The combined organization will focus on industrial, internet including the promotion of best practices for fog and edge computing
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the OpenFog Consortium have concluded the details to combine the two consortia.
Effective immediately, the organizations will work together under the IIC umbrella to focus on the development of the industrial internet, including the development and promotion of industry guidance and best practices for fog and edge computing.
The first formal meeting of the unified organization will be held in Raleigh, N.C., from February 11-14.
“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,” said Stan Schneider, CEO of Real-Time Innovations (RTI) and Vice Chair of the IIC Steering Committee.
“We are excited to take the first steps toward integrating the OpenFog working groups, testbeds and use cases with those of the IIC,” said Matt Vasey, OpenFog chairman and president, and director, AI and IoT business development, Microsoft. “Our membership is highly motivated to contribute at every level to continue the advancement of fog technology in the Industrial Internet.”
The IIC, now incorporating OpenFog, also announced that the IIC Steering Committee, which guides the strategic direction of the organization, has elected two OpenFog principals: Ron Zahavi, Chief Strategist for IoT Standards, Azure IoT, Microsoft, and Mung Chiang, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, Purdue University.
“We are looking forward to our continued work at the IIC strengthened with the addition of OpenFog. The combined organization will cover the edge to cloud continuum and leverage the international diversity of its members, regional committees and testbeds,” Ron Zahavi 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.” Wael William Diab, senior director, Huawei Technologies, IIC Steering Committee Secretary, said.
