Red Hat releases tool to manage edge devices at scale… and to drive cars

Another problem for enterprises deploying edge devices is that there’s usually a lack of IT expertise in these locations, Chow says.

The Red Hat Edge Manager will address that skills gap with a user-friendly, simplified management environment, the company announced. The tool also supports onboarding, updates and decommissioning and is optimized for container-centric workflows on Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes.

But while the Edge Manager might have wide application for many enterprises, it’s Red Hat’s release of a Linux operating system for cars that is getting attention.

The Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System, scheduled for full release in the third quarter of this year, has achieved a significant certification as a Safety Element out-of-Context under the ISO 26262 Edition 2, 2018- Level ASIL-B standard. This means that companies won’t have to obtain a costly and time-consuming re-certification each time the software changes.

This is a major breakthrough.

The in-vehicle operating system launch is the most significant piece of edge computing news from Red Hat this week, says IDC analyst Jim Mercer. “It is being touted as the first Linux product for functional safety in automotive applications,” he says.