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December 2018

An Enhanced Delhi Code with More Bells and Whistles

By Blog, EdgeX Foundry

A few weeks back, the EdgeX Foundry community released Delhi.  This release (the third public major release of EdgeX in a little more than a year) included many new features and I outlined them in my last blog post . Today, the project announced the availability of an enhanced Delhi release, with a smaller collection of new and updated capabilities built on top of Delhi.  

The Delhi code release offers so many new features, I’m not going to list them all. Instead, I’d like to focus on what’s new with this enhanced Delhi release.  In particular, the enhanced version of Delhi begins to allow for freedom of choice with regard to databases in EdgeX. With this release, several of the services (core data, metadata and export client specifically) have been engineered to use either MongoDB (the long used default persistence for EdgeX) or Redis. This improvement to the EdgeX platform is significant for several reasons:

  • It highlights the ability for organizations to select and more easily use the data store that best fits their use case and system needs.  Platform support, performance characteristics, licensure issues, in-memory options, etc. are all architectural considerations when looking at persistence in your IoT platform.  
  • It is the first step in providing proper abstraction and loose coupling around the persistence layer.  Eventually, this work which we hope will be completed for the Edinburgh release (April 2019) will allow architects more freedom to customize, extend, and replace this layer based on their persistence needs.
  • EdgeX is all about providing interoperability, flexibility and facilitating choice at the edge – choice in sensor connectivity, analytics, cloud connectivity, deployment, etc. This new feature again showcases EdgeX’s flexibility – flexibility in persistence realm.  Future releases of EdgeX, using patterns established with this database abstractions, are looking at offering even more flexibility and interoperability in areas like messaging, security, communications, system management, etc.

The EdgeX community (which includes members of the Redis Labs team) worked throughout the Delhi release to simultaneously refactored several of the EdgeX microservices to offer Redis as embedded data services.  Specifically, this means we:

  • Incorporated the EdgeX services with the tools needed to connect to databases such as Redis and MongoDB
  • Leveraged Redis’ multi-model capability and data structures to serialize EdgeX data models for persistence, and index them for queries
  • Decoupled the EdgeX models from a single persistence mechanism
  • Solve identity issues, such as identifying sensor readings, in a database-independent way
  • Added Redis to the EdgeX deployment/orchestration facilities
  • Provided Redis initialization and bootstrapping scripts in support of EdgeX

Again, all of this work is important first steps toward more unilateral independence and choice with regard to persistence in EdgeX in future releases.

In addition to the work to provide alternate database connectors in several key EdgeX microservices, the enhanced Delhi code will also include the following:

  • New device service connectors, created from the new SDKs made available for Modbus and MQTT.  These were device services created with the new Go and C Devcie Service SDKs that were made available with the Delhi release.  Device connectors provide the “thing” or sensor/device connectivity in EdgeX.
  • A simple example device service simulator that developers can use to learn the EdgeX device service framework and speed up their development efforts.
  • Additional and improved documentation that includes all the new features from the Delhi release.
  • The EdgeX Foundry snap published in the the Snap Store (https://snapcraft.io/edgexfoundry) for the first time.

It should be mentioned that with the new Device Service SDKs, we are seeing a real escalation in EdgeX “thing” connectivity.  As I write this post, several additional Device Services have been created beyond what is offered in the “dot” release. So stay tuned to the EdgeX community outlets for more in this area coming soon.

Big shout out to the technical community for helping us achieve another technical milestone To learn more about the Redis connection, please click on this blog.

If you have questions or comments, visit the EdgeX Foundry Slack Channel and share your thoughts in the #community channel.

EdgeX Foundry Announces Additional Security Functionality, New Management Features and the Ability to Create Flexible, Smaller IoT Solutions with New Delhi Code

By Announcement, EdgeX Foundry

EdgeX welcomes EMQ Enterprise and Foundries.io as new members to help create a unified edge ecosystem

SAN FRANCISCO – December 13, 2018EdgeX Foundry, an open-source, vendor-neutral project that enables an ecosystem of plug-and-play components to unify the IoT edge computing marketplace, today announced the availability of its enhanced Delhi code that offers management features, additional security functionality, new Software Developer Kits (SDK), and an updated user interface. This third major code release also offers the ability to connect to a wide-range of databases and operate EdgeX in lightweight devices.

