Open Networking & Edge Executive Forum 2021

### Overview The Open Networking & Edge Executive Forum (ONEEF / ONIF) 2021 opened with remarks from host Arpit Joshipura (Head of Networking, Edge, and IoT at the Linux Foundation), outlining the state of open-source collaboration across telecommunications, cloud, and edge verticals. The forum brought together executives across multiple sessions covering open-source industrial IoT, communication service provider (CSP) digital transformation, and multicloud enterprise networking architecture.

### Key Topics - **Linux Foundation Ecosystem and 2021 Priorities**: Overview of end-to-end open stacks from RAN to core and edge, including projects such as Magma (open mobile core), Anuket (the combination of CNTT and OPNFV), and LF Edge blueprints like Akraino and EdgeX Foundry. Focus areas for 2021 include complete solution stacks, accelerating backend interoperability/compliance, and supporting vertical market adoption (e.g., DARPA/DoD initiatives, ATSC 3.0 broadcast, and industrial edge). - **Industrial Edge Computing with Project Fledge**: Tom Arthur (Dionomic) and Chris Bainter (FLIR Systems) discussed solving the fragmentation of industrial IoT. Fledge—originally started by Dionomic, OSIsoft, and Google, and hosted under LF Edge—addresses proprietary protocols, on-premise SCADA/historian integration, and edge-native data processing. - **CSP Transformation & Multicloud Strategy**: George Nazi and Amul Fat (Google Cloud) outlined CSP headwinds (stagnating top-line revenue, high 5G CapEx, surging traffic) and Google Cloud’s hybrid/multicloud solutions centered around Anthos, Kubernetes, and open partner ecosystems. - **Enterprise Cloud Networking & Distributed Edge**: Said Ouissal (Zededa) and Steve Mullaney (Aviatrix) explored the architectural shift of enterprise centers of gravity from on-premises to the cloud, discussing LF Edge’s Project EVE and the need for operational visibility, day-2 troubleshooting, and security controls across distributed edge footprints.

### Technical Details - **Edge Taxonomy & Frameworks**: State of the Edge defines two primary edges: the user edge (constrained device, smart device, on-premises) and the service provider edge (base stations, smart central offices). - **Project Fledge Architecture**: Designed to interface south with industrial operational technology (OT) protocols (e.g., BACnet, DNP3, Modbus, CAN bus, IEC 104 via LF Energy's Fledge Power, J1939) and north via secure REST/HTTPS, Kafka, or cloud platforms. Performs local signal processing (RMS, FFT, filtering) and contextual data aggregation across PLCs, FLIR thermal/vibration sensors, and computer vision (TensorFlow Lite, Google Coral TPUs, NVIDIA Xavier) to reduce cloud bandwidth consumption. - **Security & Cloud Native at the Edge**: Edge stacks leverage underlying Linux mechanisms, mutual TLS/HTTPS, and protocol-specific credentials (such as Kerberos for OSIsoft PI servers). Project EVE serves as an edge operating system providing modular container and virtualization support for deploying cloud-native workloads alongside legacy SCADA systems. - **Multicloud Network Control**: Aviatrix addresses the discrepancy between standard cloud provider network tooling and enterprise governance, supplying transit visibility, automation via Terraform, and day-2 troubleshooting across heterogeneous VPCs.

### Takeaways - Open source has evolved from isolated infrastructure components into full-stack blueprints that drastically compress integration and testing timeframes (e.g., from six months to six weeks). - Edge deployments require local data reduction and filtering, as high-frequency sensors and video feeds cannot realistically be streamed raw to centralized clouds. - While cloud provides speed and DevOps agility, enterprises running distributed workloads demand consistent security, visibility, and operational control from the core to extreme edge endpoints.