How SkyLab is democratising hybrid cloud management

Singapore-based SkyLab is disrupting the cloud landscape with its orchestration platform that promises to help telcos and enterprises address the challenges with operating hybrid cloud environments.

Initially specialising in rooftop solar panel monitoring, SkyLab has evolved over the past nine years. Its journey began with the need to manage thousands of edge devices, which led to the development of FusionFlow, a platform capable of orchestrating workloads across private and public clouds.

“FusionFlow is composed of many Lego blocks,” said Sean Kim, group chief technology officer of SkyLab. “It incorporates virtualisation technology, Kubernetes for application management in a distributed environment, storage, software-defined networking and support for GPU [graphics processing unit]-enabled virtual machines and bare metal services.”

Kim said the platform’s architecture addresses the need for efficient management of resources across multiple cloud environments, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Huawei Cloud, Alibaba Cloud as well as private cloud deployments.

“Customers can provision virtual machines, network resources, and even bare metal instances automatically,” he said. “This allows them to choose the best place for their services based on price and scalability, without worrying about downtime.”

For example, a company could use Azure's ChatGPT interface, AWS's business logic capabilities, and store sensitive data in their private cloud, all orchestrated through FusionFlow. “You can connect all these environments with a virtualised network and operate them as a single application runtime,” Kim said.

SkyLab’s approach contrasts with platforms like OpenStack, which was designed for enterprise users and lack the multi-tenancy, granular billing and resource tracking required by service providers, Kim said. “OpenStack is free initially but making it suitable for service provision requires millions of dollars and there’s no guarantee of success,” he added.

FusionFlow leverages existing technologies like KVM (kernel-based virtual machine), but the company’s focus is on orchestration and integration rather than competition with vendors like VMware, Kim said. This extends to hardware as well, allowing it to support various GPUs from vendors like Nvidia and AMD, as well as tensor processing units (TPUs).

SkyLab initially focused on deployments in the telecoms industry, gaining valuable experience from meeting stringent service level agreements (SLAs) and managing mission-critical workloads. This experience, according to its CEO Stephen Ho, has been instrumental in building trust and credibility.

“Deploying with telcos is a super nightmare,” said Ho. “Meeting their demanding SLAs has given us the confidence to move forward to other segments.”

With VMware’s recent price hikes, SkyLab sees an opportunity to offer a more cost-effective and open alternative. Ho said the company’s agnostic approach resonates with CIOs concerned about vendor lock-in and rising costs.

“Being locked into any particular proprietary system is a recipe for pain down the road,” said Ho. "We offer flexibility and choice, allowing businesses to optimise their cloud spending."

SkyLab is now expanding beyond telcos, targeting large enterprises and government agencies. It is also launching its own branded cloud service, XR Cloud, in Korea, focusing on providing GPU-as-a-service and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. "We see a huge opportunity in the growing AI market and want to provide a flexible infrastructure for AI developers,” Kim said.

The expansion requires significant investment in infrastructure, but SkyLab remains confident in its ability to navigate the market. “We're seeing a lot of interest from investors,” said Ho. “Our ability to democratise access to multi-cloud resources is a compelling proposition in the current market.”

Moving forward, SkyLab is looking to expand its global reach, partnering with Nvidia Cloud Partners (NCPs), which Kim believes lack a robust platform to monetise their infrastructure, with integration of services often done manually. “There are about 69 NCPs across the world, but they don't have a good platform. To me, they have the hardware but not the software.”

Kim said with FusionFlow, SkyLab plans to empower NCPs to co-sell each other’s capacity and services with their own brand. “This will create a network effect, expanding their reach and offering more choices for their customers,” he added.