To protect the integrity of the product, the Mender component orchestration ensures the coordinated operation of the entire multi-component system.

Palo Alto, California, USA, October 27, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- Device Lifecycle Management company Northern.tech (the company behind Mender) today announced the launch of a component orchestration feature within Mender, which enables consistent and secure management of the entire software system of connected products. In addition to the "one image, one device" update approach, component orchestration also maintains a single desired state across the entire product – covering processors, microcontrollers (MCU), operating systems, applications, AI models, and more. Whether deploying through over-the-air updates (OTA), in isolated environments, or within secure closed networks, Mender component orchestration helps manufacturers ensure that all connected products operate in a completely consistent and synchronized manner, thereby reducing engineering complexity, maintenance requirements, unexpected downtime, and operational risks.

Connected products are no longer just single devices or single software images. With 90% of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) managing multi-component products, updating a single component alone is no longer sufficient; relying on traditional software update mechanisms can lead to infrastructure bottlenecks, delay product launches, and pose risks to product integrity, compliance, and security.

For example, Zephyr Project, which is under Linux Foundation, is building a secure, networked, and flexible real-time operating system for resource-limited devices. As networked products will combine microcontrollers based on Zephyr with other processors, operating systems, and applications, coordinating updates between these components is crucial for maintaining product integrity. Kate Stewart, Vice President of Trusted Embedded Systems at Linux Foundation, stated: "Networked products consist of components with different architectures, software, and update requirements. Keeping these parts compatible and secure with each update can be a considerable burden on engineering teams. We welcome the addition of Mender's component orchestration to the Zephyr ecosystem, which helps manufacturers manage their products and allows them to update confidently while maintaining the integrity of the entire lifecycle."

Today, manufacturers must manually map and sort out every horizontal and vertical dependency relationship between components, verify software and hardware compatibility, coordinate the update sequence, and ensure the security of the entire product system. Without component orchestration, it is no longer feasible to update each component individually.

Simplified and secure software management to protect product integrity.

Nearly three-fifths of OEM predict that the existing device management infrastructure will become insufficient in three years or less. The traditional software and infrastructure designed for simpler products can no longer meet the needs of today's advanced products.

"Connected products involve a vertical dependency network, which can affect the update process of individual components; at the same time, there are also horizontal dependencies that require related systems to be running compatible versions—for example, due to changes in local communication protocols," explained Eystein Stenberg, Chief Technology Officer of Northern.tech. " Mender simplifies software management in a safe and robust manner, eliminating the risks associated with updating modern multi-component connected systems."

Component orchestration as OEM brings three key improvements:

• Unified product software management. Ensure product integrity. It is possible to integrate and coordinate updates across components without requiring each internal component to run the same operating system or heavy software clients. By deploying software configurations as a single atomic unit, compatibility issues or mismatched software states can be prevented, manual coordination is eliminated, and the risk of failure is reduced.
• Full system atomic rollback. Reduces maintenance costs and operational risks. If the update fails, Mender will automatically trigger a "full or nothing" rollback that covers the entire product architecture. It will utilize the existing rollback mechanism, or implement a rollback if no such mechanism is available. This fail-safe action can immediately protect the integrity of the product and eliminate the risk of downtime caused by partial or corrupted configurations.
• Full component lifecycle security. Accelerates compliance with EU CRA. Although manufacturers recognize the importance of device-level security, compliance requirements require the management and tracking of each individual component within the product architecture. Mender automatically maintains an audit-ready view of the entire internal software state, provides a verifiable and searchable software bill of materials ( SBOM ), and conducts real-time verification throughout the entire active lifecycle.

Ensuring a secure and connected future

Yocto Project Ambassador and Inovex Embedded Systems Developer Anna - Lena Marx states: "We indeed see an increase in challenges regarding component orchestration, especially when combining Yocto and Zephyr – which is a requirement that is becoming more and more common and is being implemented in modern system design. To date, managing updates for additional components has usually meant relying on custom scripts or extending the update process through Mender state scripts. The declarative approach is a very interesting development, as it allows us to further decouple dependencies between engineering teams. Of course, the ongoing challenge will be to define meaningful declarative states and thoroughly test all possible combinations."

By managing complex multi-component networked products as a single, coordinated system, Mender helps manufacturers to accelerate time-to-market and eliminate post-product-release liability risks. With component orchestration, engineering teams can safely coordinate and synchronize software deployments across heterogeneous architectures, from microcontrollers to AI models, without having to worry about hardware failures or state mismatches.

About Mender

Mender provides robust, secure, and customizable over-the-air software updates for smart devices ( OTA ). For over a decade, Mender has provided software update support for more than one million devices worldwide, and boasts a proven customer base that includes Fortune 1000 companies such as Airbus, Lyft, Volkswagen, Siemens, Thales, and ZF Group.

Learn more about OTA software update management.

Mender is developed and maintained by Northern.tech. Northern.tech was established in 2008 and is a leader in the field of device lifecycle management, with the mission of protecting the security of global connected devices.

Media contact: Larisa Bogomolov

[ email protected ]