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November 2022

Emerson Joins LF Edge as Premier Member, Helps Shepherd Fourth Industrial Revolution

By Announcement, In the News, LF Edge
  • Leading industrial software and technology company commits to further innovation at the open source edge with LF Edge 
  • Emerson Technology VP, Claudio Fayad, keynotes ONE Summit to discuss how the Industrial Edge is Powering Industry 4.0
  • LF Edge maturity on display at ONE Summit, with Solution Showcase featuring cross-project and cross vertical deployment solutions

SEATTLE, Washington. — ONE Summit North America  — November 15, 2022 – LF Edge, an umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation that establishes an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system, today announced Emerson has joined the project as a Premier member. The news comes just as the LF Edge community showcases a robust round of deployed solutions spanning Telco, Retail, Energy and Manufacturing verticals, via in-booth demonstrations at ONE Summit happening this week in Seattle, Wash. 

Emerson, a global software and technology company providing innovative solutions for customers in industrial and commercial markets, joins other existing LF Edge Premier members: AMD, American Tower, Arm, AT&T, AVEVA, Baidu, Charter Communications, Dell Technologies, Dianomic, Equinix, F5, Fujitsu, Futurewei, HP, Huawei, Intel, IBM, NTT, Radisys, RedHat, Samsung, Tencent, VMware, Western Digital, ZEDEDA.

As part of its boundless automation vision for a software-defined automation architecture to catalyze the future of modern manufacturing, Emerson is connecting operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) from the field to the edge and cloud. A core element of this vision is a modern industrial edge architecture that will require disruptive innovation for the execution of real-time workloads. Emerson will partner with the LF Edge members to build the infrastructure that will enable this vision. 

“We are pleased to welcome Emerson to the roster of leading technology innovators committed to transforming open source edge computing,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge and IOT, the Linux Foundation. “Emerson’s role in leading innovation across the industrial, commercial and enterprise space will be integral in helping to transform the industry at the brink of the fourth industrial revolution.”

“Edge computing will be a core capability for the future of industrial manufacturing, unlocking the flexibility and data democratization companies use to drive innovation,” said Claudio Fayad, vice president of technology for Emerson. “By decoupling the framework for edge computing from hardware, operating system, silicon and even cloud, LF Edge will improve collaboration and innovation across multiple industry verticals. Emerson is proud to be a key contributor to that vision.”

Emerson VP of Technology, Claudio Fayad, joined ZEDEDA founder and CEO, Said Ouissal, on the ONE Summit keynote stage to discuss how the Industrial Edge is powering the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The thought leaders shared real-world insights on how industrial companies looking to unlock insights from real-time production and machine data can leverage the use of a secure, cloud-connected OT edge to modernize existing infrastructure. 

LF Edge Deployments on Display

Collaborative, real-world deployment solutions based on LF Edge projects are on display in the LF Edge booth on the ONE Summit show floor via the new LF Edge Industry Solution Showcase. For the first time ever, the community is presenting concrete examples of how LF Edge is currently solving  real market needs. Eight demos are displayed in the LF Edge booth at four kiosk stations, each focused on a specific vertical: Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Telo, and Retail. 

More details on the specific solutions and how they qualify, as well as videos and slides, are available on the LF Edge wiki. 

Akraino Blueprint  & LF Edge Member Team Wins ETSI & LF Edge Hackathon 

Team DOMINO—a collaboration between Equinix and Aarna Networks—won the 2022 ETSI & LF Edge Hackathon for its innovative Edge application in 5G scenarios using Akraino Public Cloud Edge Interface (PCEI) blueprint. The solution demonstrates the orchestration of federated Multi-access edge computing (MEC) infrastructure and services and shows how telco providers can enable sharing of their services in a MEC Federation environment.

Learn more about the winning submission and get the submission materials on the Akraino wiki.

