Edge computing devices and edge infrastructure technology has been largely changing the outlook and applications around the world. A lot of this technology is currently revolving around leveraging the potential of IoT that will start rolling with the inevitable 5G rollout. One of the major reasons for the grown interest in edge computing technology is to bring an agile and cost effective infrastructure to the fore. And in this post, you can see the 5 edge computing technologies enabling IoT-ready network infrastructure starting with defining edge computing.
What is Edge Computing?
In the cloud based computing system, the method of improving data processing by performing it at the edge of the network and closer to the source of the data is known as edge computing. Edge computing technology is gaining in prowess and usability because of the following benefits it provides:
- Curving down the latency challenges.
- Improvising bandwidth-intensive content.
- Helping in reconstructing future network infrastructures.
Why is Edge Computing Important?
Edge computing is a secure form of technology where it works in a much different manner than a centralized government. Unlike in the centralized government, here the data are stored securely in the private data centers or public pools such as the firewalls and the anti-virus tools. Also, it doesn’t transfer data automatically. Besides this, edge computing is important for several other reasons such as:
- Creates new and improved ways for industries to reach maximum potential efficiency.
- Improves performance and safety while automating and ensuring “always” availability of all core business processes.
- Fast in performance and is cost effective.
- Easy to manage and maintain.
5 Edge Computing Technologies
Now that we have explained what edge computing technology is and why is it important, it is time for us to look into the 5 edge computing technologies enabling IoT-ready infrastructure.
1. Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC)
Otherwise known as mobile edge computing, multi access computing is an architectural network meant for enabling the placement of computational and storage resources within the Radio Access Network (RAN). The benefit of MEC is that not only it increases the efficiency of the network but also delivers content to end-users. However, to achieve these benefits, the edge computing device will have to adapt to the load on the radio link. This will decrease the requirement for long distance backhauling, thus enabling improved network efficiency.
Besides, the MEC helps the operators in the management of excessive traffic and resource demands. Also, it will be instrumental in laying the foundations for future forthcoming generation networks.
2. Fog Computing
You can use fog computing as fog networking or even just “fogging.” This is because fog computing is just a relative term used for describing a decentralized computing infrastructure. It works as an extension to the cloud computing (data center) to the edge of the network. It also selectively helps with the storage and placement of data and compute in the most logical and efficient places. And because these positions often happen to be in between the origin of the data and cloud, we call this sometimes “out in the fog” or more specifically, fog computing. Here the data collected from the IoT sensors and other similar devices are moved to the clouds where it is analyzed and processed.
3. Cloudlets
Cloudlets are small-scaled cloud data centers with enhanced mobility located at the edge of a network. They stand as a representation of the second of the three-tiered hierarchy of IoT or edge devices. Cloudlets help in improvising resource intensive and interactive mobile applications by lowering the latency rate in mobile devices within nearby geographical proximity. Cloudlets are, basically, the answer to the increase in latency delays associated with the WAN (Wide Area Network) cloud computing. And with the 5G networks making their presence felt already, cloudlets can help in supporting the resource intensive applications meant for augmented reality, machine learning, speech recognition, and language processing.
4. Micro Data Centers
The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) efforts has been made to develop new smart devices and IoT sensors. As a result of this, reports suggest that the Micro data center solution sector over an upcoming couple of years might stand at a staggering $32 billion worth. So, what are micro data centers you might be thinking of?
The micro data centers are smaller and modular reach-level systems that help in installing and managing the edge network computing that can be deployed globally in any environment. They are benefited mostly due to their size and therefore, are more suitable to be used in many places over the traditional data centers.
5. Cloud of Things (CoT)
Cloud of Things (CoT) is yet to be fully developed to have it applied to any of the edge computing networks and devices. However, those who know about its development believe that it has lots of potentials to enhance the power in the mobile and IoT devices that we generally would use in our homes. And even though IoT devices lack computational power comparatively, they can make newer mobiles more powerful. CoT works under a similar concept to that fog computing. Here the devices themselves create a virtualized cloud infrastructure where the IoT devices act as pooled resources.
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