For businesses seeking to transcend the restrictions that conventional cloud-based networks present, edge computing can be the game changer. 

Even though cloud computing still has a pivotal role to play in modern network architecture, the thrilling potential of Internet-of-things (IoT) devices, which has the potential to process the data it collects, closer to the source, is making organizations redefine their strategies regarding IT infrastructure.  

Often heralded as “the next big thing” several organizations are contemplating how Edge Computing is different from more conventional data process solutions and how it can confer advantages to their businesses. While the fundamental principles underlying Edge Computing are pretty straightforward, the considerable advantages of this new strategy with regards to network architecture are a little more complicated.  

Edge Computing not just has the capacity to provide a direct on-ramp to an organization’s cloud platform of preference, but it can additionally assist in accomplishing flexibility and agility with regards to ensuring a streamlined, effective IT infrastructure.  

Regardless of whether they’re attempting to make inroads into the IoT market or identify superior ways to provide content services, organizations ought to have the know-how about the benefits and the future of Edge Computing. 

In this blog post by AICoreSpot, we will be looking at: 

• Edge Computing 101 
• The top five leading advantages of Edge Computing 
• How to make the Edge Computing Business Case 

• The outlook for Edge Computing 

Edge Computing 101 

Conventional cloud computing networks are very centralized, with information being collected on the outer edges and communicated back to the primary servers for process. This architecture evolved from the fact that a majority of the devices situated close to the edge were lacking the computational capacity and storage facilities for analyzing or processing the information they gathered. As an increasing number of devices featured the capability of getting connected to networks through cellular and WiFi, there functionalities were relatively restricted by their hardware capacities.  

As an outcome of the miniaturization of processing and storage technologies, the network architecture scenario has been considerably modified. 

Present IoT devices have the capability of collecting, storing, and processing more information than ever before. This provides avenues for organizations in optimizing their networks and relocating more process functionalities closer to where data is collected at the edge of the network. At that location, it can undergo analysis and be applied in real-time much closer to end-users. 

As the data does not have to traverse the whole way back to the central server for the gadget to be aware that a function needs to be carried out, edge computing networks can minimize latency and improve performance by a large extent. The speed and flexibility provided by this strategy to managing information provides a thrilling array of possibilities for businesses. 

Let’s observe the five major advantages conferred by Edge Computing with regards to enhancing the cumulative performance of your organization. 

5 Major Advantages conferred by Edge Computing 

1. Speed – Speed is of critical importance to any organizations core functions and business. For instance, look at the financial domain’s dependence on high-frequency trading algorithms. Lags of mere milliseconds within their trading algorithms can have catastrophic impact. Within the healthcare sector, where the stakes are even higher, that lag of milliseconds can be an issue of life or death. 

For organizations that furnish data-driven services to their clients, lag in speeds can infuriate clients and be the reason behind long-term negative perception of a brand. This may not appear as serious as the stakes from the healthcare domain, but lagging network performance and reduction in speeds can bring about the worst-case scenario. Speed is no more an issue of competitive advantage – it’s part of best practices.  

Edge Computing most noteworthy advantage is its capability to enhance network performance by minimizing latency. As IoT Edge Computing Devices undertake processing of data locally or in close by edge data centers, the data they gather doesn’t have to traverse as far as it would under conventional cloud architectures. 

In the current scenario, it’s simple to forget that data doesn’t travel in an instant. It’s restricted by the same tenets of physics as all else in our universe. Present commercial fiber-optic tech enables data to travel at approximately 2/3rd the speed of light, going the distance between New York to San Francisco in about 21 milliseconds. 

Although, as an increasing amount of data is communicated on an ongoing basis, cyber traffic jams of the future are a certainty. Last year, the planet output approximately 44 zettabytes (1ZB = 1 trillion GBs) of data. In 4 years from now, 463 exabytes (1EB = 1 billion GBs) will be output on a daily basis.  

