LF Edge Continues Rapid Growth as New Projects, Members Collaborate at Open Source Edge

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, announced continued project momentum with the addition of two new projects and four new members during the Open Networking Summit Europe in Antwerp, Belgium, September 23 – 25, 2019 .

LF Edge Continues Rapid Growth

Baetyl, an existing project contributed by Baidu and previously known as “OpenEdge,” extends cloud computing, data and services seamlessly to edge devices. Fledge, an existing project contributed by Dianomic and previously known as “Fog Lamp,”  is an open source framework and community for the industrial edge focused on critical operations. Baetyl and Fledge join the organization’s founding projects: Akraino Edge Stack, EdgeX Foundry, Home Edge, Open Glossary of Edge Computing, and Project EVE. Concurrently,  IOTA Foundation, SAIC Foundation (TESRA), Thunder Software, and Zenlayer join as General members.

“It’s incredible to witness such strong industry support for collaborative innovation to create an open source framework at the edge,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Automation, Edge & IoT, the Linux Foundation. “In just nine months, LF Edge has seen tremendous growth across the board. We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome our newest members and projects.  Added expertise in industrial edge, manufacturing, energy, and more brings the community and ecosystem closer to a more comprehensive edge stack, delivering shared innovation across technology sectors at the edge.”

Launched in January of this year, LF Edge’s seven projects support emerging edge applications across areas such as non-traditional video and connected things that require lower latency, and faster processing and mobility. By forming a software stack that brings the best of cloud, enterprise, and telecom, LF Edge helps to unify a fragmented edge market around a common, open vision for the future of the industry.

About the Newest Projects

Previously known as “OpenEdge” and initiated by Baidu, Baetyl is China’s first open source edge computing platform and is now part of the LF Edge umbrella of projects. It seamlessly extends cloud computing, data and services to edge devices, enabling developers to build light, secure and scalable edge applications. The result is stronger processing power delivered to edge devices like smart home appliances, wearables and other IoT devices.  Baetyl joins LF Edge as a Stage 1 project.

“In the era of 5G and IoT, edge computing will have tremendous opportunities to play a role in all fields and industries,” said Watson Yin, Vice President of Baidu and the General Manager of the Intelligent Cloud business group. “As a founding member of LF Edge, Baidu Intelligent Cloud decided to donate Baetyl, the intelligent edge computing framework, to the community, hoping to reciprocate the open-source community while continuously contributing cutting-edge technologies to the global technology ecosystem.  The leading edge-computing technology and framework will further accelerate the implementation of cloud + AI in a wider range of industries with a bigger scale and lead the global AI industry into a new chapter of industrialized production.”

Fledge is an open source framework and community for the industrial edge focused on critical operations, predictive maintenance, situational awareness and safety. Contributed by Dianomic and formerly known as “FogLAMP,” Fledge is architected to integrate IIoT, sensors and modern machines all sharing a common set of administration and application APIs with industrial “brown field” systems and the cloud. Fledge developers build smarter, better, cheaper industrial manufacturing solutions  to accelerate Industrial 4.0 adoption. Fledge joins as a Stage 1 project.

Fledge works closely with both Project EVE and Akraino. Project EVE provides system and orchestration services and a container runtime for Fledge applications and services. Fledge’s verticals (manufacturing, energy, etc.) are starting to roll out 5G and private LTE networks; using Akraino blueprints, Fledge applications and services can be consistently managed as they utilize 5G and private LTE networks.

“The LF Edge’s efforts for an open, interoperable framework for the edge is especially needed for the industrial factory, plant and mine where most every brown field system, piece of equipment or sensor uses its own proprietary protocols and data definitions,”  said Tom Arthur, CEO and co-founder of Dianomic Systems. “Fledge was architected and built with the help of suppliers and operators in energy, oil and gas, manufacturing, mining, food processing and pharmaceutical industries.  Being designed specifically for the industrial edge, Fledge is the ideal LF Edge framework for industrial operators, system integrators and equipment providers to embed, deploy, contribute and build a thriving industrial open source community.”

“OSIsoft has been building software to break down the silos in industrial systems but with IoT these silos are multiplying to smart equipment, new sensors, and many other sources of data. We have supported the construction of Fledge by Dianomic Systems.  Fledge is an open source tool that presents these data to the outside world and look forward to vastly increasing the scope of data that we can all ‘see.’ This is integral to the fields of automation, energy conservation, safety and health,” said Pat Kennedy, Founder and CEO OSIsoft.

Quotes from New Members

“Edge computing plays a vital role with the process of unprecedented connected world leading by 5G networks,” said Pengcheng Zou, CTO of ThunderSoft. “ThunderSoft is a world leading OS technology provider. With EdgeX Foundry, which is the world‘s leading open interoperability platform for global IoT Edge ecosystem, we are able to provide developers with efficient, stable and easy-to-use EdgeOS software and hardware reference designs, as well as end-to-end commercial solutions. We are delighted to work with Linux Foundation and LF Edge to empower innovation and application across varies industries.”

“At Zenlayer, we truly believe that when we work together is when we do our best work. That’s why I’m so enthusiastic about LF Edge’s dedication to creating open-source standards for edge computing and networking. By having the global community collaborate, we will create a better-connected world.”

LF Edge is onsite at the Open Networking Summit (ONS) Europe in Antwerp, Belgium this week, which features an Edge track. Project activity includes an exhibition booth featuring LF Edge project demonstrations and 14 technical sessions within the main conference track. More details are available here: https://www.lfedge.org/event/open-networking-summit-ons-europe/

More details on Baetly and Fledge — as well as LF Edge as a whole — are available here: www.lfedge.org.

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