IoT solutions are inherently heterogeneous and an open IoT interoperability framework like EdgeX Foundry accelerates time to value in developing and deploying real-world use cases such as building automation, energy management, asset management and logistics. The Delhi code, which was initially released in November, enables users  to manage important functions such as buffering and filtering data, applying security measures and the ability for organizations to select and use the data store that best fits their use case and system needs.

“The EdgeX Foundry framework enables developers to build complete IoT Edge solutions from an open ecosystem of EdgeX compatible microservices for sensor connectivity, analytics, cloud connectivity, deployment and more,” said Keith Steele, EdgeX Foundry Chair of the Technical Steering Committee and CEO of IOTech. “The Delhi release includes the initial system management capability, the next wave of security features, and offers the opportunity to select the database of choice. It saves the developer time and resources and now offers the opportunity for them to use EdgeX in lightweight devices.”

Key features and benefits for the Delhi code include:

  • The first EdgeX system management capability, as the one-stop shop for managing an instance of EdgeX;
  • Security features such as access control to grant access to appropriate services and improved security service bootstrapping;
  • New Go-lang and C SDKs that allow developers to create smaller, lighter and faster device/sensor connecting services;
  • A collection of sample services and a new simple simulator that developers can use to learn the EdgeX device service framework and speed up their development efforts;
  • New user interfaces that help to visually showcase EdgeX functionality;
  • Improved resiliency, more decoupled and better tested services;
  • Updated EdgeX services that connect with a wider-range of databases such as Redis and MongoDB; and
  • The EdgeX Foundry snap published in the the Snap Store for the first time.

The full list of Delhi features can be found here and more about the enhancements to the Redis connection can be found in this Redis Labs blog post.

Hosted by the Linux Foundation, the EdgeX platform is architected to run on any hardware or operating system and unify components coded in any programming language to accelerate time to market and simplify the deployment of secure IoT solutions. The framework serves as a de facto standard to bring together any mix of existing connectivity protocols with an ecosystem of heterogeneous value-add applications.

As EdgeX Foundry continues its technical momentum, it also welcomes EMQ Enterprise and Foundries.io to join the many member companies that hail from 18 countries across the globe.

“The EdgeX Foundry technical community intends to build on Delhi and offer even more customization in areas like messaging, security, communications and system management as we move forward,” said Jason Shepherd, EdgeX Foundry Governing Board Chair and Dell Technologies IoT and Edge Computing CTO. “We are excited to welcome these new member companies into the community and help us get one step closer to a trusted unified edge ecosystem.”

New member quotes:

“EMQ X is one of the most popular IoT message brokers in the open source community that supports several IoT protocols such as MQTT, MQTT-SN, CoAP and LwM2M. We are also investing in developing open source edge brokers that can support different IoT protocols with small footprints running on edge devices,” said Feng Lee, EMQ X CEO and Project Initiator. “As an open-source, vendor-neutral project that enables an ecosystem of plug-and-play components, EdgeX Foundry easily helps the 3rd party integrate different components to the framework. We are excited to join EdgeX Foundry and contribute our expertise to the community and build better edge solutions.”

“Our mission is to provide secure, OTA updatable platform (firmware and OS) architecture and cloud independent software for Edge and Fog devices” said George Grey, CEO of Foundries.io. “EdgeX Foundry and other container-based technologies provide the applications and services platforms for provisioning and deployment of the next generation of Edge computing. We look forward to participating in the EdgeX Foundry community with our complementary open source “southbound” platforms to accelerate time to market for secure OTA updatable products based on EdgeX.”

