Industrial IoT, fog-networking groups merge to gain influence

Looking to hasten the adoption of all things edge computing, fog and Industrial Internet of Things, the OpenFog Consortium (OFC) and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) are combining forces.The IIC membership, which includes Cisco, Juniper and Microsoft looks to transform business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things, while the OFC addresses fog computing and the bandwidth, latency and communications challenges associated with IoT, 5G and AI applications. For example, earlier this year the OFC was the driving influence behind a move to amplify the use of fog computing. The IEEE defined a standard that laid the official groundwork to ensure that devices, sensors, monitors and services are interoperable and will work together to process the seemingly boundless data streams that will come from IoT, 5G and AI systems.The standard, known as IEEE 1934, was largely developed over the past two years by the OFC, which includes Arm, Cisco, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Princeton University.  IEEE 1934 defines fog computing as “a system-level horizontal architecture that distributes resources and services of computing, storage, control and networking anywhere along the cloud-to-things continuum."“By expanding our pool of resources and expert collaborators, we will continue to accelerate the adoption of not only fog, but a wealth of technologies that provide the underpinnings to IoT, AI and 5G,” wrote Matt Vasey, Chairman and President, OpenFog Consortium in a blog about the merger.“Machines, things, and devices are becoming increasingly intelligent, seamlessly connected, and capable of massive storage with the ability to be autonomous and self-aware. Robots, drones and self-driving cars are early indicators of small and mobile clouds. Distributed intelligence that interacts directly with the world and is immersive with all aspects of their surrounding is the concept behind fog.”