Istio Ambient Mesh as Managed Infrastructure
summary
Ambient mesh replaces per-pod sidecars with a node-level L4 dataplane that claims 90% or more cost savings, uses less CPU and memory, and removes pod restarts for mesh participation. Reference implementation uses a Rust z-tunnel for node redirection and an Envoy-based Waypoint proxy for L7 policy enforcement; plan is to fold z-tunnel into CNIs and offer Waypoint as a managed load balancer so the cloud provider maintains scaling and upgrades.
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