About EdgeX Foundry

EdgeX Foundry is an open source project hosted by The Linux Foundation building a common open framework for IoT edge computing and an ecosystem of interoperable components that unifies the marketplace and accelerates the deployment of IoT solutions. Designed to run on any hardware or operating system and with any combination of application environments, EdgeX enables developers to quickly create flexible IoT edge solutions that can easily adapt to changing business needs. To learn more, visit: www.edgexfoundry.org.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

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ETRI unveils Time-Sensitive Networking IIoT Gateway based on EdgeX

By Blog, EdgeX Foundry

Guest post written by Geun-Yong Kim, EdgeX Foundry member and Researcher at ETRI

EdgeX Foundry member, ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) exhibited the EdgeX-based gateway system at the 2018 Photonics Convergence Industry Road Show held in Gwangju, Korea, on November 20- 21, 2018. The Photonics Convergence Industry Road Show is an annual event that companies related to Korean photonics convergence showcase their products and technologies, share best practices and build a stronger network.

< ETRI booth at 2018 Photonics Convergence Industry Road Show >

ETRI’s Time-Sensitive networking IIoT gateway is based on the Go version of the EdgeX framework. It is equipped with hardware that can install a device module with legacy device interface such as RS-232/485, Modbus, etc. It also provides time synchronization accuracy of less than 300ns error for Time-Sensitive Networking, which is a new Ethernet standard that guarantees bounded latency of data transmission.

< ETRI TSN IoT Gateway collecting measured data from BMT Smarteye sensors>

Since BMT gateways collect data sequentially from Smarteye sensors, there was a limit to the data analysis. Therefore, ETRI developed the device that can acquire data from multiple RS485 interfaces at the same time and implemented a new Device Service of EdgeX Foundry to handle it. The ETRI gateway is able to collect 27 kinds of data from BMT Smarteye power measurement sensors. It also collects measured data from three Smarteyes simultaneously per second and the demo included collecting data, exporting data, and rules detecting from data.

Additionally, ETRI developed GUI optimized for EdgeX micro service structure, and users can easily install and delete micro services for gateway by GUI. ETRI has also developed the TSN micro service, rules engine for analyzing power measurement data for TSN networking function, and implemented the GUI to visually express data flow between micro services.

< Micro service management GUI >

< Data collection and graph from BMT Smarteyes >

ETRI will continue researching and developing industrial IoT gateways for the renewable energy industry and power utility sectors based on the EdgeX Foundry framework. For more information, you can email Geun-Yong Kim at gykim@etri.re.kr. 

If you have questions or comments, visit the EdgeX Foundry Slack Channel and share your thoughts in the #community channel.

Automation.com: Inside Dell’s Ongoing Quest for Digitalization Acceleration

By EdgeX Foundry, In the News

Last year, Bill Lyndon explored Dell Technologies quest to accelerate IoT focus to the edge. Bill recently returned to the folks at Dell to follow up on this mission. Speaking with Jason Shepherd, Dell’s IoT and Edge Computing CTO, he shared how they are helping customers accelerate digitalization through the application of IoT to improve business performance. Through numerous discussions and presentations over the last few years, Dell Technologies has clearly aligned itself to provide industry with solutions that span from computing at the network edge to cloud services. Further, this commitment to build this vision comes straight from the top:

“IoT is fundamentally changing how we live, how organizations operate and how the world works. Dell Technologies is leading the way for our customers with a new distributed computing architecture that brings IoT and artificial intelligence together in one, interdependent ecosystem from the edge to the core to the cloud. The implications for our global society will be nothing short of profound.” Michael Dell, Chairman & CEO

Read more at Automation.com.

IoT Evolution World: What IoT Platforms Have Been Missing; Economics and Ecosystems

By EdgeX Foundry, In the News

Every technological shift only scales when there are proven economic advantages, and the IoT and Industrial IoT are no exception. In fact, according to Eric Simone, founder and CEO of ClearBlade, an Enterprise IoT Edge Computing platform company, “given the number of moving parts in any meaningful enterprise IoT deployment, there’s no getting away from the requirement to prove to end customers how connecting things will save money or increase revenue.”

Read more at IoT Evolution World.