Have you ever been curious about how Google, Amazon, or your Apple apps work on a technical and digital level? Cloud computing is a type of data storage that stores massive amounts of data. Cloud computing is the process of storing and processing data over the internet without the need for direct active access or management by any user. So, basically, cloud computing is used by all of these large companies and applications. This has led to everyone realising that, as our minds and the world of digital technology continue to expand, the cloud no longer has much room for growth. The term “Edge Computing” was coined at this point.
What is Edge Computing?
The processing of sensor data near the network’s logical edge, away from centralized nodes and toward individual data sources, is known as edge computing. It is a distributed information technology network architecture that enables mobile computing of locally generated data. Edge computing, rather than sending data to cloud data centers, decentralizes processing power to ensure real-time processing with low latency while reducing network bandwidth and storage requirements.
Benefits of Edge Computing
- Speed: Any company’s core business is heavily reliant on speed. Take the financial sector’s reliance on high-frequency trading algorithms, for example. A few milliseconds of lag in their trading algorithms can cost them a lot of money. A fraction of a second can mean the difference between life and death in the healthcare field, where the stakes are much higher. Lagging speeds can frustrate customers and cause long-term damage to a brand for businesses that provide data-driven services to customers. Poor network performance and slow speeds can spell the end of your business, even if they do not appear to be as serious as life and death. Speed is no longer just a competitive advantage; it is also a best practice.
- Scalability: Companies can’t always predict their IT infrastructure needs as they grow. Building a devoted data center is an upscale proposition, making future planning even harder. Aside from the significant upfront construction costs and ongoing maintenance, there’s also the issue of future requirements. Traditional private facilities stifle growth by locking businesses into projections of their future computing requirements. Insufficient computing resources may prevent them from capitalizing on opportunities if business growth exceeds expectations.
- Security: While the prevalence of IoT edge computing devices significantly increases security vulnerabilities of the network, it also provides some significant security benefits. Traditional cloud computing architecture is particularly vulnerable to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and power outages because of its inherent centralization. Processing, storage, and applications are distributed across a wide range of devices and data centers in edge computing, making it difficult for a single outage to take down the entire network.
- Versatility: Edge computing’s scalability adds to its versatility. Businesses can easily target desirable markets without having to invest in costly infrastructure expansion by partnering with local edge data centers. By utilizing edge data centers, they can provide efficient service to end users while reducing physical distance and latency. This is especially advantageous for content providers who wish to provide continuous streaming services. They also don’t impose any restrictions on large-scale businesses, allowing them to quickly shift to new markets if economic conditions change.
Examples
For smart IoT applications and use cases during a sort of industries, edge computing offers a variety of advantages. The following are some of the most common use cases for edge computing to improve enterprise performance, security, and productivity:
- Fleet Management: To achieve effective fleet management operations, logistics service providers use IoT telematics data. To make better decisions, drivers believe in vehicle-to-vehicle communication also as data from backend control towers. The speed and volume of data that can be transmitted between vehicles and backend cloud networks are limited in areas with poor connectivity and signal strength.
- Predictive Maintenance: In the manufacturing industry, the performance and uptime of automated machines are critical. In 2006, the automotive industry’s manufacturing downtime was estimated to cost $1.3 million per hour. Unexpected service interruptions have become significantly more expensive after a decade of rising financial investment in vehicle technologies and increasing market profitability.
- Autonomous Vehicles: Cars must be capable of reacting to road incidents in real-time if autonomous driving technologies are to replace human drivers. Data transmission between vehicle sensors and backend cloud datacenters may take up to 100 milliseconds on average. This delay in driving decisions can have a significant impact on the reaction of self-driving vehicles.
- Voice Assistance: Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple Siri, among others, are pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. In 2018, an estimated 56.3 million smart voice assistant devices will be shipped worldwide. According to Gartner, voice will account for 30% of all consumer interactions with technology by 2020. To provide effective interactions with end-users, the rapidly growing consumer technology segment necessitates advanced AI processing and low-latency response time.
Future of Edge Computing
Businesses can take advantage of the growing number of IoT edge devices while also improving network speeds and customer experiences by moving data processing to the network’s edge. Edge computing’s scalability makes it an ideal solution for businesses that are rapidly growing and agile, especially if they already use colocation data centers and cloud infrastructure. Edge computing can help businesses optimize their networks, allowing them to provide flexible and dependable service that strengthens their brand and keeps customers satisfied. Edge computing has a number of advantages over traditional network architecture, and it will undoubtedly play a significant role in the future for businesses. As more internet-connected devices become available, forward-thinking businesses are likely to have only scratched the surface of what edge computing has to offer.
Conclusion
Edge computing has been proven to be a reliable and effective data computing paradigm that has benefited a spread of industries. It’s not only a great alternative to cloud computing, but it’s also the most likely solution to the cloud’s minor flaws. Companies will always decide whether or not to try something new, something disruptive, but Edge computing has been proven to be effective by many, earning it the approval of many users.