Canonical and DFI launch the first Ubuntu certified AMD-based “Industrial Pi”

Canonical and DFI announce that the GHF51 and EC90A-GH,
have been certified, based on the latest AMD-based platform. Both offer improved performance, a smaller footprint, and full access to open-source software with Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core. These are part of the first wave of products that passed the Ubuntu IoT hardware certification.

Small footprint, better performance

The GHF51 is positioned as the “Industrial Pi”, making it the first ultra-mini industrial motherboard powered by high-performance AMD Ryzen™ R1000 Processors. The EC90A-GH is a mini fanless embedded system holding an unprecedented processing throughput despite its size. This “industrial Pi” defines a new level of balance between performance and cost-effectiveness. Its expandability brings a versatility adapted for industrial application development, edge computing, AI vision, and more. The Ubuntu certification gives access to a rich open-source software ecosystem and equips developers with a platform for AIoT innovation.

10 years support

The industrial-grade GHF51 and EC90A-GH extend DFI’s product line to the fields of IoT terminals and edge micro-cloud, and in terms of specifications and durability, those products are far more advantageous than consumer-grade products. GHF51 and EC90A-GH, not only can withstand the harsh operating environment of -20 to 70°C, but it also still has 460,000 hours of MTBF (52.56 years) at 60°C. To accommodate industrial lifecycles, DFI follows up AMD’s long-lifecycle support roadmap for CPU, providing product availability up to 10 years. What’s more, Ubuntu provides secure maintenance and OS updates for up to 10 years.

Out-of-box Ubuntu experience

Every Ubuntu-certified device has gained the ability to preload Ubuntu inside or just download the Ubuntu OS image and install it in a couple of minutes without system compatible issues. Developers can enjoy the most comprehensive experience of Ubuntu with certified devices. The built-in Snap Store in Ubuntu is the easy way to access thousands of open source software with just one single command.

The x86 instruction set on the GHF51 and EC90A-GH makes software development easier removing the need for cross-compilation and awkward on-target debugging. For companies interested in accelerating their development lifecycle and their time to market, Canonical’s SMART START package offers access to expertise in Ubuntu, AIOT software, and OTA upgrade infrastructure.

Edge cloud made easy

Modern cloud-native practices adopt “container” technology to achieve more agile application lifecycle management. Deploying Kubernetes on IoT devices and micro-clouds is the fast track to bringing this agility to the edge. Canonical MicroK8s facilitates such adoption by providing low-ops, minimal, production-ready Kubernetes designed for devs, cloud, clusters, workstations, Edge, and IoT. Running MicroK8s on small footprint devices like GHF51 or EC90A-GH is the simplest approach to Kubernetes at the edge, whether development, testing, or production.

GHF51 and EC90A-GH now are available with Ubuntu preload. More Ubuntu certified devices can be found https://ubuntu.com/certified?category=Device.

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