The Linux Foundation has announced the launch of LF Edge, an umbrella organization that will work to establish an open, interoperable framework for edge computing independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system.
Arpit Joshipura, general manager, The Linux Foundation, said in a media statement that more than 60 global organizations were backing the initiative at launch.
"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 (internet of things) application development," he said in a media statement.
The market opportunity for LF Edge spans industrial, enterprise and consumer use cases in complex environments that cut across multiple edges and domains, Joshipura said.
LF Edge includes Akraino Edge Stack, EdgeX Foundry, and Open Glossary of Edge Computing, formerly stand-alone projects at The Linux Foundation.
It 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 foundation expects the rapidly growing number of edge devices to exceed 20 billion by 2020.
It said 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.
"LF Edge will create a comprehensive and coordinated set of foundational open source tools to enable developers to accelerate time to value in creating IoT and Edge computing solutions," said Jason Shepherd, former Governing Board chair of EdgeX Foundry, and IoT and Edge Computing chief technology officer at Dell Technologies."
"We look forward to continuing to foster IoT interoperability within the EdgeX community in addition to collaborating across LF Edge projects to develop de facto-standard APIs for intelligent interactions between the application and infrastructure planes within the broader edge ecosystem," he added.
