What is Anthos : The multicloud platform by Google {Updated}

Google recently announced the availability of Anthos, a platform designed to allow users to run applications on-premise not just in Google Cloud but also with other providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Announced at the Cloud Next conference held in San Francisco earlier in April, Anthos stands out as the tech behemoth’s official entry into the fray of data centers. Speaking at the event, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that Anthos was built on the concept to ‘write once and run anywhere.’ The significance of this first hybrid multi-cloud platform for Google is apparent from the fact that the top line of leadership at Google, right from Sundar Pichai to Thomas Kurian and Urs Hölzle, chose to spoke about Anthos from among a 100 announcements made at the event.

This year, Google made the announcements of new features for the Anthos. The new features have made it possible to connect to the other clouds (Starting with AWS) to consolidate the on-premise operations. Before moving to discuss the latest features that Anthos offers, it is important to understand a few components that make Anthos one of the most interesting and powerful Multi-Cloud platforms in the industry. 

What is Anthos?

Despite earning special mentions at the Cloud Next conference, the Anthos announcement came shrouded in ambiguity. Everything that was said about Google’s new ground-breaking service was marked by, and the documentation available in the public domain so far is sparse. Save for its multi cloud application deployment and hybrid connectivity, and not much is known about Google’s Anthos.

We rally to make sense of what this technology holds and its impending implications. Here is how it can be best described in a nutshell:

• Anthos is not a single product but rather an umbrella brand covering multiple services. In that sense, it is markedly different from any other cloud service.
• These services cater to cloud migration, application modernization, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud management.
• It is an open-source project built on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) that manages containers service for the company’s Cloud Platform.
• A major advantage of Anthos is that you don’t get locked on to any particular cloud vendor.

Building Blocks of Anthos

Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) lies at the core of Anthos and serves as the central control and command center for this new service. But Kubernetes is not the only technology at play here. Several other vital components augment Anthos in power and performance. Let’s take a close look at these building blocks of Anthos:

Google Kubernetes Engine

As mentioned before, Google Kubernetes Engine lies at the heart of Anthos. Customers can manage distributed infrastructure in on-premise data, Google’s cloud, as well as other cloud platforms, using the GKE control panel.

GKE On-Premise

Google is also delivering a software platform based on Kubernetes and consistent with GKE here. This means users can run this on compatible hardware of any kind and management of the platform will fall under Google’s purview. Actions right from upgrading to the latest Kubernetes versions to placing in the most recent patches would be considered a logical extension of GKE as far as Google is concerned. So now, the GKE on-premise operates as a virtual appliance on VMware vSphere 6.5 whereas support for hypervisors such as KVM and Hyper-V is in the pipeline.

Istio Service Mesh

Istio service mesh is aimed at facilitating federated network management throughout the platform. For this purpose, Istio serves as a mesh holding together different applications’ components spread across GCP, data centers, and other clouds. It delivers on that count through seamless integration with software-defined networks such as ACI, Cisco, VMware NSX, and Google’s very own Andromeda. Customers already working with network appliances such as the F5 will be able to leverage Istio with firewalls and load balancers.

Velostrata

This cloud migration technology was acquired by Google last year to augment Kubernetes, and it does so by delivering on two significant capabilities – converting existing VMs into Pods (Kubernetes applications) and streaming on-premise virtual and physical machines to generate clones in GCE instances. Velostrata is the first-ever P2K (material to Kubernetes) migration tool to be built by Google, and this capability is being replicated with Anthos Migrate, which is currently in beta.

Anthos Configuration Management

Anthos users will have to work with multiple deployments of Kubernetes running in a cross-section of environments. Since Kubernetes by its natures is a policy-driven, extensible platform, Google has sought to simplify its configuration management with Anthos. Anthos Configuration Management aims to do just that by enabling customers to apply and maintain configurations, right from the deployment of artifacts to network policies configuration settings and passwords to different clusters. It is a secure, version-controlled central cache of everything about configuration and administration.

Stackdriver

This platform is aimed at bringing in an element of observability to not just the core Anthos infrastructure but also its applications. It serves as central logging, tracing, and monitoring system customers can rely on to track different clusters within Anthos, as well as determine the health of individual applications within each group.

GCP Cloud Interconnect

Cloud Interconnect, with its ability to clock speed in the range of 100 Gbps is meant to bring in the element of high-speed connectivity between the cloud infrastructure and enterprise data center. Users will also have the option to use Telco networks for linking data centers to GCP.

GCP Marketplace

Customers will be able to deploy applications from a selection of open source applications and ISV compatible with Kubernetes curated by Google. For instance, GitLab and Cassandra can be implemented in Anthos using a single click installer. In due course, the service may be extended to a private catalog of applications from internal IT.

Google Eyes Enterprise Readiness

The coming together of representatives from VMware and Cisco to share the stage with Thoma Kurian at the Cloud Next conference was nothing short of a statement on Google’s readiness for the enterprise. An account that will contribute to inspiring confidence among enterprise customers to bet on Anthos.

