IOTech, the edge software company, announced today that the latest release of Edge
Xpert features new capabilities to
support computer vision and AI at the IoT edge. Edge Xpert, a leading edge
computing platform, is the company's value-add and commercial implementation of
EdgeX Foundry.
Edge
Xpert (v1.8) is now delivered with an add-on for computer vision that enables
users to run their AI algorithms and vision models at the edge. Based on
Intel's OpenVINO toolkit, the Edge Xpert computer vision service provides users
with the capability to deploy advanced vision-based workloads alongside their
existing intelligent edge solutions.
In
conjunction with existing support for IP camera and video device connectivity,
Edge Xpert users can now easily control camera devices, collect video streams
and automatically apply AI and vision inference right at the edge. The service
supports deploying models that can include object detection, classification and
recognition. It then passes that inferred intelligence to other services for
decision-making and control. Edge Xpert already supports ingestion of data from
many industrial protocols and devices. Users can therefore aggregate and fuse
together sensor data with vision inference results to obtain a complete and
accurate picture of the edge environment.
"Providing
our users with the ability to easily run computer vision inference and advanced
AI at the edge is an exciting advancement as they launch solutions into the
market," said Keith
Steele, IOTech founder and CEO. "There are literally thousands of
vison-based use cases, from automatic theft detection to safety systems and
predictive maintenance, that all rely on computer vision and AI at the edge. We
will soon be announcing a number of key partnerships and innovations in this
space."
Computer
vision and AI traditionally have been employed as cloud-based IT processes.
However, the next major wave of business transformations will be brought about
by deploying this technology at the edge of the network. Running computer
vision and AI algorithms at the edge and on-premise provides immediate and
real-time operational insights that can revolutionize how businesses operate.
This will be a catalyst for significant growth for vision-based AI in many
industrial verticals including retail, manufacturing, transportation and venue management.
This
latest release of Edge Xpert includes additional key features that help
fast-track the roll out of edge solutions, including advanced tooling and
enhancements to the existing array of IOTech's edge device connectors. With
these features, edge devices can be connected and automatically onboarded to
the platform at scale.
Edge
Xpert also includes the key features provided in the "Hanoi"
release of EdgeX Foundry. These include the ability for device
connectors to be distributed on different hosts to the other microservices,
data tagging to uniquely identify data sources as the data is transported
northbound, and many other important upgrades that help with the scalability
and roll-out of Edge Xpert.
In
addition to this release, IOTech has launched the IOTech store, which allows
users to conveniently purchase the specific software products and features they
need for their edge IoT deployments. Both Edge
Xpert and Edge
XRT, which is a complementary product for the time-critical and
resource-constrained edge, are available for immediate purchase and download on
the company's online store.