The Internet of Things (IoT) is revolutionizing the way we interact with the world, from smart homes to industrial automation to life-saving medical devices. However, the design and deployment of a fleet of IoT devices is a complex process. In this webinar, we will discuss best practices for designing IoT devices for rapid deployment and how to streamline fleet management at scale. We will provide insight on when it’s right to build your own custom system versus investing in a fleet management platform as well as look at some of the key features of the platforms available and a live demo of Balena’s solution.

2. Introduction

3. Matthew Ellis
Engineering Manager
ICS
Alan Boris
Solutions Engineer
Balena

4. Established in 1987, ICS is a pioneer in the graphics
and user interface space
Early adopter of Qt, back to the Trolltech days, now a
global services and training leader
Founded Boston UX to provide high value UX/UI
services – we can design and build what you
envision
Continual expansion into Medical and Life Science
Solution expansion - platform, cybersecurity, IoT,
regulatory, AI, web, mobile, testing services
Developed low code tools – auto generates code,
tests, and documentation from designs in half the
time
160 person strong global team
About ICS

5. ● Incorporating fleet management early in the development cycle
● Allowing for quick deployment to key stakeholders in development
● Reproducible deployments across verification and development devices
● Early analytics of issues in the field
● Disconnecting hardware and software development cycles with OTA
updates
● Demo Balena fleet management platform
Overview
5

6. IoT Fleet
Management
● Managing fleet size
● Over the air updates
● Device Analytics
7

7. In the Beginning
● One developer, one device
● Typically manual process for
flashing software
● Often incomplete or
outdated documentation for
flashing software

8. Fleet Management
First
● Most critical feature
● Siloed Device and Cloud teams

9. In the Beginning
● One developer with one
device and the power of
fleet management
● Establish OTA updates
● Scale up development
team by showing OTA
updates vs wiki page

10. Remote Teams
● Allow developers to update
software and check status
● Remote deployments of
software
● Promotes sharing of
scarce resources
11

11. Key Stakeholders
● Marketing
● Executive team
● Investors
● UX

12. 1 2 3
Verification
Deploy directly
from
continuous
integration pipeline
Automated Testing Fleet management
to monitor
13

13. Closing the
Developer Testing
Loop
● Verification reports an issue
● Developers can log into
device
● Able to see SW version
● Eliminate manual update
errors
14

14. ● Analytics becomes more
important
● Can see early trends
User/Beta Testing
15

15. Hardware and
Software
● Hardware and software
Verification reports an
issue
● Extend the software
development with an
update schedule
16

16. ● Keeping your device
secure with updates
● Able to decommission
compromised devices
● Becoming a requirement
in regulated industries
Security
17

17. Balena Demo

18. Alan Boris
Solutions Engineer
alan@balena.io
Kenna Smith
Product Manager
kenna@balena.io

19. Who is balena?
Etcher anyone?

20. balena.io
“Create and manage massive fleets of small devices.”
● balenaCloud
○ Web-based control of IoT devices, including updating and monitoring remotely
○ Terminal access to device, logs, container build info, and more.
● balenaOS
○ A host OS tailored for containers, based on Yocto Linux
● balenaEngine
○ Docker-compatible container runtime

21. balenaEngine
Container engine built for Embedded
and IoT use-cases, based on the Moby
Project from Docker
● Minimal by design
● Less RAM / resource requirements
● Delta pulls to save bandwidth
● Fault tolerance on container pulls

22. balenaOS
Built on Yocto Linux, Optimized for
Embedded Devices and IoT Usage
● Minimal by design (increased
security)
● Less RAM / resource requirements
● Redundant RootFS partitions
● More tolerant of power loss
● Minimized SD Card writes

24. Balenair IoT device
https://github.com/balenair/balenair

25. Fleet management considerations early in cycle:
- Device type and availability
- Connectivity: WiFi or cellular?
- Storage: SD card or eMMC?
- Software: preloaded or OTA?
- What aspect would we want to update after deployment?
- What data should be persistent?
- What will we want to monitor? What needs to be logged?

26. Balena Demo