IIJ Group Launches Kubernetes Cloud Service in Vietnam

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TOKYO-March 31, 2021-Internet Initiative Japan Inc. (TSE1: 3774), one of Japan's leading Internet access and comprehensive network solutions providers, and its Hanoi-based Vietnam subsidiary IIJ Global Solutions Vietnam Company Limited today announced the launch of the new "HI GIO Kubernetes Engine," a managed service for Kubernetes, the container application management platform. The new service will be added to the lineup of public cloud services "FPT HI GIO CLOUD" provided in Vietnam through cooperation with FPT Telecom (a member of Vietnam's largest IT company, the FPT Group), and will be available starting April 1, 2021.

Thanks to the rapid evolution of container virtualization technologies in recent years, application development that uses container technology has been attracting attention. Leveraging container technology allows for more agile application development using fewer resources. Kubernetes is an open-source platform for managing containerized applications that is designed to ensure scalability and resilience.
Progress is being made with the use of container technology in Vietnam, where fields like e-commerce and fintech are growing right now and more companies are deploying Kubernetes. These developments led to requests from IIJ's customers-including both local companies and offshore bases of Japanese companies- for the company to provide Kubernetes as an easy-to-use PaaS cloud service for efficiently managing containerized applications.

As IIJ continues to develop its Kubernetes services, the group is responding to market needs by launching the service in Vietnam, where stronger demand is expected, ahead of its launch in the Japan market. This Kubernetes service has been developed through a cooperative project between Japan and Vietnam, and the group plans to apply the technologies used in the Kubernetes service that will eventually be made available in Japan as well. IIJ's Kubernetes PaaS will be the first of its kind in Vietnam to come with load balancing functions, administration portals, a service level agreement (SLA), and more.

Features

The HI GIO Kubernetes Engine is built on an exclusive custom version of Rancher, open-source software from German firm SUSE. Developed with enterprise use in mind, the engine also integrates the load balancing functions of Citrix ADC from US firm Citrix. The new service will allow customers to use the Kubernetes platform over the cloud to flexibly scale their resources for anything from a small development environment to a major service provision platform without having to own any equipment. The service's key features are:

All functions can be accessed and operated from a dedicated portal.

All operations, including the administration of Kubernetes clusters and load balancing functions, can be executed from a management portal. The service is also provided with administration functions such as user management and controlling access permissions.

Balancing extensibility and functionality

A Kubernetes cluster can accommodate up to 24 nodes and can be customized by adding optional functionalities such as external connections including automatic backup to persistent volume (storage for saving container processing data) and multi-protocol label switching (MPLS).

High availability at 99.99% uptime (*)

The SLA promises an uptime rate of at least 99.99% for Kubernetes clusters. Configuration files are automatically backed up a maximum of twelve times every six hours and fail over and roll back is executed automatically if a node fails. Ensuring high availability means customers can feel confident in using the service even for mission critical uses.

• (*)Applies to clusters consisting of at least three nodes and at least two master nodes.

Price

Master node	600,000 VND/node
Worker node (2 cores/4 GB to 8 cores/64 GB) * Ephemeral disk included standard	1,114,000 to 14,690,000 VND/node
Storage capacity	RWO: 2,000IOPS 5,000 VND/GB RWO: 10,000IOPS 12,000 VND/GB

Spec

Compatible Kubernetes versions	v 1.19-v 1.18
SLA	99.99%
Maximum number of nodes per cluster	24
Largest permanent volume per volume	8TB
Standard functions	Administration portal, Ingress Load Balancer, Ingress Web Application Firewall, internet connection (Share 10 Gbps), global IP address, cluster monitoring function, alerts and notifications, external notifications (Slack, Teams, email, Webhook, etc.), security scan function

The IIJ Group will continue to expand the functions of this service in order to support flexible and efficient application development for customers.

Endorsement

We are very honored to work with IIJ to provide SUSE Rancher as the underlying system for the HI GIO Kubernetes Engine. SUSE has worked closely with IIJ to achieve more efficient management of container applications to enable their customers to innovate everywhere – from core to edge to cloud.

SUSE Software Solutions Japan K.K.
President
Hirotaka Sekihara

Citrix is proud to provide Citrix ADC for load balancing as part of the HI GIO Kubernetes Engine, provided by Citrix's valued CSP partner IIJ Global Solutions Vietnam Company Limited. The service offering of Citrix ADC for the Kubernetes Engine Service is the first instance of its kind in Asia Pacific region. Application development through Kubernetes is trending globally, and customers will enjoy the tremendous reduction of their development and operation workload for next gen applications with IIJ Global Solutions Vietnam's services, enabling customers immediate, on-demand access.

Citrix Systems Japan K.K.
President and Representative Director
Isao Obazawa

The statements within this release contain forward-looking statements about our future plans that involve risk and uncertainty. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results.

For inquiries, contact

IIJ Corporate Communications

• +81-3-5205-6310
• +81-3-5205-6377
• press@iij.ad.jp

• (*) All company names and service names used in this press release are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.