EFM Overview

The Cisco Kinetic Edge & Fog Processing Module (EFM) adds computing power anywhere in your distributed network. By pushing select data processes to the edge and fog, you can make fast decisions close to the point of action, and reduce data before sending to higher levels in your network. This will minimize latency and maximize the efficiency of your network investment.

For example, in a transportation use case, EFM can be installed in roadside gateways to collect sensor information about fog levels and send it to monitoring applications using Cisco DCM.

Extract, compute and move data

To do this, EFM performs complex rules on data in motion to intelligently reduce, compress, normalize, and transmit data in optimal ways. It enables a new class of IoT applications for advanced monitoring and diagnostics that can improve your overall equipment efficiency. EFM is open and modular, able to incorporate micro-services from any third-party vendor.

Cisco Kinetic EFM enables you to:

• Extract data from diverse, distributed devices—Connect a broad range of devices and sensors across your organization and get usable data from them.
• Compute data in a distributed IoT environment—Apply rules and logic on data in motion or data at rest. Perform micro-processing where needed, from the edge to the cloud.
• Move data to diverse, distributed applications—Get the right data to the right applications where you can use it to create business value.

You can use EFM in both connected environments and industrial environments with no internet connectivity.

Capabilities

Kinetic EFM combines multiple components to create a highly scalable, modular and secure system to deploy and manage enterprise IoT solutions.

Streamline operations across all your IoT devices

EFM uses a variety of IoT protocol adapters to extract device data from disparate sources. EFM then converts the data into a common format so it can be used by your applications.

Engage the right processing at the right level

Get better insights through real-time intelligent processing and distribution of data. EFM processes data where it’s actively created. It then distributes data using a differentiated approach that filters, aggregates, and compresses data at the edge or in the fog, or in the cloud via the Cisco Kinetic Data Control Module (DCM).

Get the right data to the right application

Create policy-driven data flows quickly and easily with the dataflow editor. You can aggregate multiple data points from various locations to gain actionable insight into trends and patterns, and send the precise data you want to any mix of applications.

Manage IoT operations at scale

Gain visibility and control for all your IoT applications and operations. In the EFM system administrator dashboard, you can provision, configure and manage IoT applications at scale at the edge, in the fog, and/or in the data center. And, from the system monitor dashboard, you can view the health of your entire system in real time.

Components