LF Edge talks new project, members, while LF Networking launches PaaS for 5G

On the project side, LF Edge introduced Open Horizon, an open-source delivery platform led by IBM that oversees the service software lifecycle of containerized workloads and machine learning assets. Open Horizon allows the management of applications installed on distributed “fleets” of edge computing nodes and devices to be automated. Open Horizon can manage over 10,000 edge devices at the same time, according to IBM.

LF Edge also announced the entry of new community members with expertise in telco, enterprise, and cloud edge infrastructure. The seven new partners are CloudBrink, Federated Wireless, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Kaloom, Ori Industries, Tensor Networks, and VoerEir.

“We are thrilled to welcome Open Horizon and new members to the LF Edge ecosystem,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Edge & IoT, the Linux Foundation, in a prepared statement. “These additions complement our deployment-ready LF Edge open source projects and our growing global ecosystem.”

“LF Edge is bringing together some of the most significant open source efforts in the industry,” said Todd Moore, IBM VP Open Technology, in a prepared statement. “We are excited to contribute the Open Horizon project as this will expand the work with the other projects and companies to create shared approaches, open standards, and common interfaces and APIs.”

Launched last year, LF Edge has built a comprehensive project portfolio which includes:

• Akraino Edge Stack,
• Baetyl,
• EdgeX Foundry,
• Fledge,
• Home Edge,
• Project EVE and
• State of the Edge

Among the milestones, LF said there are 4.3 million docker downloads for EdgeX Foundry, 14 blueprints for Akraino Edge Stack (Release 2) ready for deployment in multiple industries, the merger of State of the Edge with LF Edge, and a race car optimization use case that used edge software from Fledge, Google Cloud, machine learning, simulators, and digital twins.

“LF Edge has become a critical point of collaboration for network and enterprise edge innovators in this new cloud-driven IT landscape,” said Kurt Schaubach, CTO, Federated Wireless, in a prepared statement. “We joined the LF Edge to apply our connectivity and spectrum expertise to helping define the State of the Edge, and are energized by the opportunity to contribute to the establishment of next-generation edge compute for the myriad of low latency applications that will soon be part of private 5G networks.”

According to the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the organization has recently focused interest in smart living, quality health, and a sustainable environment through 5G, AI, and edge computing. With over 75 member companies, ITRI will work on projects like Akraino Edge Stack.

Kaloom, Ori Industries, Tensor Networks and VoerEIr are excited to collaborate on developing edge solutions and to accelerate the adoption of open source projects and standards.

LF Networking open source platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for 5G network functions

LF Networking has released XGVela, an open source platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for 5G applications and telco network functions.

The project was developed in partnership with China Mobile, yet China Unicom, China Telecom, ZTE, Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, and Red Hat were also interested in supporting the project. XGVela is built on code that tailors PaaS functions for telecommunications.

In a joint effort with the Common NFVI Telco Taskforce (CNTT) and the OPNFV Verification Program, the project is also looking into roadblocks faced by mobile carriers and cloud native architecture implementations.

“NFV continues to evolve as telcos increasingly adopt cloud native technologies,” said, Heather Kirksey, VP of community and ecosystem development at the Linux Foundation, in a prepared statement. “Change, however, brings challenges, especially to areas like compliance, testing, automation, and integration.”

“Open source communities provide de-facto standards, open interfaces, and automation tools, which are crucial for NFV adoption,” said Xiaodong Duan, director of networks and IT at the China Mobile Research Institute, in a prepared statement.

Launched last year, CNTT’s third release was announced for June. An open-source compliance and verification program, CNT has focused on updating virtual machine capabilities for containers. CNTT architectures will be supported by the OPNFV Verification Program through automated testing. A sub-committee will specifically address cloud native network functions (CNF) for network operators.

The new projects and momentum behind LF Edge and LF Networking are important in and of themselves, but the coordination of both Edge and Networking organizations has broader significance.

“Because of 5G, because of network automation, and because of edge computing, the various classic mindset we had [was] ‘Oh, this is Telecom. And this is this is enterprise and this is cloud’ and things like that. You’re starting to see the lines blur [between markets], and the biggest benefits are coming from the open source community,” said Joshipura on a webinar providing updates for community members.

Article Topics

China Mobile  |  Cloudbrink  |  container management  |  device management  |  Federated Wireless  |  IBM  |  industry standards  |  LF Edge  |  open source