When you hear about the internet of things and embedded devices, many think of it as something that is still on the horizon as the next big technology. But the truth is a little more complex than a broad and sweeping all or nothing view. Embedded devices have been with us for quite some already. What we can foresee (to no one’s surprise) is that embedded Linux devices and the internet of things is going to get a lot more varied and complex. What service providers, operators and developers need to ask themselves is how do we manage the billions of devices out there today and into the future of IoT?
But isn’t it all just Linux?
On the surface many may assume that the techniques of the cloud transition nicely over to embedded computing. After all, it’s Linux too. Right? Well maybe. But the truth is a little more complex than just an OS.
Cloud computing software development evolved on a separate trajectory and diverged almost 180 degrees from today’s embedded engineering practices. The cloud embraces DevOps and automated CICD pipelines and works with an almost invisible infrastructure that abstracts the underlying OS and its resources. Embedded engineering has yet to incorporate many of these new strategies and philosophies that enable cloud engineers to ignore infrastructure and instead deploy rapidly.
In this whitepaper, we explore why embedded engineering has changed little over the years. We show how embedded systems are built and why updating and securing them can be challenging and describe how Pantacor enables teams to implement containers that turn embedded Linux systems into a modular easily updated system.
Although there are other solutions out in the marketplace that implement regular Docker engines on embedded systems, we show you why they are not the best solution for today’s IoT devices. Finally, we describe how automated software delivery strategies like continuous delivery used by cloud engineers can be adapted to and used by embedded engineering teams to build innovative new products.
Software and firmware lifecycle management
Download the whitepaper to explore the following topics:
- Benefits of DevOps and modern software lifecycle automation
- Challenges developing on embedded Linux devices
- How containers improve embedded engineering
- Building containerized embedded Linux systems with Pantavisor
Questions or Comments?
Pantavisor leverages containers to build modular containerized embedded Linux systems that are fully customizable and easily managed using DevOps and standard open source technologies. The portability of containers simplifies the lifecycle management of embedded Linux firmware and applications across IoT fleets. Virtualization at both the system and the userland levels allow for embedded engineering teams to adopt agile strategies and architecture such as microservices and other modern automation strategies to update and secure device fleets, and increase time to market and innovation.
Reach out to us with any questions or concerns on our Community Forum. We’d love to hear from you.