So far, Kubernetes has inspired the perception of being a highly technical platform that can only be handled by geeks, developers, and operators. With the application of Kubernetes in Anthos, Google is taking a step toward undoing that perception by presenting a platform that is enterprise-grade, reliable, and viable as a hybrid cloud.

Looking at what Google has done with Anthos, it is evident that the tech leader is eyeing the enterprise. However, it will take more than a coming together of representatives from different companies to see this vision through. To shake things up in the enterprise infrastructure market with Anthos, Google will also need to walk the talk on collaborating with key players from the industry.

Redefining the Cloud Native Ecosystem

Anthos ultimately aims to change the discourse around the cloud-native ecosystem. Google may be going for pulling off a ‘VMware of Kubernetes’ with its latest offering. However, the dynamics of the tech world, as well as the market it seeks to target with Anthos, have undergone a significant shift since the times when VMware establishes itself as a market leader for the enterprise.

The coming in of open source software has been a critical turning point here. Since Google has entered the fray at a time when software alone can no longer be the key USP or differentiator, it needs to leverage the ecosystem as such and the tech community on the whole. This means opening up avenues for startups dealing in niche products aimed at completing the stack of cloud-native computing. Not only do these startups stand to gain tremendously from the Anthos push but Google too will benefit from such collaborations.

Google’s hybrid multi-cloud offering can translate into a multimillion-dollar opportunity for system integrators and service providers, right from small startups and local players to multi-national corps such as Cognizant and Accenture. Anthos has the potential to unleash a wave capable of redefining the cloud-native ecosystems that many market players, irrespective of their size and standing, will seek to ride.

What’s New in Anthos

Many Organizations deploy multiple cloud platforms to avail the best of the features that the cloud platforms have to offer. However, managing different applications across different cloud platforms is a tough challenge. Working on multi-cloud deployments have led to the teams being disconnected even while working on a common goal. But, organizations cannot lock-in with just one cloud platform. 

Anthos can help you face some of the challenges by allowing the multi-cloud interpretation. Let us look at the few solutions that Anthos offers in its updated form: 

Anthos Enables Consistency Across Multiple Clouds

Teams slow down and a lot of time is wasted if there is a disjoint between the cloud platforms. Anthos uses Kubernetes and brings the orchestration and policy enforcement across on-premises and multiple cloud platforms. Your organization can use the same open software across many different environments. 

Anthos allows you to look at all your services running in a multi-cloud framework holistically. The service Mesh and Config Management allows you to scale across different applications running on different cloud platforms. It frees you from the constraints that cloud providers have. 

Anthos Gives the Flexibility and Choice

Google is committed to giving businesses more choices in choosing the cloud provider. Sometimes, organizations start the development of an app on one cloud and face issues with ramping the pace up due to the lack of powerful tools. The open technology of Anthos allows you to be flexible and avoid the lock-in to any cloud. The Anthos works seamlessly with AWS. If you have processes and tools for AWS already built, you could directly install Anthos into the existing AWS VPC. 

Features Packed in Anthos

The current release of the Anthos provides a variety of features that would benefit the organizations in more ways than one. 

• High Reliability: The Deployed clusters can be put in a high availability (HA) mode, with control plane instances and node poll placed in multiple availability zones. 
• Auto Scaling: You can resize the number of nodes based on the traffic, so you pay for what you use.

• Integration With existing AWS:  As mentioned above, Anthos works seamlessly with AWS and existing security groups can be leveraged to secure the clusters.
• Operational Consistency: It is easy to manage the workloads on Google Cloud Platform as well as AWS from one place. 
• Integration with Full Anthos Stack: Policy can be set on the AWS workloads with the help of Anthos Configuration Management, and the Mesh services can be used to connect and manage all your resources in AWS.

A Leap into the Future

As the driving force behind Kubernetes, Google knows its container management like the back of its hand. With Docket gaining traction among developer circles, Google understood the potential of unleashing Kubernetes into the wild. Now, with Anthos it is staking its claim in establishing a new world order in the realm of microservices and containers, taking a giant leap forward by shifting the running of modern application from VMs to Kubernetes.

It is a bold move. The calculated risk of breaking away from the established stereotypical hybrid cloud narrative to lure enterprises with a refreshing new spin on hybrid, multi-cloud platforms. Some comparisons between Anthos and AWS and Microsoft Azure Stack are inevitable. However, Google is ahead by leaps and bounds from its apparent competitors in this arena for the simple reason that the Anthos is built on a robust technological foundation that finds its roots in Kubernetes and containers, of which the tech titan is a master.

Impact on the Future

This vantage point is what Google would aim to capitalize on changing the narrative around the cloud-native ecosystem. If things pan out exactly in line with the company’s vision for Anthos, this new service will soon emerge as the preferred platform for running enterprise workloads. All in all, the benefits of Google’s push for Anthos will extend beyond the industry itself. The cloud-native ecosystem and the open-source community, too, stand to gain from the accelerated adoption of Kubernetes.

NOTE: This blog was originally published on May 3, 2019, and has been updated.