Istio implements all data plane functionality, from basic encryption through advanced L7 policy, in a single architectural component: the sidecar.
In practice, this makes sidecars an all-or-nothing proposition.
Even if a workload just needs simple transport security, administrators still need to pay the operational cost of deploying and maintaining a sidecar.
Sidecars have a fixed operational cost per workload that does not scale to fit the complexity of the use case.</p><p>The ambient data plane takes a di