PowerFlex Raises the Security and Reliability of EV Charging With Sidero Labs’ Software As a Service Product (SaaS), Omni

Sidero Omni ensures zero-trust at the edge via bare-metal Kubernetes deployment and operations across PowerFlex’s EV charging stations while also boosting performance

SAN DIEGO (April 25, 2023) — PowerFlex, a leader in intelligent renewable energy technologies, has embedded Sidero Omni to increase reliability and security in their EV chargers. As one of Omni’s early adopters, PowerFlex selected Sidero Labs for its product’s ability to easily scale across many EV charging locations within minutes.  

To ensure the highest security and reliability for customers, PowerFlex required a supported operating system for Kubernetes that ensured the stability of edge nodes at remote locations. PowerFlex is now rolling out Talos Linux nodes, managed by Sidero Omni, to hundreds of existing EV charging locations, with more sites being added due to rapid growth. The Sidero Omni solution also provides improved onsite computing power that is used by PowerFlex X, the unified platform to optimize metering and rating, which maximizes the number of vehicles that can be charged across the network of chargers. With Sidero Omni, PowerFlex edge deployments are consistent, using the same Kubernetes distribution and operating system in all locations across the country.

“Omni provides an easy-to-use, intuitive interface to manage large numbers of edge clusters in a way that most alternatives struggle with, and it does so with more security than other solutions," said Max Baldwin, Site Reliability Engineer, PowerFlex. “Sidero Labs has been an excellent partner, helping us resolve issues in a timely manner and offering appropriately detailed explanations on how things work and why. Their knowledge and willingness to share it has been invaluable as we've rapidly developed and deployed a replacement for k3os and legacy non-containerized solutions to new and existing sites."

"We're excited to work with PowerFlex to deploy their onsite energy solutions and help them exceed their reliability targets by simplifying the deployment of Kubernetes at the edge with Omni,” said Steve Francis, CEO of Sidero Labs. “They are a great example of innovative use cases that are enabled by Omni, allowing Kubernetes to be deployed and managed in remote locations without IT staff present."

PowerFlex’s offerings include EV charging, solar energy, and battery storage solutions, along with its proprietary line of software and hardware, PowerFlex X, that co-optimizes onsite clean technology for peak system performance and maximized cost savings. The company’s EV charging solution includes Adaptive Load Management® (ALM), a patented software algorithm that optimizes the power consumption across a large network of charging stations to enable customers to install up to four times the number of stations versus standard installations. With intelligent EV charging through ALM, customers can reduce the cost of electrical system upgrades and peak demand charges by up to 60%.

We're excited to share some of the press we've received for the project below:

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