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May 2019

SiliconANGLE: Linux Foundation aims for global unification through open-source

By In the News

It is a gathering storm of technological advances: artificial intelligence, network virtualization, 5G, containerized applications and neural processing units. As new technology enables greater connectivity, the race toward a smart society based on the “internet of things” gathers speed.

Thanks to open-source collaboration, the journey has become a cooperative one rather than a arms race. Software developers understand that pooling knowledge and resources is more productive than working alone; and project collaboration overcomes political and geographical differences.

“Whether it’s Europe, Asia, China, India, [or] Japan, developers are coming together very nicely through a common governance which crosses boundaries,” said Arpit Joshipura (pictured), general manager of networking, orchestration, and edge/internet of things at the Linux Foundation.

Read the full article here.

Hello System Management!

By Blog, EdgeX Foundry

Written by Akram Ahmad, EdgeX Foundry contributor and Principal Software Engineer at Dell Technologies

For those of you not yet familiar with the canonical way of introducing new technology-centric stuff, at least the way we do it in the world of computer programming–and thinking here specifically to the “Hello World!” first-ever program introduced to the world by programming legends Kernighan and Ritchie with their C programming language–please allow me to clarify what may be an admittedly enigmatic title we’ve got for this blog post. Essentially, it was with the EdgeX Foundry Delhi Release that the team had the pleasure of introducing EdgeX System Management capability to the world! Hence, “Hello System Management!” (More on the Edinburgh Release in just a bit.)

It’s my ongoing privilege to be a part of helping design, implement, and shepherd System Management (or “SM” for short) to date, and going forward. With that in mind, I would like to give you a flavor of the capabilities that SM brings to the table.

You can think of the System Management Agent (SMA), in particular, as a brand-new service which serves as the coordinator for control plane information (i.e. status, configuration, and metrics for EdgeX services). The SMA also control actions on EdgeX services (i.e. starting, stopping, and restarting services). Cloud or third-party systems can, in turn, call on the API provided by the SMA to trigger the actions or to get the control plane data they need. In a nutshell, the SMA can serve as a one-stop shop for managing a deployed instance of EdgeX.

Each EdgeX micro service has a corresponding management API that the SMA calls on to help control that service (e.g. to stop the service) or fetch its latest configuration or metrics. The SMA, along with the management API provided by each service, will be expanded in future releases of EdgeX and will one day offer control plane data and actions via alternate protocols (for example via the well-known protocol SNMP that is part of the TCP/IP suite that powers the Internet as we know it today).

I invite you to hold on to the thought that, for the constellation of services that will be offered via EdgeX, there needs to be “controller” of sorts…

Now, let’s turn to the truism that an IoT platform like EdgeX is used to collect the data from “Things.” Put another way, the platform ingests data that is physically sensed from IoT sensors and devices. Work associated with collecting, managing, and disbursing sensed data is exactly the kind of work associated with a “data plane.” On the other hand, the kind of work associated with operating and managing the IoT platform software and infrastructure is best described as “control plane” operations.

This includes getting the IoT platform and infrastructure running (or shutdown), configuring the platform software for the particular use case, and understanding the health and status of the software platform (is it running and what type of resources is the IoT software platform using?). Analysis of any control plane data may be used to take action as well, but action revolves around the IoT platform itself–not the sensed or controlled world. For example, in the control plane, it may be determined that a service needs to be restarted because it is consuming too much memory.

This is where the SMA comes in!

The System Management (SM) service will assist in protecting EdgeX and reducing the surface area of an API attack. Rather than opening up access to all services to the central management system, the SM service serves as a single point proxy to the control plane for all of EdgeX services for the central management system. The SMA, therefore, reduces the number of access points to EdgeX and reduces potential security vulnerabilities. It also allows the central management system to be loosely coupled to all of EdgeX—requiring the central management system to again have just one access address (the address of the SM service) that it needs to know about for any EdgeX deployment.

