Panasonic, Red Hat collaborate on ruggedised edge computing play

Open-source software and operating system developer and IBM subsidiary Red Hat has announced a global collaboration with Panasonic Connect, focused on enhancing the capabilities of ruggedised edge computing.

The deal will see Red Hat Device Edge, a platform that supports different workloads across small, resource-constrained devices at the farthest edge, preloaded on Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices.

By factory installing the software on the Panasonic machines, users can access a unified platform for out-of-the-box real-time data processing, supporting industrial automation, smart manufacturing and defence sector capabilities, the partners said.

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK, paired with Red Hat Device Edge, are a line of rugged laptops and tablets optimised for specialised edge computing and designed to address rigorous security and compliance requirements, spanning use cases across government, defense sectors and manufacturing.

Red Hat Device Edge combines an enterprise-ready and supported distribution of the Red Hat-led open source community project MicroShift, a lightweight Kubernetes distribution derived from the edge capabilities of Red Hat OpenShift, along with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.

Kelly Switt, Red Hat’s senior director of industrial business, said with this collaboration, Red Hat is helping Panasonic Connect transform beyond traditional rugged compute devices to intelligent, self-sufficient nodes that thrive in the most challenging and remote environments.

“Powered by Red Hat Device Edge, Panasonic Toughbooks provide the hardened foundation required for mobile command and control, tactical communication, drone control, real-time intelligence gathering and secure data processing in even the harshest conditions, delivering results where they matter most," she said.

Koji Higashitani, senior manager of the mobile solutions business division at Panasonic Connect said the collaboration with Red Hat enables the company to deliver additional options for secure edge computing solutions out-of-the-box.

“This empowers our customers across government, defence sectors and manufacturing to achieve real-time data processing and industrial automation with enhanced flexibility and sustained uptime in even the most extreme conditions," he said.