The Linux Foundation, the
nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the launch
of LF Edge, an
umbrella organization to establish an open, interoperable framework for edge
computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system.
LF Edge
is initially comprised of five projects that will support emerging edge
applications in the area of non-traditional video and connected things that
require lower latency, faster processing and mobility.
LF
Edge includes Akraino
Edge Stack, EdgeX Foundry, and Open Glossary of Edge Computing, formerly
stand-alone projects at The Linux Foundation. The initiative also includes a
new project contributed by Samsung Electronics, which will create a hub for
real-time data collected through smart home devices, and another project from ZEDEDA, which is
contributing a new agnostic standard edge architecture.
"The
market opportunity for LF Edge spans industrial, enterprise and consumer use
cases in complex environments that cut across multiple edges and domains. We're thrilled with the
level of support backing us at launch, with more than 60 global organizations
as founding members and new project contributions," said Arpit Joshipura, general
manager, The Linux Foundation. "This massive endorsement, combined with existing
code and project contributions like Akraino from AT&T and EdgeX Foundry
from Dell EMC, means LF Edge is
well-positioned to transform edge and IoT application development."
Through the formation of a
software stack that brings the best of telecom, cloud, and enterprise
(representing location, latency and mobility differentiation), LF Edge will
help ensure greater harmonization to accelerate deployment among the rapidly
growing number of edge devices slated to exceed 20 billion by 2020. In
order for the broader IoT to succeed, the currently fragmented edge market
needs to be able to work together to identify and protect against problematic
security vulnerabilities and advance a common, constructive vision for the
future of the industry.
More
about LF Edge projects:
- Akraino Edge Stack is creating an open
source software stack that supports high-availability cloud services
optimized for edge computing systems and applications;
- EdgeX Foundry is focused on
building a common open framework for IoT edge computing.
- Home Edge Project, seed code
contributed by Samsung Electronics, is a new project that concentrates on
driving and enabling a robust, reliable, and intelligent home edge
computing framework, platform and ecosystem running on a variety of
devices in our daily lives.
- Open Glossary of Edge Computing provides a concise
collection of terms related to the field of edge computing.
- Project EVE (Edge Virtualization Engine), contributed by
ZEDEDA, will create an open and agnostic standard edge architecture that accommodates complex and diverse on- and off-prem hardware,
network and application selections.
As the IoT increasingly
trades legacy embedded devices for cloud native computing devices with greater
compute power, edge and IoT developers need vendor-neutral platforms and a
shared vocabulary for deploying and securing their devices. Industries
including industrial manufacturing, cities and government, energy,
transportation, retail, homes, building automation, automotive, logistics and
healthcare all stand to be transformed by edge computing, which by its nature
spans many different systems, domains, hardware and software.
Bringing
Unity to the Fragmented Edge Computing Realm
Already
home to several other thriving umbrella organizations - including
Cloud Native Computing Foundation, LF Networking, and LF Deep Learning -The
Linux Foundation provides a neutral structure for building an open source
community. Under the auspices of The Linux Foundation, LF Edge will drive
better, more secure development at the edge, outlining an aligned vision for
the diverse and complex edge projects being built today.
LF
Edge is already supported by a strong roster of industry-leading founding
members: (Premier) Arm, AT&T, Baidu, Dell EMC, Dianomic Inc., Ericsson, HP
Inc., HPE, Huawei, IBM, Intel, inwinStack, Juniper Networks, MobiledgeX,
Netsia, Nokia Solutions, NTT, OSIsoft, Qualcomm Technologies, Radisys, Red Hat,
Samsung Electronics, Seagate Technology, Tencent, WindRiver, Wipro, ZEDEDA; and
(General) Advantech Co., Alleantia srl, Beechwoods Software Inc.,
Canonical Group Limited, CertusNet, CloudPlugs Inc., Concept Reply, DATA AHEAD
AG, Enigmedia, EpiSensor, Foghorn Systems Inc., ForgeRock US Inc., Foundries.io, Hangzhou EMQ Technologies Co.
Ltd., IOTech Systems Ltd., IoTium, KMC, Linaro, Mainflux, Mocana, NetFoundry,
Packet, Pluribus Networks, RackN, Redis Labs, VaporIO, Vitro Technology Corp.,
Volterra Inc., Wanxiang
Group; and (Associate) Automotive Edge Computing Consortium (AECC), Beijing
University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), Electronics and
Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Infrastructure Masons, Inc., and
Project Haystack.
More
details on LF Edge, including how to join as a member, are available here: www.lfedge.org.
LF Edge Project Support
"End-to-end cohesion
requires big companies to come together to foster the space for industrial
collaboration and emerging architectures across mobile, residential, SMB and
enterprise organizations when dealing with the edge," said Roman
Shaposhnik, vice president of Product and Strategy, ZEDEDA. "This initiative
provides critical leadership - not just a piece of the
edge puzzle - with the ultimate output being working code."
"As devices play more
important roles in our everyday lives, the edge computing is one of the key
driving forces for a new computing paradigm within the IT industry," said
Seunghwan Cho, executive vice president of Samsung Research, the advanced
R&D arm of Samsung Electronics' device business. "As Samsung is one of
the leading open source contributors at LF Edge, we'll be in the forefront of
realizing and accelerating edge computing, which can provide assistance to a
wide array of fields, including Home Edge, Industrial, and Mobile Edge
Computing (MEC)."
"The Linux Foundation has
created the perfect vehicle for collaboration and coordination across the
diversity of LF Edge projects," said Matt Trifiro, former chair of the Open Glossary
of Edge Computing and chief marketing officer, Vapor IO. "We see the the Open
Glossary playing a vital role in fostering a shared understanding that
accelerates innovation. We look forward to working with the all of the LF Edge
projects to cross-pollinate terminologies and harmonize the lexicon."
"We are thrilled by the
progress of Akraino Edge Stack so far and excited to see the Linux Foundation
deepen its commitment into edge computing," said Oliver Spatscheck, former
Akraino Board chair and assistant vice president at AT&T Labs. "The launch
of LF Edge will accelerate edge innovation and drive real business value by
bringing a diverse set of edge players under one roof."
"LF
Edge will create a comprehensive and coordinated set of foundational open
source tools to enable developers to accelerate time to value in creating IoT
and Edge computing solutions," said Jason Shepherd, former governing board
chair of EdgeX Foundry, and IoT and Edge Computing chief technology officer at
Dell Technologies. "We look forward to continuing to foster IoT
interoperability within the EdgeX community in addition to collaborating across
LF Edge projects to develop de facto-standard APIs for intelligent interactions
between the application and infrastructure planes within the broader edge
ecosystem."