The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the OpenFog Consortium (OpenFog) have agreed in principle to combine the two largest international consortia in industrial IoT, fog and edge computing. The move will bring OpenFog members into the IIC organization at a time when their complementary areas of technology are emerging in the mainstream.
The combined memberships will continue to drive the momentum of the industrial internet, including the development and promotion of industry guidance and best practices for fog and edge computing. The organizations expect details to be finalized in early 2019.
“This is great news for the industry. Both organizations have been advancing the IIoT, fog and edge computing, and their members represent the best and the brightest in their fields," said Christian Renaud, research vice president, Internet of Things, 451 Research. "It makes sense to merge their expertise and work streams to continue providing the IIoT, fog and edge guidance that the industry needs.”
“The Industrial Internet Consortium, now incorporating OpenFog, will be the single largest organization focused on IIoT, AI, fog and edge computing in the world," added IIC President Bill Hoffman. "Between both of our organizations we have a remarkable global presence with members in more than 30 countries. This agreement will help accelerate the adoption of the IIoT, fog and edge computing.”
“We’re excited by the growth and advancement of fog technologies—from a technology, standards and general awareness standpoint—since our launch nearly three years ago,” said Matt Vasey, OpenFog chairman and president, and director, AI and IoT business development at Microsoft. “During that time, it has increasingly become apparent that we share so much synergy with the efforts of the IIC that it just made sense to bring the two consortia together. The resulting combination of memberships, resources and shared knowledge will only further the growth of the technologies, including fog, that will support IIoT ecosystems.”