Before digging deeper, let’s recap what we’ve learned so far: System Management (SM) functionality, as determined by the EdgeX community, is generally associated with control plane data and operations.  The control plane (and System Management) is about managing the IoT platform and infrastructure. The data plane is all about managing and understanding the physical world that the IoT platform is there to observe and control. Think about it: Whether one is talking about towering skyscrapers or flimsy tents rigged on the grounds of a park, there remains, as ever, the crucial need for control. Without coordination, things can get chaotic in a heartbeat.

Also, and crucially, SM is also about providing information—having retrieved that information in the first place—about the status of the services it manages. Eventually, building on this capability, SM will provide the means to reconfigure the services themselves. At this time, with the Edinburgh Release, SM can provide performance and memory metrics for requested services. Likewise, SM can provide detailed configuration information for the services requested by users of SM, as well as the health status of those services (whether given services are up or down.)

In other words, while control is a critical capability, SM is about more than just control. By the same token, we want to make it abundantly clear that we are building System Management (SM) capability to facilitate other central systems, and not be those central systems. In a nutshell, EdgeX SM is about helping promote interoperability—in this case, allowing you to manage EdgeX with your choice in central management system.

Let’s shift gears a bit now: When you look at a typical fog deployment, a larger management system will want to manage the control plane of the edge systems as well as all the intermediate and upper level nodes and resources of the overall deployment. Just as there is a management system to control all the nodes and infrastructure within a cloud data center, and across cloud data centers, so too there will likely be management systems that will manage and control all the nodes (from edge to cloud) and infrastructure of a complete fog or IoT deployment.

If you will be so kind as to allow me the use of just one more metaphor, it will be this one: Think to a team of workhorses ploughing the land (EdgeX services). Then think to the driver (System Management). Finally, and without going too crazy about the farming metaphor—all metaphors, including this one, can carry only so much water—I invite you to imagine two scenarios (1) First, the one without the other, and (2) Second, the two (i.e. the team of workhorses and the driver) working in unison. If you associated chaos with the first scenario, and clockwork unison with the second, you are in good company.

So with the Edinburgh Release, we will continue building SM capability to facilitate other central systems. Again, the goal is not to be those central systems, but rather to facilitate those systems. May your System Management (SM) learnings continue, and may the community be the better for it!

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

SDxCentral: Edge Magnifies Open Source Challenges, Opportunities

By Akraino, EdgeX Foundry, In the News, Project EVE

There are almost as many open source groups and projects working on edge computing as there are definitions of edge — one such project, in fact, focuses exclusively on defining edge terms. This is partially due to the hype, and consolidation will probably happen as the hype turns into real-life deployments and concrete use cases.

We’re already seeing some signs of open source groups working together to solve edge challenges and take advantage of the opportunity it provides. The Linux Foundation and open standards body ETSI, for example, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to “bring open source and standards closer and foster synergies between them.” As it relates to edge, this means Akraino — which is the Linux Foundation’s open source edge software stack — will incorporate the ETSI Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) APIs directly into the stack.

Read the full article here.

SDxCentral: Project EVE Seed Code Drops, Creates Virtualization Standard for Edge Devices

By In the News, Project EVE

The Linux Foundation this week received initial seed code from Zededa for Project EVE (Edge Virtualization Engine), one of its five open source edge projects.

Zededa is a founding member of LF Edge, which the Linux Foundation formed in January as an umbrella organization for its edge projects. At the time, it also announced Project EVE to develop standard edge architecture that accommodates on- and off-premises hardware, network, and application selections. This enables edge gateways and devices to run a variety of edge workloads simultaneously, decoupling application management from the underlying hardware. Applications can be deployed in standard virtual machines (VM) or container environments and be managed through a standard set of APIs.

“The goal is to create a single virtualization standard for edge devices for the industry to build around so that we can enjoy the benefits of cloud-native applications sooner rather than later,” said Said Ouissal, co-founder and CEO of Zededa, in a statement.

