Vortex is the Intelligent Data Sharing Platform for Business Critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Combining deterministic data delivery, system-wide data sharing and support for data analytics, Vortex helps system integrators, OEMs, device platform vendors and Cloud service providers (SaaS, PaaS and DaaS) deliver 'Smart' solutions for many vertical markets, including: Healthcare, Energy, Transportation, Smart Cities and Industrial Automation.
The Vortex Intelligent Data Sharing Platform supports real-time data sharing between devices, machines and people. This includes devices such as a sensor, other types of specialized real-time embedded processing units, a mobile phone or phablet, a browser running on a desktop PC, enterprise servers or any other type of computing resource that needs to share data across a network (wired, wireless or hybrid) even if the applications are hosted in a Cloud-based datacenter or another LAN accessible via the Internet.
Vortex enables real-time data sharing for devices and machines based on the Object Management Group's (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS) for Real-Time Systems Standard. Vortex includes DDS implementations that can be used to support a range of device technologies, operating systems and programming languages required by a project.
Vortex provides users with both flexibility and choice when developing Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Vortex is both programming language and operating system independent. Projects can choose their preferred programming language(s) with APIs available in C, C++, Java, JavaScript and C#. Support is also provided for a comprehensive range of operating systems including different flavors of Linux, Unix, Windows, mobile operating systems such as Android, plus more specialized real-time operating systems such as VxWorks, LynxOS and ElinOS.
Developers have the choice to create native Vortex applications using their preferred compiler / IDE or leverage Vortex's Open APIs to create applications using a specific application framework or platform technology (e.g. Java EE Application Server or OSGI framework).
Vortex's Open architecture allows it to be easily integrated with 3rd party technologies such as an analytic engine or a management / monitoring tool.
The Vortex Intelligent Data Sharing Platform consists of the Vortex Device , Vortex Cloud and Vortex Gateway product suites. The Vortex platform product suites are designed to provide a range of capabilities that best suit the specific needs of a system.
Vortex Device provides users with a choice of real-time data sharing support for devices and machines to suit different platform technologies from embedded sensors, mobiles devices and handhelds to more powerful servers and also web browsers.
The Vortex Device product suite contains the following specific components to support different device data sharing configurations:
- Vortex OpenSplice - a fully featured Data Distribution Service (DDS) implementation targeted for server-class (desktops, racks etc.) platforms as well as more specialized real-time embedded environments and operating systems (e.g. single board computer running VxWorks).
- Vortex Lite - real-time data sharing for severely resource limited devices and sensors.
- Vortex Café - is the only "Pure" Java DDS implementation specifically optimized for mobility and Cloud data sharing.
- Vortex Web - providing a JavaScript Data Distribution Service (DDS) API to enable HTML5 / Web browser applications to send and receive data to and from the Vortex DDS data backbone.
Included with each of the device platform technologies are a number of tools to help configure, tune and test Vortex systems including:
- Vortex Insight - location independent monitoring and management of Vortex systems and systems-of-systems.
Vortex Cloud extends the capabilities of Vortex Device to provide a ubiquitous and universally accessible "Internet Service" for sharing data between Vortex-enabled applications with support for data sharing over a Wide Area Network (WAN). This includes being able to share data seamlessly between applications running on different LANs via the Internet. Vortex Cloud can be used with Private, Public and Hybrid Cloud infrastructures.
Vortex Fog efficiently shares data from multicast to unicast networks, and provides rate and bandwidth control. It can be used to provide seamless connectivity of existing DDS-based subsystems to Vortex Cloud and also seamless WAN inter-connectivity of DDS based subsystems.
Vortex Gateway is a high performance, extensible and configurable protocol gateway framework transparently bridging across communication technologies while adapting format, content and Quality of Service (QoS). It provides specialized gateway technology (with support for connectors to over 100 different protocols ) allowing Vortex enabled devices and applications to be integrated with other 3rd party or legacy applications that may use any number of different communication technologies.
Key Features and Benefits
- Device to Device, Device to Cloud and Device to Device via the Cloud data sharing
- Also supports data sharing between UDP (multicast and unicast) enabled Fog subsystems and TCP endpoints
- Platform independent interoperable solution for Embedded, Mobile and Enterprise environments
- Operating system and programming language independent
- Built on Open standards to enable application portability, interoperability and component re-use
- LAN or WAN deployment over private or public networks, Clouds and Fog networks
- Seamless integration to legacy and 3rd party applications with support for connectors to over 100 different communication technologies
- Open architecture APIs enable integration of 3rd party development environments/IDEs, frameworks and analytics software
- End-to-end qualities of service providing superior performance, scalability, reliability, determinism, interoperability, security and network efficiency
- Dynamic discovery for applications publishing and subscribing to data