About the Linux Foundation

Founded in 2000, the Linux Foundation and its projects are supported by more than 3,000 members. The Linux Foundation is the world’s leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world’s infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, Hyperledger, RISC-V, PyTorch, 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.

November 15, 2022

Congratulations to “Team DOMINO,” Winner of the 2022 ETSI & LF Edge Hackathon

By Akraino, Blog

The 2022 Edge Hackathon, supported by ETSI and LF Edge, concluded last month with 15 teams worldwide building Edge applications or solutions with ETSI Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) APIs and LF Edge Akraino Blueprints. A team from LF Edge member organizations  Equinix and Aarna Networks—codenamed Team DOMINO—won first place in the Edge Hackathon for their innovative edge application in 5G scenarios using the Akraino Public Cloud Edge Interface (PCEI) blueprint.

The Akraino PCEI blueprint enables multi-domain infrastructure orchestration and cloud native application deployment across public clouds (core and edge), edge clouds, interconnection providers and network operators.

By using the PCEI blueprint, Team DOMINO’s solution demonstrates orchestration of federated MEC infrastructure and services, including 5G Control and User Plane Functions, MEC and Public Cloud IaaS/SaaS, across two operators/providers (a 5G operator and a MEC provider), as well as deployment and operation of end-to-end cloud native IoT applications making use of 5G access, and distributed both across geographic locations and across hybrid MEC (edge cloud) and Public Cloud (SaaS) infrastructure.

Team DOMINO showed how telco providers can enable sharing of their services in a MEC Federation environment, by orchestrating, bare metal servers and their software stack, 5G control plane and user plane functions. In addition, by orchestrating interconnection between the 5G provider and MEC provider, connectivity to a public cloud as well as the IoT application and the MEC Location API service, Team DOMINO demonstrated MEC Service Federation for location-aware IoT.

Learn more about this solution and the Akraino PCEI blueprint on the Akraino wiki.

Congratulations to team DOMINO & everyone involved in this use case and blueprint!

November 11, 2022

Home Edge Eucalyptus (vE) Release Enhances Home Data Privacy and Adds Android Support

By Blog, Home Edge, Project Release

Home Edge—an open source edge computing framework for home devices—is now available in its Eucalyptus (vE) release. Home Edge, an LF Edge project, is a robust, reliable and intelligent home edge computing open source framework and ecosystem running on a variety of devices in the home. To accelerate the deployment of the edge computing services ecosystem successfully, the Home Edge Project provides users with an interoperable, flexible, and scalable edge computing services platform with a set of APIs that can also run with libraries and runtimes.

“I am excited to share the availability of vE version of Home Edge on Github,” said Suresh L C, Home Edge Technical Steering Committee (TSC) Co-Chair. “The new Home Edge release adds Android execution support with a secure, robust and end-to-end framework for intelligent service offloading in smart home scenarios, which in turn provides data privacy with low latency response.”

The vE release adds a number of significant new features, among them are

  • Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Badge
    • Home Edge has achieved the OpenSSF best practices Gold badge and the OpenSSF scorecard has also been integrated. Go-Project is made compliant by incorporating necessary documentation/quality fixes.
  • Data synchronization to Cloud endpoints – MQTT
    • Independent MQTT based cloud synchronization mechanism as enhancement to vD
    • API’s to send and receive data from and to between Service application and Cloud via Home Edge
    • MQTT broker would be configured at the cloud (Cloud agnostic)
    • Home Edge acts as MQTT client to exchange data 
    • TLS secure mode for all the data exchange
  • Platform enhancement
    • The support for the execution of Home Edge on Android has been added to Home Edge Android
    • The base code currently supports device/service discovery and service offload to Linux device
    • Service offload to Android from Linux is not supported in this release
  • Dependent bot integration
    • Bot to check on the updates on dependent libraries has been integrated
    • The bot has been configured to run once every month in the first week
  • Code enhancements
    • Fixed TxT Record parsing as per mDNS protocol
    • Refactored service list assignment logic TxT record
    • Modified get score API from GET to POST in line with API design rules
    • API to add/delete events from database based on event ID added for DataStorage
    • Code coverage increased by adding more test cases
    • Modified response for Ping request to Pong
  • Auto numerical tagging of code when significant changes are incorporated

Learn more about these and other features of Home Edge vE release in the release notes.

