Security is the big chink in the Internet of Thing’s (IoT) armor. It is the vulnerability which is preventing IoT’s broad adoption. The complexity of current widespread fragmentation due to lack of development standards has also paralyzed the market growth. Unavailability of a common IoT solution framework is hindering the potential development. Devices either lack interoperability or sophisticated infrastructure due to the absence of a common research and development platform. Linux Foundation took the lead and teamed up with 50 other companies to create an open source consortium to deal with the simplification and standardization of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). They are building a common open-framework for IoT edge computing and a catalog for interoperable components under an open source project: The EdgeX Foundry. EdgeX is a framework to build IoT edge software and firmware that connects to the cloud.
Open source collaborators at EdgeX are striving to create an industry solution adaptable to changing business needs, whose flexibility also allows customizable features. This solution will unify the market by building an ecosystem of interoperable plug-n-play devices designed to run on any hardware and operating system. EdgeX will provide interoperability among devices across a wide range of applications and services. It will not only unify the marketplace but also accelerate IIoT. It will also enable developers to create IoT solutions quickly.
Dell is assisting EdgeX with its FUSE source code base under Apache 2.0. It will ensure the interoperability between existing connectivity protocols and commercial value add used by sensor networks and the cloud and server layers. Dell helped with multiple microservices and 125,000 lines of code. A recent merger of IoTX with EdgeX also complemented the cause.
Philip DesAutels, Senior Director of IoT at the Linux Foundation while explaining the significance of EdgeX said, “Businesses currently have to invest a lot of time and energy into developing their own edge computing solutions before they can even deploy IoT solutions to address business challenges. EdgeX will foster an ecosystem of interoperable components from a variety of vendors so that resources can be spent on driving business value instead of combining and integrating IoT components.”
An open-source platform will help everyone in the IoT ecosystem:
End Customers will have access to quick and flexible IoT edge solutions tailored to their dynamical business needs.
Hardware Manufacturers will be able to scale faster with the help of interoperable devices and a robust security system.
Independent Software Vendors can avail from interoperability without reinventing connectivity.
Device Manufacturers can develop an application-level device driver with a particular protocol using SDK without any strain from solution providers.
System Integrators can easily access market with plug-and-play parts combined with their own inventions.
EdgeX’s Founding members include IoT industry’s leading brands: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Bayshore Networks, Canonical, Dell, Linaro, NetFoundry, and VMware.
Industry Affiliate members include: Cloud Foundry Foundation, EnOcean Alliance, Mainflux, Object Management Group, Project Haystack and ULE Alliance.
EdgeX Foundry will have a governance and membership structure to promote and nurture a diverse technical community. A board will govern all the business, market and alliance related decisions. A technical committee will steer the code development and the technical direction of the project.
