The FIWARE Catalogue is a curated, Open Source framework of software platform components called Generic Enablers which use the NGSI APIs for Context Data Management. The aim of the catalogue is to allow developers to select mutually compatible components which can be assembled together along with other third-party components to build Smart Solutions quickly, easily and at low cost.
The FIWARE Foundation also collates a copy of the codebases of all the components source code on GitHub, and regularly tags a release of the latest sources, aligning with the FIWARE Global Summits. The aim of each release is to define a labeled set of Generic Enablers at a specific moment in time which are aligned to work with one another. Other ad-hoc patch releases can occur between summits as necessary, usually triggered by changes to the context brokers or security concerns.
As well as regular updates of all of the existing catalogue components, the FIWARE 8.4.0 release introduces a large number of new security components relevant to data spaces, such the use of verifiable credentials as used in distributed trust scenarios. There are also new data connectors for Kakfa and data replication using subscriptions.
The latest release also includes the first context broker Scorpio to fully align with the ETSI NGSI-LD 1.6.1 specification.
As support for NGSI increases, the number of components in the FIWARE Catalogue continues to grow. With wider choice, it becomes harder to identify exactly which software you will need to architect an efficient Smart Solution, therefore as part of this release, the Generic Enablers webpage has also been updated to allow for users to clearly identify which functionality they require and make it easier to select the components that they need.
Full details of the release can be found in the FIWARE_8.4 release note.