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Canonical today announced that Ubuntu Core 22, the fully containerized Ubuntu 22.04 LTS variant optimized for IoT and edge devices, is now generally available for download. This release brings Ubuntu’s operating system (OS) and services to a complete range of embedded and IoT devices.

“Our goal at Canonical is to provide secure, reliable open source everywhere – from the development environment to the cloud, down to the edge and to devices,” said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical. “With this release, and Ubuntu’s real-time kernel, we are ready to expand the benefits of Ubuntu Core across the entire embedded world.”

Real-time compute support
The Ubuntu 22.04 LTS real-time kernel, now available in beta, delivers high performance, low latency and workload predictability for time-sensitive industrial, telco, automotive and robotics use cases.

The new release includes a fully preemptible kernel to ensure time-bound responses. Canonical partners with silicon and hardware manufacturers to enable advanced real-time features out of the box on Ubuntu Certified Hardware.

Application-centric
Ubuntu Core provides a fully containerized Ubuntu, which breaks down the monolithic Ubuntu image into packages known as snaps – including the kernel, OS and applications. Each snap has an isolated sandbox that includes the application’s dependencies, to make it fully portable and reliable. Canonical’s Snapcraft framework enables on-rails snap development for rapid iteration, automated testing and reliable deployment.

The system offers transactional mission-critical over-the-air (OTA) updates of the kernel, OS and applications – updates will always complete successfully, or roll back automatically to the previous working version, so a device cannot be “bricked ” by an incomplete update. Snaps also provide delta updates to minimise network traffic, and digital signatures to ensure software integrity and provenance.

Ubuntu Core also provides advanced security features out of the box, including secure boot, full disk encryption, secure recovery and strict confinement of the OS and applications.

Customers benefit from Canonical’s 10 years security maintenance of kernel, OS and application-level code, enabling devices and their applications to meet enterprise and public sector requirements for digital safety.

Partner ecosystem
Partnerships with leading silicon and hardware partners, including Advantech, Lenovo and many others, have established Ubuntu Core’s presence in the market.

The Ubuntu Certified Hardware program defines a range of off-the-shelf IoT and edge devices trusted to work with Ubuntu. The program uniquely includes continuous testing of certified hardware at Canonical’s labs with every security update over the full lifecycle of the device.

“Advantech provides embedded, industrial, IoT and automation solutions. We continue to strengthen our participation in the Ubuntu Certified Hardware Program. Canonical ensures that certified hardware goes through an extensive testing process and provides a stable, secure, and optimized Ubuntu Core to reduce time to market and development costs for our customers.” said Eric Kao, Director of Advantech WISE-Edge+.