What’s next

For the next steps, the community will work on strengthening the Android version of Home Edge so that the features are in line with the Go version.

If you are using or evaluating Home Edge, please let the project TSC know and join the TSC meetings. Your feedback on the project is greatly appreciated!

November 11, 2022

Edgex Foundry Goes Full Message Bus With Its Latest EdgeX 2.3 “Levski” Release

By Blog, EdgeX Foundry, Project Release
EdgeX Foundry now fully embraces decoupled message bus communication within the platform

I am delighted to announce today the availability of the EdgeX Foundry 2.3 release which is codenamed Levski. This is the project’s 11th official release since its inception in 2017 and includes some significant new features and benefits to users that I’ll explain in this blog.

Having been elected as the chair of the EdgeX Technical Steering Committee (TSC) earlier this summer, it’s great to be able to announce the news of this release but it really is the technical expertise and dedication of the EdgeX development team that helps bring these releases to the wider community. Thanks again for everyone’s effort here. Great to be part of a group of many different companies and individuals working together to make great open source edge software.

What is Levski?

First let me give mention to the Levski codename. As you may know, each EdgeX release is named after a certain place or location in the world, with the specific place chosen each time significant contributors to the project. This version was named by two long term EdgeX contributors, Diana Atanasova and Malini B

handaru, both from VMware. For version 2.3 and the letter “L”, we come back over to Europe because Levski is a large mountain in the beautiful European country of Bulgaria. Bulgaria is also Diana’s homeland so it’s nice to be able to recognize that with the naming of this release.

New in EdgeX 2.3 – More about the Message Bus

Perhaps the biggest single new feature is the enhancement to support the delivery of commands via the EdgeX message bus.

We’ve previously made great strides in EdgeX V2 by delivering data from the southside (from devices and sensors) to the northside (to the core and application layers) via an internal message bus. This release also adds the support in the other direction, i.e., from the northside (the application layers and core layers) down to the southside (the devices and sensors) on the same message bus. Previously the southbound communication was exclusively via REST. Moving to support message bus-based communication in both directions is a big advancement and brings key benefits in terms of reduced latency and increased scalability. The asynchronous communication and the QoS-based control that you get from the message bus implementations that you can choose adds delivery guarantees and retransmissions of messages as needed.

Message Bus

More Run-Time Data

Another key area of development for Levski has been the focus on providing EdgeX users with more live information about how the system is running. EdgeX 2.3 adds System or “Control Plane” Events that can provide live updates as to what is happening. For example, users can receive notifications that new devices are added or that there has been a network disconnection from a specific device.

Somewhat related to System Events are the Telemetry Metrics. In contrast to events though, the metrics provide numeric information relating to how the platform is operating. Examples include the number of data readings that are persisted by core data or the number of secrets or tokens that are stored. Building of what was delivered previously, Levski adds more metrics across all of the services.

All of this information can be collected and reported however the user sees fit. In addition, the System Events and Telemetry Metrics mechanisms are available for users to add their own metrics as needed.

Many other updates and enhancements

There are many other new additions in this last release cycle including:

  • Availability of NATS as alternative implementation of the internal EdgeX Message Bus. NATS is a popular and lightweight protocol with native delivery of EdgeX messages and potential advantages in high availability (HA) use cases
  • Authenticated access to the MQTT message bus
  • Securing of the Consul registry service with access tokens
  • Passing status at the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF)
  • Initial construction of the EdgeX STRIDE threat model
  • Improving the EdgeX development process with a new Use Case Requirements (UCRs) phase in the design procedure

See the release notes here for full details of what the Levski release provides.

