Recently the Linux Foundation launched LF Edge as an umbrella organisation to establish an open interoperable framework for edge computing, independent of hardware, silicon, cloud or operating system. This is very close to Foundries.io’s heart and mission.
In order for the broader IoT roll out to succeed then the currently fragmented Edge market needs to be able to work together in a more seamless way. Protecting against the constant security vulnerabilities and creating a common constructive vision for the future, for the industry is key.
So how can Edge devices benefit from this approach? And why now? Edge devices or smart devices are some of the most vulnerable devices in a network. Edge devices are also heavily influenced by key emerging technologies such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning and Analytics. These demanding technologies are requiring edge devices to be looked at in a different way. The current edge market is heavily fragmented with multiple proprietary and open source stacks available.
As billions of IoT devices are installed, with 20 billion expected to be in place by 2020, and with interconnected and data processing and analytics moving from the cloud to fog and edge implementations, the importance of scalable, secure, updatable Edge solutions is becoming critical.
LF Edge brings together open source enterprise projects to enable secure, updatable edge devices, including the ability to provision and orchestrate from the cloud. Foundries.io will be actively participating in the Akraino and EdgeX Foundry projects:
- Akraino focuses on improving the edge cloud infrastructure for enterprise, OTT and carrier networks, and delivering the flexibility to scale edge cloud services quickly whilst maintaining the reliability of these systems. This fits with Foundries.io focus on providing microPlatforms for Linux and Zephyr, bringing over-the-air updatable (OTA) secure platforms, supporting a wide range of wireless technologies, and bringing Docker container support for services and apps at the edge.
- The EdgeX Foundry project is an open source micro-services framework that enables the ability to plug-and-play from the growing ecosystem of 3rd Party offerings in a consistent way, and simplifying the process to design, develop and deploy solutions. The Foundries.io microPlatforms fit with this by providing configurable, open source platforms designed for small footprints enabling secure, connected devices that can be updated OTA. Foundries.io also removes one of the points of fragmentation by having support for multiple hardware architectures, including Arm, Intel & RISC-V, enabling an abstraction between hardware architecture changes and the higher layer apps and services.
Foundries.io will bring our knowledge of handling secure, updatable Edge solutions reducing the industry fragmentation, opening up the opportunities at the edge to more secure, reliable services and apps, and enabling scale out across an ever-increasing range of connected hardware products.