IOV, and Nodus.
Observability Service
Platform and application telemetry that uses industry-standard frameworks tuned for minimal CPU core and memory overhead.
Accelerator Service
Kubernetes device plugins for FPGA, FEC, DDP, and GPU.
Edge Apps and Workloads on Intel® Smart Edge
Intel® Smart Edge provides distributed edge computing that can serve practically any workload with minimal latency. Networking complexity, container orchestration, and system management are abstracted beneath a user-friendly control plane so that nontechnical users can deploy and manage applications on their own.
Edge Networking
With Intel® Smart Edge, you don’t have to be an expert to deploy a complete private wireless system with integrated 5G RAN and 5G core that can support enterprise applications.
Edge Security
Intel® Smart Edge uses the security capabilities built into Intel® hardware. This tight integration allows the platform to deliver more secure device onboarding, platform attestation, and confidential computing at scale.
Edge AI
AI workloads running on Intel® Smart Edge can be optimized to take advantage of Intel® hardware accelerators for deep learning inference with the OpenVINO™ toolkit.
Edge Video, Media, and Content
Media workloads on Intel® Smart Edge take advantage of Intel® media libraries, processing, and analytics—as well as Intel® hardware acceleration for media processing and transcoding.
Scale Up with Ready-to-Run Solutions
Ready to build? You don’t have to start from scratch. Build on our integration-ready implementations, market-tested commercial applications, and ready-to-run solutions.
Intel® RFP Ready Kits
Intel® RFP Ready Kits are use case–focused technology bundles designed to be integrated with your custom solutions.
Commercial Applications from Intel® Smart Edge Builders
Virtual network functions, embedded AI, IoT sensor fusion, industry-specific solutions—commercial applications from Intel® Smart Edge builders cover a growing range of edge use cases.
Intel® Market Ready Solutions
Market Ready Solutions are tested, proven, and ready to run at scale. They combine Intel® Smart Edge software and Intel-based hardware with use case–specific solutions from our partners.
Join the Ecosystem
Intel® Network Builders brings together global telcos, systems integrators, and developers to advance edge computing.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
Connect with a member of the Intel® Smart Edge team to discuss solutions for your business, to set up a demo, or to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Intel® Smart Edge?
Intel® Smart Edge brings cloud-native virtualization, microservice applications, and orchestration to the edge. With Intel® Smart Edge, you can run at the edge the way you run in the cloud.
Intel® Smart Edge is a Kubernetes-based, automated platform that abstracts edge complexities so that network builders, edge developers, and enterprises can run the edge with the same tools and ease they expect from the cloud.
What does Intel® Smart Edge do?
Intel® Smart Edge brings edge networking together into a single, software-defined platform. All of it—switches, routers, Wi-Fi, 5G, Ethernet—runs as virtual workloads on Intel® hardware.
Intel® Smart Edge then orchestrates and automates those network functions with an Intel-engineered Kubernetes engine.
Intel® Smart Edge onboards edge devices, gateways, and servers and manages them as nodes and clusters in a self-healing, distributed computing mesh that runs like the cloud.
This means developers can deploy containerized apps anywhere on an Intel® Smart Edge instance and orchestrate them with Kubernetes—just like they would in the cloud.
Intel® Smart Edge puts cloud tools, applications, and workloads on a secure, unified computing platform running on more than 5,000 edge nodes worldwide.
Who needs Intel® Smart Edge?
Enterprises that need the distributed computing power and on-demand applications of the cloud on the edge, where the traditional data center model can’t go.
Network builders who need a reliable platform that can scale for standing up public/private edge networks and multi-access edge computing.
Edge application developers who wish they could build with cloud-native tools like VMs, containers, and Kubernetes and deploy them to any edge without worrying about networking or hardware.
What hardware does Intel® Smart Edge need?
Intel® Smart Edge is highly optimized for Intel® Xeon® and Intel® Core™ processors, Intel® FPGAs and ASICs, and Intel® Ethernet controllers. The hardware and use cases span rugged edge servers, industrial gateways, and blade servers for near-edge data centers.