Read the full article here.

Project EVE Code Now Available

By Blog, Project EVE

Project EVE (Edge Virtualization Engine), part of LF Edge since the organization’s inception, earlier this week marked an important milestone: the official handover of code from ZEDEDA. EVE provides an open standard for edge virtualization, helping make it as easy and secure to manage applications on edge devices as it is in the cloud. With EVE, enterprises can run a wide variety of applications on any edge-class gateway while enjoying the benefits of data center virtualization, like zero-touch provisioning and secure, one-click software update rollouts at IoT scale.

“Project EVE’s release under LF Edge is an important milestone for the edge computing industry,” said Melissa Evers-Hood, senior director of Google Operating Systems for Intel System Software Products, and chair of the LF Edge Governing Board. “An open approach to virtualization can help companies address the growth in diverse services and hardware configurations being deployed at the edge. Using virtualization to consolidate workloads provides companies with a more flexible and elastic infrastructure, allowing them to secure and manage these services while containing costs.”

Project EVE  allows applications ranging from legacy software programs running in virtual machines (VMs) to the latest microservices architectures to operate in a secure and reliable way on smaller edge devices. This is accomplished through the use of a type-1 hypervisor, an Edge Container runtime, and a hardened root-of-trust implementation, enabling workloads to run in either a VM or standard container environment. By decoupling software from hardware, EVE also allows for multi-tenant deployments that can operate in complete isolation from each other, increasing security and decreasing complexity.

Key features of Project EVE include:

  • Compatibility with all major edge hardware and cloud providers—no vendor lock-in
  • Ability to support any application that can run in a VM or standard container
  • Simplified application management through standardized APIs
  • Smarter hardware usage through coordinated resource allocation and partitioning
  • Ability to create a zero-trust approach to security, leveraging a hardened root-of-trust implementation

As the number of IoT devices continues to skyrocket, it’s becoming more and more important for businesses to be able to process, analyze, and act on sensor data in real time via local edge gateway systems. Project EVE provides a key component of the technology stack needed for powerful computing at the edge. By contributing the code for Project EVE to LF Edge, ZEDEDA is furthering the organization’s mission to create an open framework for edge computing.

For more information about Project EVE, visit https://www.lfedge.org/projects/eve/.

 

DataCenterNews: Linux Foundation’s LF Edge breaks edge computing’s barriers

By In the News, Project EVE

Edge computing should be completely interoperable and free of hardware, silicon, cloud and operating system restrictions. That’s the core message from LF Edge, an umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation.

LF Edge recently announced that its Project Edge Virtualization Engine (EVE) will continue to pick up momentum, after receiving initial seed code from its founding member, ZEDEDA.
With the explosion in connected devices generating continuous data streams that require fast processing, edge computing enables data processing through local gateway systems to reduce latency and provide faster response.

With Project EVE, edge gateways and devices run a variety of edge workloads simultaneously, decoupling application management from the underlying hardware. Applications can be deployed in standard virtual machines (VM) or container environments and be managed through a standard set of APIs.

Read the full article here.

LF Edge Momentum Continues with Project EVE Seed Code, Project Demonstrations at IoT World and New Members

By Akraino, Announcement, EdgeX Foundry, Project EVE

  • IoT OnPrem Edge Virtualization Engine seed code contributed by ZEDEDA to LF Edge
  • Four new members join existing community of 70+ LF Edge organizations
  • LF Edge on Display at IoT World, with Akraino Edge Stack, EdgeX Foundry and Project EVE demonstrations

SANTA CLARA, Calif. IoT World  – May 14, 2019 – LF Edge, an umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation that aims to establish an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system, today announced continued project momentum. Project Edge Virtualization Engine (EVE) receives initial seed code from LF Edge founding member ZEDEDA, as the community showcases a range of edge/IoT application demonstrations, from connected cars to wind turbines, on-site at IoT World.

