The Linux Foundation Member Summit 2021

Digital transformation in the retail industry is accelerating. Retail's next wave is powering innovative in-store experiences. New ways of enabling store safety, facilities and equipment maintenance, custom and personalized services, inventory management and replenishment, digital signage and electronic pricing labels, and advanced forms of self- and automated-checkout all require increasing digital capabilities. More often, these capabilities need to be created and performed in the store and at the edge. These innovations reveal a critical gap in existing retail store infrastructure. What's needed is a platform for retail industry vendors to work together and deliver solutions with unique value that share a common infrastructure. To respect the limited footprint and cost constraints of a typical retail outlet, solutions must be easy to integrate, leverage common security practices, and offer a consistent approach to support and service. In short, the industry needs a framework that supports a collective and coherent ecosystem. This vision is what inspired the creation of ORRA project within the EdgeX Foundry umbrella to enable collaboration within retail industry ecosystem.