The Industrial Internet Consortium and OpenFog join hands to focus on IIoT, AI, Fog and Edge computing

OpenFog to work under The Industrial Internet Consortium


The OpenFog Consortium (OpenFog) and The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) are the worlds largest industrial consortium in the present age when it comes to Industrial IoT, edge computing and fog.

Founded in November 2015, the OpenFog Consortium aimed to advance fog computing and address bandwidth, latency and communications challenges associated with the Internet of Things, 5G and Artificial Intelligence enabled applications.

The Industrial Internet Consortium is the world’s leading membership program transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things.  GlobalPlatform is a non-profit industry association. GlobalPlatform’s specifications are highly regarded as the international standard for enabling secure digital services and devices.

In December 2018, Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the OpenFog Consortium (OpenFog) agreed to combine their forces of in a new international consortium in Industrial IoT, fog and edge computing. This development brought OpenFog members into the IIC organization.

In a recent turn of events, they have finally agreed to work together to accelerate the development and growth of industries for edge computing. This means that the IIC, with the incorporation of OpenFog, is the world's largest consortium responsible for transforming businesses and society via the promotion of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). It should also be noted that the IIC is a program run by the Object Management Group (OMG).

IIC's Steering Committee, responsible for guiding the strategic direction of the organization, has embraced two OpenFog principals:

First one is Ron Zahavi, who is the Chief Strategist for IoT Standards, Azure IoT, Microsoft is focused on IoT standards and consortia and leads Microsoft’s Worldwide IoT Architecture Community. He is known to have tremendous experience in technology management and solution delivery. Matt Vasey, Microsoft director, AI, and IoT business development, will serve as an alternative to Mr. Zahavi.

The second one is Mung Chiang, who is the author of the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor at Princeton University is the founder of the Princeton EDGE Lab. The Lab bridges the theory-practice gap in edge computing/networking research by spanning from proofs to prototypes. Dr. Chiang received the 2013 Alan T. Waterman Award for his contributions to networking R&D.

Executive Opinion

CEO of Real-Time Innovations (RTI) and Vice Chair of the IIC Steering Committee, Stan Schneider, said, “This agreement brings together the two most important organizations shaping the Industrial Internet of Things. The combined organization offers greater influence to members, more clarity to the market, and a lower-risk path to the future for end users. We will be the center of gravity for the future of Industrial IoT systems across industry verticals. We welcome the experience and vision that Ron Zahavi and Mung Chiang bring to our Steering Committee.”

OpenFog chairman and president, and director, AI and IoT business development, Microsoft,  Matt Vasey, said, “We are excited to take the first steps toward integrating the OpenFog Working Groups, Testbeds and Use Cases with those of the IIC. Our membership is highly motivated to contribute at every level to continue the advancement of fog technology in the Industrial Internet.”

Senior Director, Huawei Technologies, IIC Steering Committee Secretary, Wael William Diab,  said,
“Building out the IIoT ecosystem is essential to ensuring quick market adoption. A significant amount of data is processed at the edge in a majority of IoT solutions being deployed. Joining our memberships as well as our technical edge and fog expertise is a force multiplier for the guidance that we are creating for the IoT industry.”

What's Next

The first meeting after the unification of the IIC and OpenFog organizations will take place in Raleigh, N.C. between February 11 to February 14.

Both organizations will function under the IIC umbrella with the purpose to drive the momentum of the industrial internet (IIoT), including the development and promotion of industry guidance and best practices for fog and edge computing, the announcement said.


PC: Pablo, Unsplash


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Anurag Chawake Opinions expressed by techsutram contributors are their own. More details

I am an Engineering Student with a keen interest in Blockchain, Cloud Computing, AI, ML and related startups. I am currently working with Techsutram as a Writer/Intern.

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