As
enterprises’ IT expectations are rising, new technologies are backing their
needs by offering latest mechanics which are helping them fulfill their quests.
There are multiple technologies in multiple fields which are being developed
through R&D and are very much capable of solving modern issues related to
IT. Gone are the days when we waited patiently for the webpages to load and
respond to actions because internet in those days couldn’t connect faster or
analyze requests as they do now due to one or the other reason.
Today we are
firmly into the cloud computing era
where we make use of personal services like Dropbox, Gmail and more which are
able to provide us data from anywhere at any time. Businesses make use of cloud
services to store and retrieve their data. This gives the owners the freedom to
access their data from any location because of the connected network of
servers/data centers. By now we have learned that cloud computing has been very
profitable for organizations in terms of CAPEX. The investment is low as
compared to traditional computing environment and the benefits are huge in a
cloud environment too.
Research
firm IDC estimates, “by 2019, 40% of IoT data will be stored, processed,
analyzed, and acted upon close to or at the edge of the network.”
Edge Computing is one such emerging technology which is
already playing an important role by enabling quick decision making by
analyzing the data at the edge of the network. Edge computing basically tries
to provide low latency by processing closer to the source of data collection. Internet
of Things (IoT) devices are an important component of edge computing because
analysis of data takes place within these connected devices which are far from
a data center but are able to
process data on the edge. This technology satisfies the local computing needs
by processing data in micro data centers like an office or a facility instead
of sending them directly to the main data center. Micro data center is at the
center of edge computing needs. One
can say this is an on premise technology which is diminished to match certain
business models. It is important to make sure that IT infrastructure can
operate on site, from within the largest spaces to small remote sites if we
ever want to unleash the true benefits of edge computing. The challenging areas
in remote locations can be connectivity and network connection but by bringing
data locally on-site, latency can be eliminated.
The adoption
of edge computing has been rapid
since its introduction and its real-time benefits. There is a common
misconception among people that edge computing is purely a technology for IoT embedded devices but that is
definitely not true. Though edge computing is ideal for IoT, it offers great scope
for departmental and traditional business applications. Wherever the data
sources are, the edge computing layer will be operating close to it. There will
be units which will be configured for particular functions which will be their
primary job in a device. Each unit in the edge computing will have its own
compute, storage and networking. These devices will handle network switching,
routing, load balancing and security. The entire network of these devices
becomes a centralized point for data processing from multiple sources. The data
points will be analyzed by event processing engines which will decide the path
where the data will be streamed. The data may be processed on edge or can be
sent to a data center nearby based
on pre-defined rules for further analysis. There are two types of data which
are ‘Hot Data’ and ‘Cold Data’. Hot data will be analyzed instantly to take
quick decisions and in case of Cold data, the data will be stored and analyzed
later which supports analytics based on historical trends.
One of the
most important features revolving around the term edge computing is the speed and agility it offers is so great that
in future the data which is stored will be acted upon the edge of network
instead of transferring it to data
centers for further analysis.
Conclusion
These days’
organizations are adopting the best practices for their business so that they
can stay ahead of their competition. As technology evolves it brings new
opportunities for the world so that we can adapt to the changing ways and
improve our current state. Even if edge
computing is relatively a new term, it has opened up great scope for
organizations to implement this technology and make use of faster and accurate
data processing and transferring through a cluster of edge computing network.
Decision making, lower costs, faster data processing, analytical trends are
some of the many benefits edge computing offers. It is time for enterprises to
take the next logical step towards upgradation of their business processes.
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