What is Edge Computing and Why It Matters to Enterprises?

The edge computing solution market size is expected to grow from $36.5 billion in 2021 to $87.3 billion in 2026. A majority of this growth percentage can be traced back to the enterprises. By moving from their own data centers to the cloud, enterprises have gone through a remarkable shift in their computing resources. But with the growth of powerful mobile devices and very capable cellular networks like 5G, enterprises have started thinking beyond their data center and current cloud systems and are moving towards the edge computing systems. 

But what is edge computing? Let’s find out.

What is Edge Computing?

Edge computing systems are a distributed, modern computing architecture which brings computation and data storage closer to the source of data, which in turn, saves some bandwidth and betters the response time. 

By harnessing and working with the computing power that is there on remote premises like retail stores, warehouse, factory, etc. developers can build use cases like: 

• Significantly reduced latencies
• Lowered demands on the network bandwidth
• Increased privacy for sensitive data
• Enabling operations even when the networks are disrupted

But how does the definition of edge computing technology translate into the real-world edge computing use cases?
[Also Read: What is edge AI?]

What are the Benefits of Edge Computing Services?

The advantages of edge computing solutions can be seen as the elevated version of the capabilities of cloud computing. For enterprises this means faster delivery of information, better customer experience, and easier scalability. Let us look into the details of the benefits of edge applications now. 

1. Predictive Maintenance

Edge computing solutions have been very popular in industries where high-valued assets can lead to massive losses when they go down. Edge computing through its lightning speed makes it possible for businesses to deliver reports in seconds which earlier used to take weeks. 

The working enterprise computing examples around predictive maintenance can be seen in the oil and gas industry where edge computing helps with proactively managing their pipeline, identifying the defects and preventing any further failures. 

2. Support for Remote Workforce

The pandemic has pushed businesses into remote working while dispersing employees across the city or even around the world. This shift from in-office to work from anywhere model is a great use case for edge applications. With companies inclining towards remote workforce, they are also looking into ways to provide a system for the employees to access the corporate systems. 

Here are the different ways edge computing solution can support a distributed team –

• Lowering the data volume to move across the network
• Providing computing density and flexibility 
• Lowering data redundancy
• Addressing regulatory requirements

3. Faster Response Time 

By deploying the computational process near the edge devices, businesses can help lower latency to a great extent. 

An example of this can be seen in how if an employee wants to deliver an urgent message to another employee sitting on the fifth floor, it would take time for the message to get routed outside the building, communicate with a server located somewhere in the world and then come back to the other employee. With the help of edge for enterprise solutions, however, a router will be in-charge of data transfers in the office, which will massively lower the delay while saving the bandwidth to a huge extent. 

While this use case was around one message, imagine this. By 2022, 50% enterprise created data will get created outside the cloud. This means, with edge computing, it will be almost instantaneous to transmit this information set.  

4. Data Security

Today, more than ever before, businesses run on data. The data which revolves around both their business and their clients. Now, processing a massive amount of data sets is a lot more efficient and secure when it is done near the data source. Here’s why. 

Generally, when businesses use cloud computing for storing the data, all the information gets stored in a centralized location which is very open to hacks and phishing activities. But when the data is moved to an edge computing architecture, it gets an extra layer of security as it is not dependent on a single point of application or storage. It gets distributed to a wide range of devices. 

Ultimately, in edge computing solutions, even if there is a phishing attack, it doesn’t lead to a complete shutdown as the compromised section of the network can be disconnected before they affect the complete network. 

5. Easier IoT Adoption

The enterprise spending on IoT systems is on a constant rise.

Used majorly in manufacturing units and industries which work heavily through connected devices, IoT has found a place for itself in the business world. Now for businesses looking to scale up their computational abilities to bring in IoT in the processes requires a more dedicated data center. 

With edge computing technology installed in the enterprise, the adoption of IoT becomes very cheap and puts next to zero pressure on the network’s bandwidth. Businesses, using the edge computational capability can expand into the profitable IoT market without any significant infrastructure cost. 

6. Lowered IT Expense

Globally, the enterprise spending on cloud solutions is on a rise. The pandemic has only pushed it further with employees moving to a work from home mode and more information getting stored and processed on the cloud. 

Now, when you move the data closer to the network’s edge, the cost of sending the data to the cloud gets saved, which in turn helps businesses save on their IT costs. In addition to cutting down the expenses, edge computing services also play a role in increasing the revenue by enabling businesses with the data transmission speed and network they require to try out new models. 

So here were the many ways edge applications help enterprises scale up to their next best version. Now, as an entrepreneur reading this, you might be wondering, What are the edge computing companies I will have to get in touch with? Should I ditch cloud computing for edge? Let us get you the answers. 

How is Edge Computing Technology Different from Cloud Computing?

While both cloud computing and edge computing consist of storing the data and distributing it to the users when they request it, there lies some key differences between them. 

Reading this differentiation you must be wondering if at all edge computing is right for your business. Well, here’s how we help our clients decide. If your business has multiple locations or you need to lower the latency for your customers who are away from the headquarters, it can be a good move for you. Another way to decide that would be by looking into your current computing needs, if you notice any significant latency issue or you see a time loss on servers, it could be time to make the switch.

[Also Read: Demystifying Mobile Edge Computing: How It Revolutionizes Mobile Networks]

Which are the Top Edge Computing Companies?

In order to deploy the edge computing capabilities quickly in the enterprise, you would need to get in touch with some of the top edge for enterprise providers. Plus, you would be needing the help of an enterprise software development services provider, like Appinventiv, to help with the integration part of it. 

Now talking about the top providers of edge computing, here are the ones we recommend:

1. Amazon Web Services
They offer a consistent experience through a cloud-edge model and offer solutions around AI, IoT, Analytics, etc. 

2.  Dell
They offer edge computing orchestration and management services through their OpenManage Mobile functionalities. 

3.  ClearBlade
They recently released an Edge Native Intelligent Asset Application which enables an edge maintainer to create seamless connectivity between the core enterprise system and the IoT device. 

Now that we have reached the end of the article, I am sure you still might be having some questions around the whole concept of what is edge computing. Let me try to answer them through some of the questions that our clients ask us around the concept. 

FAQs about Edge Computing Solutions

Q. What is edge computing with example?

A.  Edge computing is a way to bring the data and the computational capability of the cloud closer to the point of data generation. The technology gives businesses the ability to move the process of processing the data and giving back results, closer to where the data was generated from. Real world examples of edge computing can be seen in kiosk machines, face detection softwares, self-driving cars, etc. 

Q.  How do companies use edge computing?

A.  There are several use cases of edge computing in the business world, as discussed in the article. Let me quickly run through them.

• Lowered IT expense
• Faster response time
• Greater data security, etc.

Q.  What are the applications of edge computing?

A.  Edge computing has a very wide range of real-world application examples:

• Self-driving vehicles
• Remote monitoring of assets and equipments
• In-hospital patient monitoring 
• Cloud gaming 
• Content delivery

So here was everything you needed to know about the role of edge computing in an enterprise. Now that you have gathered a series of use cases for the application of the technology in your business, it’s time to consult an enterprise software development company to know where you can fit in the computing model and how it would impact the remaining of your business processes. We can help with that part.

THE AUTHOR

Saurabh Singh

CEO & Director