VMware Expands IoT Offering with Edge Computing Solution

At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, VMWare announced the next steps in their IoT strategy, focusing on developing new edge computing tools for specific use cases including asset management and surveillance. These new offerings will feature the company’s VMware vSAN hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) software, VMware vSphere and VMware Pulse IoT Center, and collaborations with Axis Communications and  Wipro Limited.

According to their announcement, possible use cases include:

• Industrial remote IoT use cases such as oil well optimization, utility grids, and smart city use cases where the things reside in ruggedized, disparate, outdoor and often times, remote locations with inconsistent network and power;
• Factory and plants in support of closed networks, ruggedized indoor environments; and,
• Branches and in-stores in support of unique space and power requirements and coordinated across many stores.

A new class of edge infrastructure is needed to handle the data generated by IoT devices, the company said, and it needs to be simple, scalable and cost-effective.

See also: Computing at the edge — risks and opportunities

“Building an edge computing solution today is a time-intensive exercise most enterprises can’t afford. Today, VMware unveils hyper-converged edge computing solutions that are cost-effective and will enable customers to build and scale secure, use case-specific IoT solutions that work for them from the edge all the way to the cloud, relying on proven, tested software they already use and trust. Together with ecosystem partners Axis, Wipro Limited and Dell EMC, we’re excited to deliver the first of many tailored solutions to meet the unique IoT needs of our enterprise customers,” said Ray O’Farrell, executive vice president & chief technology officer, VMware.

VMware will collaborate with Axis Communications for Smart Surveillance solutions and with Wipro Limited on IoT solutions for manufacturing and asset management.