With deployments of IoT (Internet of Things) devices and the arrival of 5G fast wireless, etc Edge computing is emerging in today’s world. Edge computing is transforming the way data is being handled, processed, and delivered from millions of devices around the world. The explosive growth of internet-connected devices along with new applications that require real-time computing power continues to drive edge-computing systems.
Faster networking technologies, such as 5G wireless, are allowing for edge computing systems to accelerate the creation or support of real-time applications, such as video processing and analytics, self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and robotics, to name a few.
Let’s see what is Edge Computing and how it works:
What is Edge Computing?
Edge computing is a distributed information technology (IT) architecture in which client data is processed at the periphery of the network, as close to the originating source as possible.
Elaborating edge computing at its basic level, it’s about bringing computation and data storage closer to the devices or source where it’s being gathered rather than depending on the central location which could be thousands of miles away. This is done so that data, especially real-time data, does not suffer latency issues that can affect an application’s performance. In addition, companies can save money by having the processing done locally, reducing the amount of data that needs to be processed in a centralized or cloud-based location.
Edge computing was basically developed due to the exponential growth of IoT devices, which connect to the internet for either receiving information from the cloud or delivering data back to the cloud. And many IoT devices generate enormous amounts of data during the course of their operations.
How does Edge Computing work?
Edge computing is all a matter of location. In traditional enterprise computing, data is produced at a client endpoint, such as a user’s computer. That data is moved across a WAN (Wide Area Network) such as the internet, through the corporate LAN (Local Area Network), where the data is stored and worked upon by an enterprise application. Results of that work are then conveyed back to the client endpoint. This remains a proven and time-tested approach to client-server computing for most typical business applications.
But the number of devices connected to the internet, and the volume of data being produced by those devices and used by businesses, is growing far too quickly for traditional data centre infrastructures to accommodate.
Due to this increasing number IT architects have shifted focus from the central data centre to the logical edge of the infrastructure, taking storage and computing resources from the data centre and moving those resources to the point where the data is generated.
The principle is straightforward: If you can’t get the data closer to the data centre, get the data centre closer to the data. The concept of edge computing isn’t new, and it is rooted in decades-old ideas of remote computing; such as remote offices and branch offices, where it was more reliable and efficient to place computing resources at the desired location rather than rely on a single central location.
Edge computing, IoT and 5G possibilities
Edge computing continues to evolve, using new technologies and practices to enhance its capabilities and performance. Perhaps the most noteworthy trend is edge availability, and edge services are expected to become available worldwide by 2028. Where edge computing is often situation-specific today, the technology is expected to become more ubiquitous and shift the way that the internet is used, bringing more abstraction and potential use cases for edge technology.
This can be seen in the proliferation of computing, storage and network appliance products specifically designed for edge computing. More multi-vendor partnerships will enable better product interoperability and flexibility at the edge. An example includes a partnership between AWS and Verizon to bring better connectivity to the edge.
Wireless communication technologies, such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6, will also affect edge deployments and utilization in the coming years, enabling virtualization and automation capabilities that have yet to be explored, such as better vehicle autonomy and workload migrations to the edge, while making wireless networks more flexible and cost-effective.
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Author: Sana Ghani
Sana Ghani is currently working as a content writer. She is hardworking and looks forward to providing the best quality content for her clients.
