The advent of new use cases related to the Industrial Internet (IoT), 5G, and the Internet of Skills highlight the need for a complementary approach to large-scale, centralized cloud computing. The number of connected devices and real-time applications that will generate and require near-instantaneous analysis of massive amounts of data, present scalability and latency challenges for the current model. To cope with this change, experts from academia, telecom and industry are advocating massively geo-distributed federation (or cooperation) of smaller micro data centers (DCs) deployed at the edge of the network. Micro DCs are closer to end users and their related devices and applications, as well as closer to sensors and devices that produce data.
This new paradigm, referred to as fog/edge computing, mandates the development of a convenient and powerful software stack—a set of system mechanisms and software abstractions capable of operating and using a significant number of computational resources deployed at the edge in a unified, efficient and sustainable way.
Formed in April 2016, during the Austin Summit, the Fog/Edge/Massively Distributed Clouds working group investigates to what extent OpenStack is suited for fog/edge computing infrastructures today, with the ultimate goal of proposing revisions/extensions as appropriate.
This Birds of a Feather session aims at gathering people interested in fog/edge computing opportunities and potential participation in the working group. After a brief overview of the working group goals, the floor will be open for attendee discussion of use cases, which can drive the future direction of the group. The session will be concluded by presenting the OpenDev event, a new event in the planning stages slated for the September timeframe, and the role of fog/edge computing in it.
