Edge Computing

What is Edge Computing?

Edge computing takes the heat of processing your data away from the centralized nodes, which might be already strained at your company. Edge computing brings the processing towards the edge of your network. This makes it decentralized when it comes to your processing power instead sending the data to cloud data centres for real-time processing to reduce your bandwidth and storage requirements on your network.

Want to learn a little more? Take a look at the video below!

The History Of Edge Computing

Edge computing is relatively young compared to some of the other technologies. Its origin can be traced back to the 1990s when a company called Akamai launched the content delivery network to introduce nodes around locations closer to the end-user to deliver cached content such as images and videos.

In 1997, Brian Nobel and several other distinguished scientists put together a paper called Agile application-aware adaptation for mobility that gave the premise for edge computing. This paper showed that different types of applications, including web browsers, video, etc., might be running on resource-constrained devices such as mobile devices. These could be offloaded to more powerful servers. The ultimate goal was to relieve the load on the computing resources of these devices. Thus, the ideation for edge computing was born.

From there, the 2000s brought peer-to-peer overlay networks, allowing for more balanced computing resource allocation. And of course, one of the most influential in the history of edge computing is cloud computing, which led to the branches of cloudlet, and fog computing.

Currently, organizations now for a combination of cloud and edge computing for their businesses. Cloud for the storage and computing power, and edge for local autonomy, reducing back-end traffic and when confidential data is involved.

The Types of Edge Computing

Mobile Edge

Your mobile service providers use edge computing to provide nationwide services. These locations are a swiss army knife and can host your wireless services while addressing the edge computing needed to deliver fast, efficient, and effective service.

Cloud Edge

Cloud service providers offer services that are built closer to the users with a specific purpose, such as content delivery. However, they were not built to host any workload; that was a general purpose. Initially, they were focused on caching and content delivery, but now they have a focus on local zones in cloud edge.

Router Edge

This service forwards packets between your networks. At the same time, this service is a separation point between the external systems and internal networks. Some enterprise routers will provide the ability to plug additional computer models and host your applications as well.

Device Edge

Users use different devices for different tasks, such as X-ray machines, vehicles, and more. Data from these can be collected and interpreted to ensure that maintenance needs are met and they operate seamlessly.

Sensor Edge

Sensors are a trigger in a closed control looped system, sending data to the back-end systems. A common example of this is a video camera that will only send a stream when motion is detected, which avoids continuous use when motion is not detected.

How Does Edge Computing Help My Business?

Edge computing allows your business to focus on key business processes while executing additional tasks requiring processing power with velocity without sacrificing the bandwidth you have on your initial network. The values of this are endless, especially when applying this concept with the Internet of Things (IoT). Common applications of this technology are being seen everywhere including:

1. Autonomous vehicles: In time, edge computing will allow for better reaction time for self-driving technology.
2. Logistics Industry Simplicity: Edge computing allows for real-time reaction and vehicle-to-vehicle communication regardless of the distance.
3. Predictive Maintenance: Edge computing allows you to monitor machine health in real-time, which can be analyzed by manufacturers and users, which can be uploaded to cloud storage for reporting and further analysis.

How Does LT3 ATG Implement Edge Computing

These are just a few examples of how edge computing makes a difference in logistics, vehicles and manufacturing. However, the implications of allocating processing data to the edges of your network will give you the velocity to be successful at any task you touch, regardless of your industry. We see the value of adding edge computing services in each industry and have over 10 years of experience executing this service.

Are you looking to make edge computing a fixture in your business? Book your consultation today!