The Linux Foundation’s LF Edge group sucked in two new projects as it looks to build out an open source-based framework for edge computing. The new projects are Baetyl (pronounced: beetle) and Fledge.

Baetyl was donated into the group by Baidu, which unveiled the project under the OpenEdge name at this year’s CES event in January. It initially provided a local package component for Baidu’s Intelligent Edge (BIE) cloud-based management platform.

It’s focused on extending cloud computing, data, and services to edge devices. It does this by providing a platform on which developers can build edge computing systems. This allows it to provide more processing power to edge devices like smart home appliances, wearables, and IoT devices.

Arpit Joshipura, GM for networking, automation, edge, and IoT at the Linux Foundation, explained that Baidu joined the LF Edge group in April, and wanted to contribute OpenEdge into the group. He added that the platform is China’s first open source edge computing platform and that the Baidu version has gained a significant presence in that country.

There have been some small changes to items like name files and some models that were specific to Baidu, but “there are no functional changes,” Joshipura said.

Fledge was contributed by Dianomic, which previously managed it under the Fog Lamp name. It’s an open source framework focused on critical operations in an industrial edge environment.

Fledge is architected to integrate industrial IoT (IIoT), sensors, and machines that can share a common set of administration and application APIs in brown field deployments and in the cloud.

LF Edge launched earlier this year with the stated goal to develop an open, interoperable framework for edge computing that is independent of hardware, silicon, cloud, or operating system. Its initial focus was on hosting the Linux Foundation’s three existing edge projects (Akraino Edge Stack, EdgeX Foundry, and the Open Glossary of Edge Computing) plus two new projects contributed by Samsung (Home Edge Project) and Zededa (Project Edge Virtualization Engine, aka Project EVE).

Among the other projects, Joshipura noted that EdgeX and Akraino are in a “more advanced stage. Not that the others are not as mature, but they are just at a different point in their lifecycle.”

That launch also included more than 60 support companies, including AT&T, Ericsson, Baidu, Intel, Qualcomm, Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and IBM.

The new projects also tie into some of their new project mates. Fledge, for instance, works closely with Project EVE and Akraino. Project EVE provides system and orchestration services and a container runtime for Fledge applications and services. And using Akraino blueprints, Fledge applications and services can be consistently managed as enterprises increase their use of private 5G and 4G LTE networks.

Fledge is also similar to EdgeX in that it's focused on providing a framework for applications designed to work in a resource-constrained edge environment. Joshipura explained the differences in that EdgeX provides a more “generic framework” while Fledge is more focused.

Joshipura said that LF Edge has a handful of other projects in its pipeline for possible inclusion, but that it wants to make sure that anything added brings value. “What we don’t want is to have multiple projects in each of the zones we are trying to construct,” he said.