There’s also the issue of the “last mile” bottleneck, in which information must have routing via local network connections prior to reaching its last destination. Dependent on the quality of these connections, the “last mile” can tack on somewhere in between 10 to 65 ms of latency.  

With the process of data closer to the source and minimizing the physical distance it must traverse, Edge Computing can minimize latency to a large extent. This implies increased speeds for end-users, with latency quantified in microseconds over milliseconds. Taking into account that even a single moment of downtime or latency can cause organizations to lose thousands of dollars, the speed benefits conferred by Edge Computing are critical to a business network. 

1. Security – While the expansion of IoT Edge Computing devices does enhance the cumulative attack surface with regards to networks, it also imparts some critical security benefits. Conventional cloud computing architecture is by nature centralized, which renders it particularly susceptible to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and power outages. Edge Computing undertakes distribution of storage, processing, and applications over a broad range of gadgets and data centers, which makes it tough for any singular disturbance to tackle the total network. 

A primary concern surrounding IoT Edge Computing is that they could be leveraged as point of entry for cyberattacks, enabling malware or other intrusive actors to cast infection upon a network from a singular vulnerable point. While this is a legitimate danger, the distributed nature of Edge Computing architecture makes it simpler to instate security procedures that can seal off portions that have been compromised with no need to shut down the total network. 

As a bigger amount of data undergoes process on local devices instead of communicating it back to a centralized data center, Edge Computing also minimizes the amount of data that is actually vulnerable at a particular moment. There’s a reduced amount of data that faces interception risk during its trajectory, and even if something is compromised, it will only have the data it has gathered locally instead of the goldmine of data that could face exposure by compromising a central server.  

Even if an Edge Computing architecture integrates specialist edge data centers, these usually furnish extra security measures to safeguard against malicious DDoS attacks and other cyber threats.  

A robust edge data center should provide a plethora of tools clients can leverage to ensure the safety of their networks and monitor it in real-time. 

1. Scalability – As organizations expand, they cannot universally forecast their IT infrastructure requirements. Developing a dedicated data center is a costly proposition, which makes it even more tough to carry out planning for future scenarios. 

On top of the considerable up-front construction expenses and continuous maintenance, there’s also the issue of tomorrow’s requirements. Conventional private facilities put an artificial restriction on growth, forcing organizations into predicting their future computational requirements. If business expansion surpasses expectations, they might be unable to capitalize on prospects due to inadequate computational resources. 

Thankfully the proliferation of cloud-based tech and Edge Computing has made it simpler for organizations to scale their operations. Analytics, storage, and computing capacities are being integrated with devices with reduced footprints that can be located closer to end-users on an increasing basis. 

Growing data collection and analysis no more needs organizations to setup centralized, private data centers, which can be costly to construct, maintain, and substitute when it’s time to expand again. Through the conjunction of colocation services with regional Edge Computing data centers, businesses can grow their Edge Network reach swiftly, and in an affordable fashion. As they expand, the flexibility of leveraging Edge Computing’s capacities enables them to adjust swiftly to markets that are undergoing evolution and scale their data and computational needs more effectively. 

In summary, Edge Computing provides a pathway to scalability that is a lot less costly, enabling organizations to grow their computational capacity via a combo of IoT gadgets and edge data centers. The utilization of processing-capable edge computing devices also simplifies expansion expenditure as every additional device doesn’t have the toll of considerable bandwidth demands on the network core. 

1. Versatility – The scalability of Edge Computing also adds to its versatile nature. Through partnership with local edge data centers, organizations can engage in targeting of desired markets with no need for investments in costly infrastructure expansion. 

Edge data centers enable them to service end-users effectively with little physical distance or latency. This is particularly important for content providers seeking to provide streaming services with no interruptions. They additionally do not bog down organizations with a heavy footprint, enabling them to shift other markets, if economic scenarios change, in an agile manner. 

