Fog Computing Grows Up: FogWorld Congress Highlights Maturing Distributed Cloud Technology

Less than two years after helping to form the OpenFog Consortium, I couldn’t be happier about reaching an important milestone for Fog Computing—the inaugural industry conference dedicated to Fog technologies, Fog World Congress, coming up next week in Santa Clara, California. The OpenFog Consortium and IEEE Communications Society have been working jointly on the first-ever industry conference dedicated to exploring the technologies and opportunities of Fog Computing and Networking. The conference features:

75+ speakers

55 sessions

4 tracks

“Fog Tank,” where four venture capitalists will take on five startups to find the most game-changing company

As a Diamond Sponsor, Cisco will be there in force, showcasing our Fog strategy and solutions through multiple speakers, panels, and demos.

Cisco will be represented by several keynote speakers: Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Hilton Romanski will discuss the important strategic connection between Fog and the Internet of Things (IoT). Distinguished Engineer and OpenFog founder Tao Zhang will open the program with a keynote on “Fogonomics: The Coming Era of Fog Computing.” As a Board member of both the OpenFog Consortium and the IEEE Communications Society, Tao has been deeply involved in developing the foundations of Fog Computing and Networking. In my capacity as Chair of the OpenFog Consortium, I will open the second day, along with Robert Fish, VP of Industries and Standards for the IEEE Communication Society, talking about our path forward for developing Fog standards.

Other Cisco speakers will include Marcelo Yannuzzi and Chuck Byers, presenting Technology Track sessions. Our panel speakers include Vice President of Strategic Innovations Maciej Kranz, discussing why IoT needs Fog, and Frank Michaud on Fog security issues.

The Cisco booth will be a hub of activity, including demonstrations of several Fog-oriented solutions:

IoT Fog applications leveraging secure connectivity with Cisco IoS software, and powerful services for rapid, reliable integration with IoT sensors and the cloud

Kinetic innovation, showcasing connected refinery use cases for gas detection, valve alignment and equipment health monitoring

Network device registration using blockchain technology to authenticate hardware and software, provide proof of secure practices, and provide visibility of what is deployed on the network

Interactive map of Cisco’s nine Innovation Centers, showing their global footprint and video examples of innovation activities at each center

In my capacity as a Fog strategist at Cisco and as chair of the Open Fog Consortium, I am extremely proud of the work that this conference represents. This flagship event highlights the maturing world of Fog technologies and the work we have done to accelerate the development and adoption of Fog frameworks and architectures.

I hope to see you there!