Additionally, LF Edge welcomes new Associate and Liaison member organizations Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the LIONS Center at the Pennsylvania State University, OTAinfo, and University of New Hampshire’s Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL).

“We are excited to see the LF community continue to collaborate on building unified edge solutions,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager,  Networking, IoT and Edge Computing, the Linux Foundation. “We appreciate ZEDEDA’s leadership in helping us advance On-Prem Edge IoT with initiatives like Project EVE, and are eager to showcase the broad capabilities of LF Edge onsite in Santa Clara while welcoming our newest members.”

Edge Virtualization Engine Launches Initial Seed Code

Analysts predict more than 30B connected devices worldwide by 2020, all generating continuous data streams that will need to be processed quickly. Edge computing enables data processing through local gateway systems to reduce latency and provide faster response. With Project EVE, edge gateways and devices run a variety of edge workloads simultaneously, decoupling application management from the underlying hardware. Applications can be deployed in standard virtual machines (VM) or container environments and be managed through a standard set of APIs.

“With Project EVE, the goal is to create a single virtualization standard for edge devices for the industry to build around so that we can enjoy the benefits of cloud-native applications sooner rather than later,” said Said Ouissal, co-founder and CEO of ZEDEDA. “Imagine how much more impact we can achieve now that edge applications can be reliably managed and secured.”

LF Edge on Display at IoT World

LF Edge is on-site at IoT World in Santa Clara this week, May 13-16. Highlights include live project demonstrations in booth 610 and LF Edge community expert presentations:

  • Debut of the new Project EVE code
  • Live demonstrations of emerging Akraino blueprints for network cloud integration and industrial automation and Connected Cars
  • A smart build automation demo from EdgeX Foundry
  • A model wind turbine demonstrating EdgeX and Project EVE technology
  • Simulation of an industrial assembly line with sensor devices supporting MQTT and Monbus protocols
  • Arpit Joshipura will participate in two IoT panels; learn more: https://www.lfedge.org/event/iot-world-2019/.

More details on LF Edge’s activity at IoT World are available in this blog post. Please also follow @LF_Edge on twitter for real-time updates.

LF Edge Welcomes New Members 

LF Edge’s significant growth over the past five months– including strong industry event presence and face-to-face community meetings – continues today with the addition of new Associate and Liaison members:  Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the LIONS Center at the Pennsylvania State University, OTAinfo, and University of New Hampshire’s Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL).

Comments from New Members:

“Through its liaison program, IIC works with industry liaison partners to build out the Industrial IoT ecosystem in an effort to accelerate IIoT adoption,” said Wael William Diab, Chair of the IIC Liaison Working Group and Secretary of the IIC Steering Committee. “Open source communities play an important role in the industry ecosystem. The expansion of the scope of liaison collaboration between IIC and LF Edge builds on the successful collaboration and further enables the digital transformation.”

“LF Edge stands as an indispensable bridge between industry and academia. It brings Open Source SD-WAN Frameworks to researchers,” said Peng Liu, Director of Lions Center at The Pennsylvania State University. “We, as security researchers, are eager to learn more, work more and make more contributions. We are currently working on verification of the designs, applicable NIDS solutions, end to end security validation of CI/CD of Akraino. With this precious partnership opportunity, we would like to contribute more to make these projects simple, secure, and scalable SD-WAN solutions.”

“Together, we have a chance to create history by developing the next gen security for connected devices,” said Nupur Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO of OTAinfo. “After revenue, security is the second biggest concern for all IoT companies, and yet there is no clear open source framework widely available. OTAinfo joined LF Edge to provide developers a comprehensive plug and play security framework that eliminates remote update vulnerabilities. We look forward to working with the Edge members and stakeholders in the connected community to revolutionize security on the Edge.”

