Technologies are evolving at a rapid pace. In the past two decades, the introduction and implementation of technologies like Artificial intelligence (AI) & machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Wearables, Big Data & augmented analytics, intelligent spaces & smart places and several others have changed the way how we used to perform our daily day works. Now is the time of ‘Edge Computing’. For those who have little or no idea about this technology here is a refined description - Edge computing is a distributed computing prototype, which completely changed the way data is being handled, processed and received from millions of devices across many countries. Basically, it’s a technology that leads to data storage and computation closer to the source of data or the devices where it is being collected in order to lessen latency and bandwidth use. The rise of the connected devices ecosystem has led to a rise in demand for high-speed networks, and here is where edge computing comes as a saviour.
What exactly is Edge Computing technology?
IoT is the future of the technology realm. It tends to prevail everywhere, from autonomous mobility and vehicles, machinery equipment, smart devices equipment, wearable devices, enterprises to healthcare, among many more. Now more devices mean more data and to handle those data, edge computing will make its move.
Edge computing streamlines the flow of traffic from IoT devices and provides real-time local data analysis. It allows data produced by the internet of things (IoT) devices to be processed closer to where it is created instead of sending it across long routes to data centres or clouds. Doing this computing closer to the edge of the network lets companies and organizations analyze important data in near real-time, which is a dire need of various organizations across many industries, including manufacturing, health care, telecommunications, finance and more. The technology was developed expecting the great unimagined growth of IoT devices. But, to support all those devices, substantial amounts of computation will have to be moved to the edge as IoT devices, which as a result will produce a vast volume of data during the course of their operations. This tech adoption is therefore considered to further increase and develop in the coming future. Even researches state the same. The edge computing market was valued at $1,756.5 million in 2020, and it is expected to reach a value of $8,294.5 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 29.4 percent over the forecast period. Enterprises across industries are beginning to drive new levels of performance and productivity by deploying different technological innovations, like sensors and other data-producing and collecting devices, along with analysis tools.
A common confusion
People usually misinterpret and believe that cloud and edge computing are the same. However, the truth is different. Both are different and non-interchangeable technologies that cannot replace one another. Edge computing is used to process time-sensitive data, while cloud computing is used to process data that is not time-driven. Besides latency, edge computing is preferred over cloud computing in remote locations, where there is limited or no connectivity to a centralized location. These locations require local storage, similar to a mini data centre, with edge computing providing the perfect solution for it. Edge computing is also beneficial to specialize and intelligent devices. While these devices are akin to PCs, they are not regular computing devices designed to perform multiple functions. These specialized computing devices are intelligent and respond to particular machines in a specific way. However, this specialization becomes a drawback for edge computing in certain industries that require immediate responses.
How it will drive changes?
The technology will play a major role in the advancement of the entire world. For a nation like India, edge computing represents a crucial investment for any smart city in order to really reap the benefits of a next-generation IoT network. Not only does it control transmission and network requirements, but equal financial savings are also involved. Its prime feature comprises closer proximity between data storage and processing which can be leveraged in enhancing the data management and processing for smart cities.
With the advent of next-gen technologies in the autonomous vehicle ecosystem, challenges such as delay in data transmission, real-time results, on-the-spot accurate and vital decisions, processing of large quantities of data, etc., have also increased. Automotive players are focused on leveraging edge computing to address these ever-evolving challenges. There are hundreds of sensors in a modern-day car that create a tonne of data. And while most of it is processed in the vehicle itself, transfer of data to the cloud might be needed by some in-car applications. Data moved to the cloud could be constrained more intelligently with edge computing.
Edge computing will create a huge development in the telecom sector. Owing majorly to the benefits of high bandwidth and low latency for applications, the 5G technology will unlock possibilities for far-away sensors to instantly give updates about the connected devices and the edge is poised to support this highly responsive computing.
The security Factor
Edge computing has two sides of its security coin. Some claims that security is theoretically better in an edge computing environment because data is not travelling over a network, and it’s staying closer to where it was created. The fewer data in a corporate data centre or cloud environment, the less data there is to be vulnerable if one of those environments is comprised. The flip side shows a different facet, as some people believe that it is less secure because the edge devices themselves can be more vulnerable. Data encryption, access control and use of virtual private network tunnelling are important elements in protecting edge computing systems.
Conclusion
The cloud will continue to play a critical role in aggregating important data and performing analyses on this massive set of information to glean insights that can be distributed back to the edge devices. It is obvious that edge computing is the future of the network and it will help organization better manage and analyze their data and significantly increase the value of their IoT efforts.