JFrog Acquires Upswift to Push DevOps to the Edge

JFrog today revealed it has acquired Upswift as part of an effort to extend its DevOps reach to edge computing platforms. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Upswift has created agent software that is deployed as a binary file on an edge computing platform that makes it possible to continuously deliver software across a fleet of edge computing devices and platforms. That approach makes it possible for organizations to deploy software regardless of whether the target platform is only running Linux, containers or a virtual machine.

JFrog CEO Shlomi Ben Haim said the agent software developed by Upswift will be integrated with the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform created by JFrog to make it easier for organizations to manage the full life cycle of application workloads deployed on edge computing platforms.

Organizations that deploy software on edge computing platforms and devices today typically have massive backlogs of updates that they are unable to deploy in a timely manner, said Ben Haim. By connecting the Upswift agent software to a (CI/CD) platform designed from the ground up to support binaries, it becomes possible to reduce that backlog as part of what JFrog describes as its ‘liquid vision’ for deploying software, he noted.

In addition, after acquiring Vdoo to gain access to a set of analytics tools that discover vulnerabilities in application binaries, JFrog will also be able to bring DevSecOps best practices to edge computing applications as well, noted Ben Haim.

The number of application workloads being deployed on edge computing platforms is rising sharply as organizations seek to process and analyze data closer to the point where it is being created and consumed. In fact, that shift is at the core of digital business transformation initiatives that depend on edge computing platforms and devices running, for example, internet of things (IoT) applications to process data in near-real-time.

Upswift CEO Amit Ezer said it has already become apparent that the existing processes of updating software on edge computing platforms and devices are capable of handling that influx of software. Upswift created its tool to enable developers to assume more control over those processes, as responsibility for managing and securing software continues to shift left, he added. The issue in many cases is that organizations lack the ability to consistently deploy software on edge computing platforms, which results in a hodgepodge of homegrown tools being created to deploy software on edge computing platforms using largely manual processes.

It’s too early to say just how much software will be deployed on the edge, but there may come a day when there is more software at the edge than there is in the cloud. Of course, the real challenge will be unifying the management of DevOps processes, regardless of where any given piece of software might be deployed. In fact, as edge computing continues to evolve, the line between edge computing and cloud computing will continue to blur until they are little more than natural extensions of each other.