Industrial Internet Consortium and OpenFog Consortium merge

The Industrial Internet Consortium and OpenFog Consortium have united their organizations.

The IIC, now incorporating OpenFog, is the single-largest organization focused on industrial internet of things, artificial intelligence, fog and edge computing.

The IIC and OpenFog are said to be the two largest and most influential international consortia in Industrial IoT, fog and edge computing. 

Effective immediately, the organizations will work together under the IIC umbrella to drive the momentum of the industrial internet, including the development and promotion of industry guidance and best practices for fog and edge computing.

The announcement brings OpenFog members into the IIC at a time when their complementary areas of technology are emerging in the mainstream.

The first formal meeting of the unified organization will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, from February 11-14.

The IIC, now incorporating OpenFog, also announced that the IIC Steering Committee, which guides the strategic direction of the organization, has elected two OpenFog principals:

Ron Zahavi, chief strategist for IoT Standards, Azure IoT, Microsoft. Zahavi is focused on IoT standards and consortia and also leads Microsoft’s Worldwide IoT Architecture Community.

Mung Chiang, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, Purdue University. Dr. Chiang was previously the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor at Princeton University and founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009.

Stan Schneider, CEO of Real-Time Innovations and vice chair of the IIC steering committee, says: “This agreement brings together the two most important organizations shaping the Industrial Internet of Things.

“The combined organization offers greater influence to members, more clarity to the market, and a lower-risk path to the future for end users. We will be the center of gravity for the future of Industrial IoT systems across industry verticals.

“We welcome the experience and vision that Ron Zahavi and Mung Chiang bring to our Steering Committee.”

Matt Vasey, OpenFog chairman and president, and director, AI and IoT business development, Microsoft, says: “We are excited to take the first steps toward integrating the OpenFog Working Groups, Testbeds and Use Cases with those of the IIC.

“Our membership is highly motivated to contribute at every level to continue the advancement of fog technology in the Industrial Internet.”