The Industrial Internet Consortium and EdgeX Foundry have announced to work together to maximise interoperability, portability, security and privacy for the industrial internet.
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) is the world’s leading organisation transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things.
EdgeXFoundry is an open-source project building a common interoperability framework to facilitate an ecosystem for IoT edge computing.
In 2017 the world of IIoT continues to grow and spawn ecosystems, standards bodies, open platforms, communities, working groups, testbeds and more.
In great part, these networking environments grow because for businesses it is impossible to survive as a lone wolf in as complex and interdependent an industry as IoT and IIoT have become.
According to the July 2017 report from ‘IoT Analytics’, the number of IoT platforms on the market surged 25% between June 2016 and June 2017, with approximately 450 open for business.
The report shows that platforms for industrial and manufacturing are now the largest sector, accounting nearly one third, followed by smart city (21%) and smart home verticals (21%). Previously smart home was the leading vertical.
IoT platforms facilitate security, monitoring, control, maintenance, and connectivity associated with IoT devices, with data, big data and analytics as outputs, providing the connective tissue between devices and applications.
The liaison between the platforms aims to blend up physical connectivity and digital computing.
Joint activities between the IIC and the EdgeX Foundry will include:
- Identifying and sharing best practices
- Collaborating on test beds and experimental projects
- Working toward interoperability by harmonizing architecture and other elements
- Collaborating on common elements
- Periodically hosting joint seminars
James Clardy, IIC liaison to EdgeX Foundry, said: “We are excited about working with EdgeX Foundry. And we look forward to leveraging the experiences of the IIC to help further accelerate the adoption of the industrial Internet.”
Philip DesAutels, senior director of IoT for The Linux Foundation, said: “EdgeX Foundry’s primary goal is to simplify and accelerate Industrial IoT by delivering a unified edge computing platform supported by an ecosystem of solutions providers.
“Formalising this liaison relationship with the IIC is fundamental to unlocking business value at scale. Together, we will provide better best practices that will drive the unification of the industrial IoT.”
The IIC Liaison Working Group is the gateway for formal relationships with standards and open-source organizations, consortia, alliances, certification and testing bodies and government entities/agencies.
The agreement with the EdgeX Foundry is one of a number of agreements made by the IIC Liaison Working Group.