Linux Foundation Announces EdgeX Foundry To Drive Standardization Of Edge Computing

At Hannover Messe, one of the largest industrial automation trade shows, Linux Foundation announced a new open source project, EdgeX Foundry, which aims to unify various standards related to IoT and Edge Computing.

Edge Computing bridges IoT devices and the Public Cloud platforms through local processing power and intelligence. The massive amount of data generated by the sensors and devices will be aggregated by the edge before sending it to the cloud for further processing. In some scenarios, the edge layer will apply intelligence by analyzing and finding anomalies in the incoming data stream. Edge Computing dramatically reduces the latency by bringing compute closer to the origin of data sources. This architecture will play a crucial role in driving the

adoption of Industrial IoT.

The Industrial IoT and Edge Computing markets are suffering from lack of standards and fragmentation. Both vendors and customers find it challenging to implement an IIoT solution due to the lack interoperability. With over a dozen communication protocols, multiple operating systems, and a variety of application frameworks, it is overwhelming to design and deploy the right IIoT solution.

EdgeX Foundry attempts to build a common framework for Edge Computing. It is an open source interoperability framework which is agnostic to hardware, operating systems and application frameworks. The project wants to enable and encourage the community of IoT solutions providers to create an interoperable ecosystem. The components will be certified by EdgeX Foundry to ensure the highest level of compatibility.

The project claims to support both x86 and ARM processors running any operating system including Linux, Windows and macOS. Applications can be written for any application environment such as Java, Javascript, Python, Go and C/C++. It proposes a loosely-coupled tiered IoT architecture that allows developers to use a variety of plug–and–play microservices on the compute nodes.

It is interesting that Dell has seeded this project with FUSE source code base under Apache 2.0. This contribution includes more than a dozen microservices and over 125,000 lines of code. Dell claims that it architected Fuse based on the feedback from hundreds of technology providers and end users to enable interoperability between existing connectivity standards and commercial value-adds such as edge analytics, security, system management and services.

The project is backed by over 50 companies from the IoT ecosystem. Apart from Dell, who is the key contributor, we can find the logos of AMD, Analog Devices, Canonical, Cloud Foundry, FogHorn, Relayr and VMware in the member list.

At the time of the announcement, the project doesn't have the source code, documentation and reference architecture for developers. Like other projects maintained by Linux Foundation, there will be a governance and membership model for EdgeX Foundry to nurture a vibrant technical community. There will also be a Governing Board for guiding business decisions, marketing and ensure alignment between the technical communities and members. The technical steering committee will provide leadership on the code and guide the technical direction of the project.

The goal of EdgeX Foundry seems to be similar to the OpenFog Consortium. Both are designed to encourage standardization of Edge Computing. Dell is the only company that participating in both the efforts. Cisco, the company that coined the term Fog Computing is the primary driving force for OpenFog Consortium. ARM, Intel, Microsoft, and Princeton University are the founding members of the consortium while AT&T, Foxconn, GE, Hitachi, Sakura Internet, Shangai Tech University, and ZTE are the contributing members.

Edge Computing is an essential building block of IIoT. With Amazon and Microsoft stepping up their efforts through Greengrass and Azure IoT Gateway project, it is clear that the cloud players are getting serious about it. The initiatives from EdgeX Foundry and OpenFog Consortium are a step the in right direction to accelerate the adoption of Industrial IoT.

Credit: Janakiram MSV (Contributor Forbes)