What is Edge Computing?
The emergence of IoT (Internet of Things) devices requires more data to be sent to servers for collection and analysis. Often this data executes an action such as a high temperature in the atmosphere will activate crops to be watered or a self-driving car sees a car pulling out and the car responds by applying the brakes. The data needs to be sent instantaneously, analysed, and a response needs to be sent back. The only problem is that if many data packets are being sent back and forth the connection would get clogged up and the time for data to be sent will take longer. Edge Computing transforms the way data is handled, processed, and delivered in real-time.
How does Edge Computing Works?
At the start of the computing age, computers were large and bulky machines that can only be accessed directly via terminals. With personal computing, applications ran and data stored locally on user devices or sometimes within on-site data centres. The recent development of Cloud Computing offers a service that allows a centralised vendor-managed ‘cloud’ (collection of data centres) that can be accessed from any device over the internet. The downside of cloud computing is the latency (delay) between users and data centres where cloud services are hosted. The further away you are from the data centre, the higher the latency.
Edge Computing involves bringing computation and data storage closer to the devices rather than relying on a central location that can be thousands of miles away. Processing the data locally will reduce latency and reduce the amount of data being processed in a centralised or cloud-based location. Once processed the data is sent to the cloud for storage.
Benefits of Edge Computing
Performance
When running web applications they have to communicate with an external server that will encounter delays. The duration of delays will vary based upon the available bandwidth and location of the server. Delays can be avoided if the processes are brought to the network edge.
Cost Saving
Cloud resources can cost a lot of money and there is only a finite amount of bandwidth, by minimising bandwidth and server resources you can save money by moving the computation to the edge.
New Functionality
Edge computing can provide new functionality such as data processing in real-time due to the localisation of the processing step.
Drawbacks of Edge Computing
More Hardware
Edge computing requires more local hardware to process and analyse the data before sending it to the cloud.
Security
Edge computing offers new opportunities for malicious attackers to compromise many IoT devices.
Use Cases of Edge Computing
Predictive Maintenance
Manufacturers or transport services can monitor the equipment in real-time to predict the risk of failures in equipment before they happen.
Smart Homes
Smart homes rely on IoT devices to collect and process data from around the house. Often the data is sent to centralised remote servers for processing and storage. The existing architecture has problems around cost, latency, and security. Edge computing will bring process and storage closer to home.
Summary
Companies have started implementing Edge Computing to improve latency issues from Cloud Computing. Edge Computing brings the processing and analysing side locally to speed up the process and decrease bandwidth use to the cloud for data transfer. Edge Computing is a great solution for companies that processes and analyses tons of data every second in real-time.