As technology gets more sophisticated, modern computing needs have become increasingly cloud-centric. The dot-com generation had to face the complexities and economics of deploying and managing their own data centers, networks and servers. However, today’s generation is operating in a cloud-native environment, leveraging the benefits of pay-for-what-you-need, just-in-time, and scale-up-on-demand.
Today, organizations are struggling hard to handle a virtual flood of business-critical data. Unsurprisingly, the traditional computing system and everyday internet are constantly failing to cope with this bulk data. As such, latency issues, network disruptions, and bandwidth limitations have become commonplace today. Thankfully, modern businesses are addressing these data challenges through “edge computing” architecture.
What is Edge Computing?
Edge computing is a distributed IT framework that is designed to bring enterprise resources close to “data sources,” i.e., local edge servers or IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Unlike traditional computing systems that are majorly dependent on centralized data centers, edge computing offers “decentralized” computing capabilities.
This enables businesses like jewellery manufacturers to efficiently process lab-grown diamond engagement rings and use data wherever it is created. The proximity to the data source can render significant business benefits, including better bandwidth, faster response times, and valuable insights. According to experts, the edge computing market is poised to grow radically in 2022 and beyond, offering a more scalable, faster and cost-effective solution to modern computing needs.
Benefits of Edge Computing
You’d ask: is edge computing relevant in today’s cloud-native IT environment?
Yes. In fact, some experts claim that edge computing will overtake the cloud shortly. Find out the reasons why edge computing might be the best solution for your fast-growing IT needs.
- Decentralized computing: At the face of explosive data volumes, Artificial Intelligence and the cloud helps automate the process of generating actionable insights from the data. However, the complexities of data and unprecedented scale created by IoT devices often outpace infrastructure and network capabilities. Directing all data to a centralized system or the cloud often causes latency and bandwidth issues. In this scenario, edge computing ensures the data is processed close to its point of source. This way data does not need to travel over a network to a data center or cloud, thereby reducing latency significantly. It offers a decentralized computing environment that aids in faster and more efficient data access and processing in real-time.
- Ease of maintenance and reduced costs: The advantage of a serverless, edge-enabled infrastructure is that it does not involve the complexities and cost of managing servers or spinning up multiple locations and data centers. Most interestingly, there are no annual cloud computing contracts to invest in. Businesses can benefit from more stable and faster API performance, reducing the need for infrastructure support.
At its core, edge computing enables more comprehensive and efficient data analysis – paving way for valuable insights, quicker response times, reduced costs, and enhanced customer experience.
Edge Computing in 2022 and Beyond: The Final Words
The huge potential of edge computing and its “edge” over traditional IT infrastructure and the cloud is influencing more businesses to adopt this cutting-edge technology. It is projected that the edge computing market will grow to $6.72 billion by 2022. Nearly 72.7% of companies have already integrated edge computing into their IT infrastructure, while 93.3% plans to invest in the technology in the next one year.
The statistics clearly indicate that edge computing is here to stay and revolutionize modern computing in the near future.
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