New adopters and use cases for EdgeX

Running as a mature, stage 3 Linux Foundation project, there are now many users and adopters of EdgeX technology around the world. That includes users who download and deploy the open source EdgeX code, but also users of commercial products (including ours at IOTech) that are based on EdgeX. Take a look at some of the companies who are users of EdgeX. There are also a good set of presentation videos from different adopters of the technology.

One of my personal aims as TSC chair is to help encourage the adoption and wider use of EdgeX. Thanks to Building System Integrators (BSI) who recorded a talk at a recent TSC meeting. It would be great to hear from more companies who would like to do something similar. Please do reach out to me to arrange it.

What’s coming next?

Each release marks a busy period where of course we finalize the current version, but already we are looking forward at what we can achieve in the next release. Codenamed Minnesota and expected to be version 3.0, we are looking to add new features to help with the scalable configuration of EdgeX. Tune into the Minnesota technical planning conference that we are running next week where we will scope out what we can do. As always, attendance and contributions are very welcome.

Thanks again to everyone who had a hand in this release, and we look forward to more successful releases in the future.

November 9, 2022

eKuiper Issues 1.7.0 Release, Adding Lookup Table, Analytic Functions and More

By Blog, eKuiper, Project Release

eKuiper—a lightweight IoT data analytics and streaming software—is now available in its 1.7.0 release. eKuiper, an LF Edge project, migrates real-time cloud streaming analytics frameworks such as Apache Spark, Apache Storm and Apache Flink to the edge. eKuiper references these cloud streaming frameworks, incorporates any special requirements of edge analytics and introduces rule engine, which is based on Source, SQL (business logic) and Sink; rule engine is used for developing streaming applications at the edge.

eKuiper 1.7.0 continues to improve the expressiveness of the rules by providing the lookup table, updatable sink, and more SQL syntax and functions. The 1.7.0 release adds a number of significant new features, among them are

  • Stream batch combined computation
    • Not all data changes frequently, even in real-time computation. In some cases, you may need to supplement stream data with externally stored static data. For example, user metadata may be stored in a relational database, and the stream data only has data that changes in real time, requiring a connection between the stream data and the batch data in the database to enrich the data. In the new version, eKuiper adds the new Lookup Table concept for binding external static data, which can be joined with stream data in the rules to realize the operation of stream-batch combination. Additionally, with the support of updatable sink, eKuiper can process CDC data and update the batch storage.
  • Enhanced analysis capabilities
    • Analytic functions refer to functions that perform state-related analysis by saving state, allowing users to complete some of the common stateful calculations without complex time windows or custom functions. In the new version, we have added the Partition By syntax to the analytic functions, allowing users to perform partitioned stateful calculations based on the dimensions defined by Partition By clause. We also added a new analysis function latest to get the latest value of data. It is used to collect unstructured data whose columns are not fixed and can be automatically stitched to calculate the complete data.
  • Expanding the connectivity ecosystem 
    • On one hand, we continue to add built-in and extended source/sink by adding Httppush source, which allows users to push data to eKuiper via HTTP protocol; adding built-in Redis lookup source, which supports using Redis as external lookup table; adding Influx V2 sink, which supports writing to InfluxDB 2.x version. At the same time, Memory, SQL, and Redis source are adapted to support lookup tables; Memory, SQL, and Redis sink are adapted to be updatable.
  • Enhance the Ops experience
    • The new release refactors the external connection configuration API to enable easier connection resource management. Another major update comes from the bulk import/export and initialization of streams and rules to facilitate the migration of eKuiper instances.

Learn more about these and other features of eKuiper’s 1.7.0 release in the release notes.

What’s next

In the next release, the community will work on enhancing graph API to support more nodes, such as switch node and script node, to provide a more powerful and easy-to-use rule pipeline composing tool. A new function to run tensor flow lite model will be provided to easily integrate with AI models. Check out the evolving Github 1.8.0 milestones and we welcome you to add your wisdom.