Edge Computing is empowering IoT gadgets to collect previously unfathomable amounts of actionable data. Instead of waiting for individuals to logon with devices and communicate with central cloud servers, Edge Computing gadgets are always switched on, connected 24/7, and always producing data for subsequent analysis. 

The unstructured data collected by edge networks can undergo process locally to deliver swift services or communicated back to the core of the network. There, powerful analytics and ML applications will understand it to detect trends and noteworthy data points. Equipped with this data, businesses can make improved decisions and meet the true requirements of the market more effectively.  

Through integration of new IoT devices to their edge network architecture, businesses can provide new and improved services to their clients without needing to radically overhaul their current IT infrastructure. Purpose-developed devices furnish a thrilling range of possibilities to businesses that consider innovation as a way of facilitating growth. It’s a major advantage for industries seeking to expand network reach into areas with restricted connectivity. 

1. Reliability – Taking into account the security benefits imparted by edge computing, it’s no shock that it provides improved reliability as well. With IoT Edge Computing gadgets and edge data centers located in closer proximity to end-users, there is reduced chance of a network issue in a remote location impacting local clients. Even in the scenario of a close by data center outage, IoT edge computing gadgets will persist to operate efficiently, independently as they manage critical processing functions on a native basis. 

Through the process of data closer to the origin and prioritizing traffic, edge computing minimizes the amount of data traversing to and from the main network, resulting in reduced latency and quicker cumulative speeds. Physical distance is crucial to performance. 

By situating edge systems in data centers in closer proximity to end-users and the distribution of processing accordingly, businesses can to large extent minimize the distance data must traverse prior to services being delivered. These edge networks provide a quicker, and seamless experience for their clients, who desire to have accessibility to their content and applications on-demand, anytime, anyplace. 

With several edge computing devices and edge data centers connecting to networks, it becomes a lot more tough for any single failure to negate services completely. Data can be rerouted through several pathways to make sure users keep access to their products and information they require. Efficiently integrating IoT edge computing gadgets and edge data centers into a robust edge architecture can hence provide reliability that cannot be paralleled. 

The Edge Computing Business Case 

The number of IoT gadgets in use today is pretty immense, and there’s a lot of data to indicate that this number will appreciate considerably in the next few years. With so many IoT gadgets connecting to networks all around the globe, edge computing is already exerting a dominating influence on how businesses develop their frameworks and systems.  

The continuous demand for quicker, more effective services and content delivery will propel companies to enhance their current edge networks. Businesses that do not make investments in edge computing today could put themselves in a pickle and face a struggle to keep up with the competition in the coming years. 

The data produced from gadgets hooked to the internet imparts a tremendous opportunity for organizations. However, with that opportunity comes connected obstacles with regards to the management, analysis, and storage of that data. Conventionally, such processes were managed in an organization’s private cloud or data center, but the huge volumes of data have exerted a maximum amount of stress on these networks, pushing them to their limits.  

Edge systems relieve this pressure by moving data process away from a central core and distributing it amongst localized edge data centers and other gadgets in closer proximity to the origin. Analysis of data closer to where its gathered imparts great advantages with regards to expenditures and efficiency. By leveraging edge systems, businesses can also tackle issues connected with reduced connectivity, and the expenditure associated with having to transfer data to a central server. 

Edge Computing – What’s to come 

Moving data process to the edge of the network can assist organizations in benefitting from the appreciating number of IoT edge gadgets, enhance network speeds, and improve client experiences. The scalable quality of edge computing also makes it the best solution for swiftly-growing, agile businesses, particularly if they’re currently making use of colocation data centers and cloud infrastructure. 

By leveraging the capacities of edge computing, businesses can engage in optimization of their networks to furnish flexible and reliable service that reinforces their brand and maintains client delight. 

Edge computing provides various benefits over conventional variants of network architecture and will definitely continue to have a critical influence for businesses moving forward. With an increasing number of internet-connected devices making it to the market, innovative businesses have probably just scratched the surface of the potential of edge computing.