Just when more and more equipment needs to be IoT-enabled and manageable from the cloud, OEM device manufacturers are challenged with scalability and portability amidst a fragmented market from chip vendors to silicon all the way to the cloud vendors. And even after choosing two or three cloud vendors and their respective SDKs design to enable the device for the cloud, the OEM must often work around the capability gap between the SDKs and the OEM’s custom IoT implementations — and all of this in an atmosphere of heightened security and costs concerns.
Enter MEIF from Mentor, a Siemens Business.
“With 0ur new Mentor Embedded IoT Framework (MEIF), we pick up where the cloud SDKs leave off,” says Scot Morrison, general manager, platforms business unit, Mentor Embedded Systems Division. “We are addressing the costly gaps faced by industrial IoT device manufacturers by offering well-defined interfaces engineered to complement existing cloud vendor embedded device SDK APIs.”
MEIF streamlines the integration of Industrie 4.0 networks by pre-integration cloud service backends, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Eclipse IoT, Microsoft Azure, and Siemens MindSphere. MEIF is OS-agnostic, supports any processor architecture, including Arm and x86, and scales from resource-constrained end-nodes up to IoT gateways and edge/fog devices powered by the highest-performing multicore processors. Through this framework approach, MEIF provides a complete solution that reduces the cost and risk faced by IoT device manufacturers related to device porting, scaling, code re-use, and backend integration.
MEIF supports a breadth of services that enable backend communications and applications, including: device authentication and provisioning; configuration and control; monitoring and diagnostics; and software updates and maintenance. The framework also features advanced capabilities that help manufacturers manage the reliability, uptime, and overall quality of Industrie 4.0 smart devices, including OS health monitoring and diagnostics, available memory and CPU utilization reporting, system profiling and support for alarms and events. MEIF is designed to be extensible, allowing manufacturers to integrate and enable their own diagnostics, as well. Remote profiling of connected devices is achieved using familiar Mentor Embedded tools.
MEIF incorporates the Mentor Embedded runtime platforms, which support security from device power-on with a hardware-based root of trust and a complete software chain of trust. MEIF extends this security to the cloud, enabling secure device onboarding and bulk data upload, secure device software updates and device management. Additionally, the framework includes a GUI-based utility to sign, encrypt, and package artifacts which are then delivered to the devices where they can be securely validated and authenticated before being applied to the embedded device.
The MEIF base version for the Mentor Embedded Nucleus RTOS or Mentor Embedded Linux for a project-based perpetual license with annual maintenance is offered at $90K (USD). Other configurations are available, including a custom secure boot loaders and integration services. MEIF will be featured at Embedded World 2018 in Nuremberg, Germany (Feb. 27 – March 1) in Hall 4, Booth #4-643. For additional product information, contact a Mentor sales representative, or visit: https://www.mentor.com/embedded- software/iot-framework
