Microshift GA with OCP 4.13 / V4.14

BU Priority Overview

MicroShift is Red Hat’s kubernetes distribution for edge devices, where resources are far more constrained than in a data center (1-2 GB RAM, 1-2 CPU, low bandwidth), and systems are typically deployed in bulk and managed as a fleet. MicroShift is sold in two ways, with OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) and as part of the new Red Hat Device Edge (RHDE) product where it is combined with Red Hat Enterprise Linux at the edge (RHEL for edge). 

Why does it matter?

Goals

MicroShift expands our Kubernetes portfolio, fitting into spaces and use cases that HyperShift and OpenShift cannot.  Our partners interested in MicroShift want to standardize on a single Kubernetes vendor throughout their systems, regardless of footprint. MicroShift therefore represents an opportunity for Red Hat to retain existing customers while growing into new markets at the same time.

State the goals and metrics for success. This should not be a list of related features but instead be the acceptance criteria for considering this BU Priority delivered and any specific metrics needed to demonstrate its impact.

State of the Business

We are currently running an Early Access Program (EAP) with 6 active customers (Industrial, Defense, Retail) or partners. We have agreements with ABB and Lockheed Martin in place already for industrial edge and mobile platform machine vision use cases respectively, and have been engaging with engineers from both partners weekly throughout 2022.

Execution Plans

Our primary goal is to finish the transition from OCTO to ENG and stabilize the product so we can deliver tech preview (V4.13) and supportable GA versions (V4.14).  The goal is to reach GA by Summer 2023 for both X86 and ARM.

Releasing MicroShift as a certified Kubernetes distribution is critical. As we approach GA status, we intend to apply to the CNCF certification program for Kubernetes distributions.

Machine Vision use cases on NVIDIA JETSON based platforms create a lot of market demand. Hence we need to ensure we can fully support this. MicroShift depends on RHEL support for JETSON, which is currently planned  RHEL 9.2 TP.

We also intend to resume community activity, reestablishing an upstream presence and encouraging partners to work directly with us upstream to present an alternative to k3s.

More Details

6 Pager document

RHDE / MicroShift FAQ