The grass is always greener at the edge of the network, according to Amazon. Greengrass is an Amazon Web Services platform that allows customers to run code at the network edge in the same way they do on the AWS cloud. This week Amazon said it will make Greengrass available to all AWS customers.
Greengrass enables users to run AWS Lambda, a compute service that lets customers run code without provisioning or managing servers. Lambda is “event-driven,” meaning that it executes code only when it needs to, and customers do not pay when they are not using the service.By enabling compute, messaging, data caching, and sync capabilities on connected devices, Greengrass and Lambda are meant to give developers a simpler way to add intelligence to internet of things devices.
Amazon said more than a dozen companies are are integrating AWS Greengrass into their platforms so devices will come with AWS Greengrass built-in. These partners include Qualcomm Technologies, Intel, Raspberry Pi, Samsung, Lenovo, Annapurna, BSquare, Canonical, Digi International, Mongoose, Technicolor and Wistron.
“Support for AWS Greengrass in Qualcomm Technologies’ platforms will help enhance the performance and cost effectiveness of many IoT applications by bringing the power of AWS to the edge,” said Jeffery Torrance, VP of business development at Qualcomm Technologies. “We are pleased to work with AWS and our manufacturer customers to support a new category of smart connected edge devices for critical IoT use cases such as industrial, commercial and medical.”
Embedding more functionality into IoT devices will enable more processing, data storage and analytics at the edge of the network. Connected devices that need to respond to data in near real-time will benefit from edge computing capabilities because data does not have to make a round trip to the cloud and back before action can be taken.
Embedded software is a strategic asset for cloud service providers like Amazon. They know enterprises are less likely to switch providers if their on-premise devices are running software that is tightly integrated with AWS. This could be especially true for IoT devices, because updating the software on these devices can be difficult.
“Programming and updating software functionality on IoT devices is challenging and complex,” Amazon Web Services said in a press release. “Relatively few developers have the expertise to update these embedded systems, and even fewer can do so without creating unwanted downtime. AWS Greengrass eliminates the complexity involved in programming and updating IoT devices by allowing customers to use AWS Lambda to run code locally on connected devices in the same way they do on the AWS Cloud.”
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