A Brief Summary of Containers
Containerized software has powered IT for years, but shifting it to industrial control systems introduces a new set of challenges and benefits. Containers bundle applications along with their libraries, dependencies and configuration into a single image.
This packaging helps guarantee that the same image runs identically on a developer’s laptop, a headless gateway on the shop floor or in the cloud. Not every piece of hardware is able to host containers, as they require a container engine.
Container engines create, manage and run containers without an entire operating system required. However, industrial edge hardware presents constraints such as limited processing power, tight memory budgets, headless operation and strict security requirements.
For a deeper dive into software container fundamentals in operational technology environments, see this post.
Software Container Options for Edge Devices
Out of the box, the Embedded Edge Compute modules and OptixEdge™ gateways come with identical container offerings. These devices can run any number of applications once a relevant container image has been created.
The containerized software is embedded in OptixEdge gateways and Embedded Edge Compute modules:
- Native Docker runtime: To launch any standard Docker image in seconds
- Embedded Portainer-CE GUI: To inspect, deploy, and view logs in a web interface
- Docker Compose support: To define and orchestrate multi-container stacks
- Dockerfile compatibility: Which grants ability to build custom container images
- Plus, there is host support for ancillary containers such as Portainer add-ons or Ansible playbooks
This unified toolset allows you to build a container image once, store it in your private or public registry and deploy it across any edge node in your network.
Deployment Workflow
Customers can follow a simple workflow to deploy containers on OptixEdge or Embedded Edge Compute devices:
1. Create a Dockerfile that specifies application code and dependencies
2. Build the container image locally and validate it on a development machine
3. Push the tested image to a secure container registry
4. Use Portainer CE or the Docker CLI on the edge device to pull and run the container
This process minimizes library conflicts, operating system mismatches, and manual installation steps that previously slowed OT deployments.
6 Key Benefits of Software Containers on the Edge
1. Scalability: Orchestration frameworks like Docker Compose enable multi-service stacks to be replicated or scaled out across multiple edge nodes
2. Rapid Deployment: Container images can be instantiated, updated, or rolled back in seconds, minimizing operational downtime
3. Increased Customization: Images are built with exactly the runtime components, libraries, and tools needed, reducing complexity and attack surface
4. Resource Efficiency: Containers consume far less CPU, memory, and storage than other options, making them ideal for resource-constrained edge hardware
5. Enhanced Security: Immutable images and process isolation reduce vulnerabilities and contain any breach within a single container
6. Simplify Management: Centralized registries and image versioning make it easy to distribute, update, and monitor workloads across an entire edge fleet
The Bottom Line
By combining containerized software with purpose-built edge hardware, such as OptixEdge gateways and Embedded Edge Compute modules, your organizations can build faster, smarter, scalable architectures that span from PLC racks to cloud services.
Software containers serve as the link between IT best practices and OT realities, delivering real-time analytics, secure deployments and next-gen automation at the network edge. Interested in implementing this solution? Check out the OptixEdge and Embedded Edge Compute.
