The Linux Foundation launches new LF Edge to establish a unified open source framework
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organisation enabling mass innovation through open source, announced the launch of LF Edge, an umbrella organisation 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 organisations 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 harmonisation 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 optimised 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 Virtualisation 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 organisations – 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.
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