Amazon makes available AWS Greengrass to let IoT devices process data locally

Amazon has opened up its Greengrass service, allowing IoT devices to make use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) locally, instead of going through the cloud. AWS Greengrass is now available in the United States.

Greengrass allows connected devices to run AWS Lambda functions while performing computation locally, and to keep the data in sync while leveraging the processing analytics and storage power of the AWS Cloud. Developers will be able to add AWS Lambda functions to connected devices from the AWS Management Console.

The service also includes AWS IoT messaging and syncing capabilities, allowing IoT devices to communicate with other devices without connecting to the cloud.

There are benefits to process data locally. First, it reduces the response time by eliminating the need to send data back and forth to the cloud. Besides, sending only high-value data to the cloud is more economic, and less data sent may help ease user privacy concerns.

AWS Greengrass has built-in security measures. According to Amazon, AWS Greengrass uses the same certificate-based mutual authentication that AWS IoT uses, ensuring the security of communication between the AWS Greengrass and the cloud.

“Manufacturers and OEMs can now build solutions that use the cloud for management, analytics, and durable storage, while keeping critical functionality on-device or nearby,” wrote Werner Vogels, the CTO at Amazon, in a blog post. “Using AWS Greengrass for local execution, customers can identify the most valuable data to process, analyze, and store in the cloud.”

With the announcement, companies such as Intel, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Raspberry Pi and Samsung have agreed to integrate AWS Greengrass into their platforms so that devices will come with AWS Greengrass built-in. Set-up box maker Technicolor and Nokia will also start shipping gateway devices that support AWS Greengrass.