Service Mesh Interface (SMI)
Open SourceAbout Service Mesh Interface (SMI)
Service Mesh Interface provides a standard interface for service meshes on Kubernetes. It provides a basic feature set for common service mesh use cases. It allows flexibility to support new service mesh capabilities over time. It is specified as a collection of Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions and Extension API Servers.
Used for
- Applying policies like identity and transport encryption across services.
- Capturing key metrics like error rate and latency between services.
- Shifting traffic between different services.
Who it is for
- Intended for Kubernetes users who want to use service mesh APIs in a provider agnostic manner.
From Service Mesh Interface (SMI)'s own website, read 2026-10-24. How we build listings.
How to evaluate Cloud Networking & CDN
This is how the CIOPages Research Team evaluates this category. It is not an assessment of Service Mesh Interface (SMI). The category covers two kinds of product, so both frameworks are here. Most buyers need one of them.
Cloud Networking & SD-WAN
25%
SASE / Security Convergence
Native SWG, CASB, FWaaS, and DLP in the same fabric as SD-WAN; a single policy model and data pipeline across network and security; whether SD-WAN and SSE are genuinely unified or two acquired consoles; and how far advertised throughput drops with TLS decryption, IPS, and DLP all enabled
20%
Path Selection & WAN Performance
Application-aware steering and per-packet/per-session path selection across MPLS, broadband, and LTE/5G; sub-second failover and forward error correction for voice and video; loss/latency/jitter remediation (WAN optimization heritage); and granular segmentation for IoT, guest, and regulated traffic
20%
Points of Presence & Backbone
PoP density near your actual sites and clouds, and whether enforcement rides a private backbone or the public internet; cloud and SaaS on-ramps and in-country egress for residency; PoP failover behavior (there is usually no local-breakout fallback); and real measured latency from your geography, not the marketing map
15%
Zero Trust & Remote Access
ZTNA that can actually retire the VPN (clientless and agent-based, per-app least privilege, identity and device-posture context); consistent policy for branch, remote, and unmanaged devices; and secure access to private apps across multicloud without backhauling
10%
Operations, Automation & AIOps
Zero-touch provisioning at branch scale, true single-pane administration, and full API/IaC (Terraform) coverage for security policy, not just GUI; digital-experience monitoring (DEM/DEX) and AIOps for root-cause; and brownfield coexistence tooling and unified visibility during hybrid MPLS run
10%
Commercials & Operating Model
Per-site vs. per-user vs. consumption fit for your estate; module bundling (which SSE features are extra); deployment flexibility (cloud-native, appliance, virtual, or sovereign/air-gapped); managed-service vs. DIY support depth; and renewal and unwind terms for each layer
Content Delivery Network (CDN) & Edge Platforms
25%
Edge Security (WAAP, DDoS, Bot)
Always-on DDoS absorption capacity and SLA, a managed and custom-rule WAF, bot management that separates good bots from scrapers and credential-stuffers, API discovery and protection, mTLS, and rate limiting — all enforced at the edge in front of origin, with how much is bundled versus a paid add-on
20%
Caching & Delivery Performance
Cache-hit ratio under real key patterns, tiered/mid-tier caching and origin shielding, instant cache purge/invalidation at scale, TLS/HTTP3/QUIC and Brotli support, image and video optimization, and measured latency to your actual user geographies rather than the marketing map
20%
Edge Compute & Programmability
Runtime model (V8 isolates, WebAssembly, full functions) and cold-start behavior, language support, request/CPU/memory limits, edge key-value or object state, AI inference at the edge, local dev and CI/CD tooling, and observability of edge code — plus how portable that logic is off the platform
15%
Points of Presence & Scale
PoP density and peering near your users and origins, total network and egress capacity for traffic and attack spikes, anycast routing quality, live and VOD streaming scale, and presence in the regions (and sovereign/in-country) your audience and compliance demand
10%
Operations, Observability & Automation
Real-time analytics and log streaming to your SIEM/observability stack, full API and Terraform/IaC coverage for configuration and security policy, staged/versioned config with fast rollback, real-time purge, and the latency of config propagation across the edge
10%
Commercials & Operating Model
Pricing unit (committed bandwidth, per-GB egress, per-request, per-invocation) and fit to your traffic shape, which security and compute features are extra, origin-egress and cross-cloud cost, contract and overage terms, and single-CDN versus multi-CDN portability of what you build
Other Cloud Networking & CDN Vendors
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Quick Facts
smi-spec.ioCategoryCloud Infrastructure
SubcategoryCloud Networking & CDN
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