Fog lifts as standards bodies agree on fog compute interoperability

ETSI and OpenFog agree not to disagree, or overlap

Telcos looking at “fog computing” will have fewer standards to contemplate if a cooperation between the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the OpenFog Consortium delivers on its promise.

The two groups have decided to create interoperable fog standards for endpoints and the networks that connect them.

“Fog computing” (a term first popularised by Cisco) moves functions like compute, storage, comms and controls as close to the network edge as possible, to minimise latency. It aims to make functions portable not just between locations, but across different networks so users aren't constrained by the carrier providing their connections.

Along the way, the agreement between the groups would let them work without duplicating each other's efforts. OpenFog will work with ETSI's Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) Industry Specification Group (ISG), with the two groups sharing current work in progress.

The MEC, which has already worked on collaboration between edge applications across operator networks, will apply the OpenFog Reference Architecture to provide a physical and logical hierarchy of nodes between the cloud and the edge, which the two groups say will support cross-operator interoperability.

The joint effort will start with API work to support edge interop, with a focus on adopting and re-using APIs developed by the MEC and OpenFog.

ETSI's announcement said that under a memorandum of understanding between it and OpenFog “it will be easier for developers to create common architectures, unify management strategies, and write a single application software modules that run on both OpenFog and MEC architectures.” ®