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Chicago, IL: Edge computing is a big deal. So, is the Internet of Things (IoT). They also work well together. So, Red Hat, in its newest enterprise offering, Red Hat Device Edge, announced at KubeCon North America, combines its open-source offerings to create a fresh approach to how organizations deploy and manage workloads in remote and resource-constrained environments.

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The core of Red Hat Device Edge is an enterprise-ready distribution of MicroShift, a lightweight Kubernetes project derived from Red Hat OpenShift, coupled with an edge-optimized operating system built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). This combination offers a minimal footprint, which is crucial for deploying workloads in challenging environments where system resources are at a premium.

Red Hat Device Edge offers two tailored deployment options. The first combines RHEL with Podman, a popular open-source Linux tool that makes it easy to find, run, build, share, and deploy applications using Open Containers Initiative (OCI) containers and Container Images. This is ideal for small deployments with static applications, such as most IoT devices. 

The second option adds MicroShift for dynamic environments that require advanced container orchestration and Kubernetes integration. My quick rule of thumb for when you'd want to use this take on Red Hat Device Edge is that if you usually use OpenShift, but need to run on the smallest possible hardware, then the MicroShift take is the best. 

This is key to understanding Red Hat Device Edge. If you're already an OpenShift user and you want to use the same tools and processes all the way from your data center to your cloud and all the way to the edge, this approach is for you. 

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It's also darn helpful that it supports bare-metal to virtualized or containerized applications. This includes a wide range of applications such as IoT gateways, industrial controllers, smart displays, and even robotics. In short, if you can run RHEL on it, you can almost certainly run Device Edge.  

It's also darn handy that you can use the Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to manage  Device Edge. This feature simplifies the deployment and management of devices and services, making it accessible even for teams with limited IT specialty skills.

To sum it all up, Red Hat Device Edge is a comprehensive solution for managing workloads at the edge. It combines a minimal footprint, operational consistency, workload flexibility, and simplified deployment at scale, making it a robust platform for a wide range of edge computing scenarios.

Want to check it out? Red Hat Device Edge is now generally available with full support. Check out the Red Hat Customer Portal to learn more.

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