Edge computing brings computation and data storage closer to where data is created by people, places, and things. Open Horizon simplifies the job of getting the right applications and machine learning onto the right compute devices and keeps those applications running and updated. It enables hands-free management of thousands of edge devices simultaneously using the all-in-one installation – that’s more endpoints than traditional solutions.

Open Horizon is a platform for managing the service software lifecycle of containerized workloads and related machine learning assets. It enables autonomous management of applications deployed to distributed webscale fleets of edge computing nodes and devices without requiring on-premise administrators.  If a managed Kubernetes cluster is analogous to a self-driving car (with a human safety driver behind the wheel supervising), then Open Horizon is analogous to a human managing a fleet of self-driving cars without safety drivers.

With Open Horizon, you have the ability to:

• Add new capabilities to a programmable device by running containers and ML
• Enable your device to use other services (both nearby and cloud-based) to enhance its existing capabilities simply by adding them as dependencies
• Automate the hands-free management of workload lifecycle on the device with embedded FDO support and remote service and deployment publishing
• Automatically deploy applications to all devices where policies match and an agreement is negotiated through policy-based intents

Once Open Horizon is installed and configured, you can manage the work it performs without needing physical access to the devices. For example, you could take a Raspberry Pi Zero W device – the size of a pack of gum – and have it function as an offline home assistant one day, and then re-task it to monitor household power usage the next. Or, you could have a smart camera that is pointed at a street count the number of people walking by one day, and deploy new code and models to have it identify the make and model of vehicles passing by the next.

Whether thinking about component solutions that could be assembled for a complete Cloud-to-Edge workload management implementation, or projects that would work together to solve a specific use case, Open Horizon is designed to work together with other solutions in an open, standardized approach.

Formerly known as “Blue Horizon,” Open Horizon is contributed to LF Edge by IBM. Open Horizon joined LF Edge in April 2020 and is currently a Stage 2 “Growth” project.

Cross-LF Edge Collaboration

Open Horizon is working with several other LF Edge projects including EdgeX Foundry, Akraino, Home Edge, Fledge and Project EVE.