November 9, 2022

Leaders in LF Edge: Interview with Daniel Lazaro

By Blog

The Internet of Things (IoT) market has expanded significantly in recent years. According to Gartner, more than 50% of enterprise-managed data will be created and processed outside the data center or cloud by 2025. As edge computing becomes a significant revenue opportunity for the technology and telecom industries, it’s even more important to have effective leaders to help advance the future of edge computing.

Today we sat down with Daniel Lazaro, LF Edge Technical Advisory Council (TAC) vice-chair and Senior Technical Program Manager at AVEVA. Daniel tells us how he got involved in the edge computing industry, the LF Edge project umbrella, and why leaders must plan for the growth of IoT and edge.

How did you get involved in the LF Edge community and what is your role now?

In January 2019, OSIsoft, which was my employer at the time, joined LF Edge. My first official community role was with the LF Edge Technical Advisory Council (TAC) where I became the TAC representative for project Fledge, with the goal to drive community growth. As part of the TAC, we developed the LF Edge project lifecycle process and took in Fledge as a “Stage 1” project;” Fledge was actually the first project to go through the various maturity stages within LF Edge, beginning at project inception (Fledge is now “Stage 2” and in the process of becoming a “Stage 3” or “mature” project).

Later, I joined the Board and the Strategic Planning Committee to help drive the direction and growth of LF Edge as a whole. I have participated in various other efforts including SIGs, LF Edge lab, and the Outreach Committee to name a few. I was recently honored to be elected as TAC vice-chair and I look forward to collaborating even more across  the LF Edge ecosystem.

What is your vision for the edge computing industry? 

I believe edge computing is now at the point where the cloud was a decade ago: It is about to explode. Several forecasts estimate the size of the edge computing market to reach 156 billion by 2030. Gardner predicts that ”By 2025, more than 50% of enterprise-managed data will be created and processed outside the data center or cloud.” The time to catch the edge wave is now.

What impact do you see open source playing in the evolution of the edge market? And how has it shaped where we are today?

Open source is a platform for innovation, and as such, is helping to accelerate the development of edge solutions. Open source has enabled end users, developers and organizations to build communities that collaborate on projects that address current and future needs. Beyond LF Edge, I am also a voting member of FledgePOWER’s TAC, under LF Energy, a sister project and community that focuses on power built on top of Fledge. OSDU is another example of a community built around open source for the oil & gas vertical, also leveraging Fledge.

Why is LF Edge important to advance the future of edge computing? 

LF Edge promotes sustainable ecosystems and communities of peers that fosters cross-industry collaboration, enables organizations to speed up adoption and delivers value to end users. LF edge is a neutral home for code and collaboration built on trust that focuses on edge computing projects.

What is AVEVA’s role in edge computing and LF Edge?

AVEVA, a leader in industrial software, is helping to drive the growth of the Fledge technology that was initially contributed by fellow collaborators and member organization Dianomic. AVEVA is also currently working on a reseller agreement with Dianomic with Fledge at its core. 

The AVEVA Edge solution offers SCADA, HMI and IoT Edge solutions for OEMs, System Integrators, and end users with a focus on interoperability, mobility, and portability that runs on Linux. The PI Edge technology collects real-time data from remote assets and IIoT devices for intelligence that spans the entire operation. 

What advice do you give to organizations who want to get involved in the LF Edge community?

Participate and contribute. Contributions come in many different shapes. Network with your peers, lead by example and let your voice be heard. At LF Edge, you will find a community ready to support and mentor you in your journey. Come join us!

About LF Edge:

LF Edge is an umbrella organization to establish an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system. With the support of 28 Premier members, 28 General members and 14 associate members, LF Edge hosts 11 projects including Akraino, EdgeX Foundry, Project EVE, Fledge and more. Advance the future of edge computing with LF Edge and become a paying member.

November 4, 2022
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