Open-Source EdgeX Foundry Seeks to Standardize Internet of Things

Fifty companies have joined up to unify Internet of Things edge-computing programming.

Security is the Internet of Things' (IoT) Achilles heel. One reason that's so is there is a lack of common IoT development standards. The Linux Foundation, along with 50 companies, is addressing this by building a common open-framework for IoT edge computing and an ecosystem of interoperable components under a new open-source consortium: The EdgeX Foundry. The new initiative has a common goal: The simplification and standardization of Industrial IoT edge computing, while still allowing room for vendors to add their own value-add features.

True, IoT is already booming as a business, but widespread fragmentation and the lack of a common IoT solution framework are hindering its broad adoption and stalling market growth. In addition, crooks are already breaking into IoT devices with cracking tools such as the Metasploit hacking kit. This complexity and IoT's wide variety of components is creating paralysis. EdgeX will attempt to solve this by making it easy to quickly create IoT edge solutions that have the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs.

The EdgeX Foundry will try to unify the marketplace around a common open framework and building an ecosystem of companies offering interoperable plug-and-play components. These will be designed to run on any hardware or operating system and with any combination of application environments. With flexibility, EdgeX will also help deliver interoperability between connected devices, applications, and services across a wide range of use cases. A certification program will ensure interoperability between community-developed programs...