What is Edge Computing: Facts you need to know & Why it matters now, Opportunities, Career and future.

 EDGE COMPUTING

Faster networking technologies, such as 5G wireless, are allowing for edge computing systems to accelerate the creation or support of real time applications, such as video processing and analytics, self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and robotics, to name a few.

Edge computing is transforming the way data is being handled, processed, and delivered from millions of devices around the world. The explosive growth of internet connected devices. the IoT along with new applications that require real time computing power, continues to drive edge computing systems.

While early goals of edge computing were to address the costs of bandwidth for data traveling long distances because of the growth of IoT generated data, the rise of real time applications that need processing at the edge will drive the technology ahead.

Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have proven to us that we can trust them with our personal data. Now it’s time to reward that trust by giving them complete control over our computers, toasters, and cars.

Edge is a buzzword. Like “IoT” and “cloud” before it, edge means everything and nothing. But I’ve been watching some industry experts on YouTube, listening to some podcasts, and even, on occasion, reading articles on the topic. And I think I’ve come up with a useful definition and some possible applications for this buzzword technology.

WHAT IS EDGE COMPUTING ?

In the beginning, there was One Big Computer. Then, in the Unix era, we learned how to connect to that computer using dumb (not a pejorative) terminals. Next we had personal computers, which was the first time regular people really owned the hardware that did the work.

Right now, in 2021, we’re firmly in the cloud computing era. Many of us still own personal computers, but we mostly use them to access centralized services like Dropbox, Gmail, Office 365, and Slack. Additionally, devices like Amazon Echo  Google Chromecast, and the Apple TV are powered by content and intelligence that’s in the cloud  as opposed to the DVD box set of Little House on the Prairie or CD-ROM copy of Encarta you might’ve enjoyed in the personal computing era.

As centralized as this all sounds, the truly amazing thing about cloud computing is that a seriously large percentage of all companies in the world now rely on the infrastructure  hosting, machine learning, and compute power of a very select few cloud providers: Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM.

Amazon, the largest by far of these “public cloud” providers (as opposed to the “private clouds” that companies like Apple Facebook, and Dropbox host themselves) had 47 percent of the market in 2019.

The word edge in this context means literal geographic distribution. Edge computing is computing that’s done at or near the source of the data, instead of relying on the cloud at one of a dozen data centers to do all the work. It doesn’t mean the cloud will disappear. It means the cloud is coming to you.

WHY EDGE COMPUTING MATTERS NOW ?

With the constant growth of connected devices, as well as persistent phone and tablet use, traditional centralized networks may soon be overwhelmed with traffic. Gartner predicts that 25 billion connected devices will generate unprecedented amounts of raw data by 2021. This problem will demand next level responsiveness and reliability and it’s just two years away.

Edge computing promises to address the impending data surge with a distributed IT architecture that moves data center resources toward the network periphery.

NEEDS

Edge computing topology can reduce latency for time-sensitive applications, support IoT performance in low bandwidth environments, and ease overall network congestion.

#Latency: By virtue of physical proximity, time-to-action drops when data analysis occurs locally rather than at a remote data center or cloud. Because data processing and storage will occur at or near edge devices, IoT and mobile endpoints can react to critical information in near real time.

#Congestion: Edge computing can also ease the growing pressure on the wide-area network. This can improve efficiency and keep bandwidth requirements in check This is a significant challenge in the age of mobile computing and IoT. Instead of overwhelming the network with a constant flood of relatively insignificant raw data, edge devices can analyze  filter, and compress data locally.

#Bandwidth: Edge computing topology can support IoT devices in environments with unreliable network connectivity. Such environments include cruise ships, offshore oil platforms, rural agricultural plants, remote military outposts and ecological research sites. Even with a hit-or-miss connection to the cloud, local compute and storage resources can enable continuous operation.

CAREER IN EDGE COMPUTING 

The Edge Computing Association was founded about two years ago with the intention of becoming a community hub, news and resource portal for the edge technology industry participants and observers. Last year we thought. we should have jobs here for our community as a career resource.

So here we are, news, resources, careers  an edge computing industry hub for the communities that create it.

If you want to future-proof your technology job, you need to fast familiarize yourself with Edge computing. Cloud computing is about to be superannuated and Edge computing is the future.

In a new report on the coming opportunities for Edge computing, Barclays' analysts Tim Long and Chang Liu predict the Edge market will be worth ~$20Bn in terms of hardware software and services by 2023.