“There is no denying the value proposition to virtualization and the move to open source partnerships within industry.  By bringing these topics together, and focusing on the network edge, the LF Edge projects are going to enable the next generation of really exciting applications.”  Said Lincoln Lavoie, Senior Engineer, Broadband Technologies at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory “The UNH-IOL is thrilled to be participating in those projects, through our work with the Akraino project to develop the Community Lab, helping connect developers with the resources necessary to accelerate their open source efforts.”

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation’s projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js and more. The Linux Foundation’s methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.org.

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Forbes: Opening Up The Edge: Why Agnostic Cloud Software Is The Key To Edge Computing

By In the News, Project EVE

The rising value of data has changed the business landscape forever, and companies have migrated en masse to the (theoretical) unlimited capacity of the cloud. As IoT devices have started to pump more data through networks and into the cloud, connected enterprises are managing their operations in data centers as well as using computational ability closer to the data source.

Read more at Forbes. 

LF Edge at IoT World

By Akraino, Blog, EdgeX Foundry, Project EVE

LF Edge will be at IoT World 2019 in Santa Clara, Cali. from May 13 to 16. The event is the leading IoT showcase that features the top technologies, strategies, and case studies for the key industries implementing IoT. This year, LF Edge projects Akraino, EdgeX Foundry & Project EVE will be at the show floor to show off their latest demos in booth #610.

Akraino will be on-site to show off it’s it’s latest line of blueprints, which are designed to support a wide variety of edge use cases. Akraino will show off it’s SDN Enabled Broadband Access (SEBA) blueprint, ELIOT (Edge Lightweight and IoT) Blueprint, Micro-MEC Blueprint and the Future Network Lab Connected Vehicle Blueprint. The Akraino community tests and validates the blueprints on real hardware labs supported by users and community members.

EdgeX Foundry will showcase it’s building automation demo, which highlights EdgeX’s ability to bring together a real-world, smart flexible office space environment based on components from a variety of vendors leveraging numerous connectivity standards, operating systems and hardware types.

EdgeX will also be featured in a demo from Beechwoods Software that showcases the AMD Edge Gateway reference running EdgeX and supporting IBM Watson IoT for both the cloud and the analytics engine.

In addition, Project EVE will also be on the scene with its new wind turbine model. Based on the EdgeX framework and the Project EVE technology, the demo will showcase turbine  operations analytics.

LF Edge members will be also be on-site to provide background on any of the projects or walk you through an interactive demo. Stop by booth #610 to learn more or attend any of the following IoT presentations on Thursday, May 16:

  • Jason Shepherd, LF Edge Governing Board Member and CTO of IoT and Edge Computing at Dell Technologies, will present a session at 11:40 am – Noon in Grand Ballroom F. The presentation titled, “The Holy Grail for Digital & Data,” explores where companies are today with their data strategy and where they might be in five to ten years.
  • Arpit Joshipura, GM of Networking & Orchestration + Edge / IOT at the Linux Foundation, will present on a panel titled “The Fast and The Curious: Smart, Safe Ways to Accelerate Building and Deployment,” at 1:40 pm – 2:20 pm in Grand Ballroom G. He’ll be joined by Frederic Desbiens,  IoT & Edge Program Manager at The Eclipse Foundation, Christopher Konopka, Developer Evangelist at Twilio & Brian Buntz, Content Director at IoT World Today. Attendees of this session will learn about the latest methods for bringing a commercial or in-house IoT application or device into production more quickly, efficiently and securely.
  • Arpit Joshipura will then join Sue Troy, IoT World Today Executive Editor and Alexander Olesen, Founder of Babylon Micro-Farms, for the last panel of the day titeld, “What’s the deal with…?” From 4:20 – 5 pm in the Grand Ballroom G, the panel will discuss  new IoT technologies, projects, hardware, software and services and a wide range of other topics like edge and IoT, starting an IoT company , 5G, WIFI 6, digital twins, challenges and concerns.

If you have questions or comments, visit the LF Edge Slack Channel and share your thoughts in the #community or project channels.