Canonical’s Ubuntu Core, a tiny, transactional version of the Ubuntu Linux OS for IoT devices, runs highly secure Linux application packages, known as “snaps,” that can be upgraded remotely.
Using the same kernel, libraries and system software as classic Ubuntu, customers can develop snaps on their Ubuntu PCs just like any other application. IoT is where the difference lies.
“Because IoT devices tend to be smaller in terms of CPU and memory than a server or a desktop, we’ve done what we call a ‘minimal distribution’ of Ubuntu targeted for IoT,” said Mike Bell, executive vice president of devices and IoT at London-based Canonical Ltd. “The great thing is that I can use the same technology on the desktop and in the cloud as I can on an IoT device.”
But rather than just cutting down the OS for IoT, Canonical took a step back to figure out the core challenges of IoT and determine how those differed from the cloud.
“One of the basic tenets we thought about was security,” Bell said. “With a server, you care about security on every platform, but with an IoT device, that device is physically vulnerable as well.” That is, an attacker has direct access to the electronics in their device — it’s in enemy hands. “So, using container technology, we provide a way that basically packages up applications into containers that we call snaps.” In enemy hands, the container approach is more robust than conventional apps — or at least any weaknesses can be dealt with more quickly and in an organized way.