Red Hat Device Edge Now Generally Available

Red Hat, Inc., the open-source solutions provider, announced the general availability of Red Hat Device Edge. Red Hat Device Edge provides a consistent platform designed for resource-constrained environments that require small form factor compute at the device edge, including Internet of Things (IoT) gateways, industrial controllers, smart displays, point of sales terminals, vending machines, robots and more.

As data at the edge is increasingly vulnerable with the rapid growth in the number of devices, Red Hat Device Edge is designed to provide a solid, reliable foundation to safeguard critical data while also helping to accelerate workloads at the furthest device edge.

Red Hat Device Edge aggregates an enterprise-ready and supported distribution of the Red Hat-led open-source community project MicroShift (a lightweight Kubernetes project derived from the edge capabilities of Red Hat OpenShift) along with an edge-optimized operating system built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux. With general availability, Red Hat Device Edge now also includes the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform for more consistent Day 1 and Day 2 management of hundreds to thousands of sites and devices. 

Additional key characteristics include:

• A minimal footprint that supports the deployment of workloads in small, resource-constrained devices in challenging environments by preserving system resources for workloads rather than using them for device operation itself

• One edge platform with two tailored deployment options based on specific edge needs. Red Hat Device Edge with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Podman is well-suited for very small deployments with static applications. Optionally, MicroShift can be added during or after deployment to bring Kubernetes for more dynamic environments that require advanced container orchestration and Kubernetes integration

• A more consistent operational experience at the edge using the same tools and processes used in centralized environments

• Greater workload flexibility with support for deploying and managing bare-metal, virtual or containerized applications

• Simplified deployment at scale with automation, meaning it's easier to oversee hundreds or thousands of devices across heterogeneous hardware and software environments

Red Hat is working with partners and customers including ABB, DSO National Laboratories, Dynatrace, Guise AI, Intel, Lockheed Martin and more to deploy, test and validate that Red Hat Device Edge can extend operational consistency across edge and hybrid cloud environments. 

Red Hat Device Edge Delivers Automation at the Far Edge

Effectively managing workloads at the edge increases the importance of consistent and reliable automation. General availability of Red Hat Device Edge adds the power of the Ansible Automation Platform to Red Hat Device Edge. Red Hat Device Edge now offers:

• More predictability and repeatability in automating edge workloads

• Standardized and repeatable connectivity configurations, policies and deployments to help maintain system health and integrity 

• Enhanced security and compliance posture at the edge with automated management and maintenance, including patches, updates and upgrades

• Lowered barriers to entry for IT and OT (operational technology) teams, with automation tooling making it possible to manage edge workloads and devices with little to no IT specialty skills

• The ability to configure and audit the devices and services needed like networking, Wi-Fi, DNS, SSL certificates and the applications running on the devices

Red Hat Device Edge is now generally available with full support.

Further information on ARC’s coverage of industrial IoT edge hardware and software is available here.