Interest in using edge computing to improve business outcomes and accelerate digital transformation has skyrocketed recently. Edge computing is a form of computing that’s done right at the source where data is generated, minimizing the need to process data in a central data center. It brings compute, storage and networking closer to the consumer. For example, in digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, data on each individual needs to be captured and processed in real time to deliver a contextual advertisement. By pushing this processing out to the edge (for example, in a shopping center or mall) or on the network, this personal data can be analyzed locally and generate real-time, relevant advertising.
Because of the explosive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing has been the driving force of new and exciting technologies such as self-driving cars, predictive maintenance, content delivery systems, and more. You can find multiple cases of edge computing in the retail, oil and gas, manufacturing, energy and transportation industries.
Using Edge to Improve Business Outcomes
Edge computing allows organizations to take advantage of IoT and transformational digital business applications. IDC predicts that by 2023, over 50% of new enterprise IT infrastructure will be deployed at the edge rather than in corporate data centers. The future of the digital economy depends on edge computing infrastructure to enable better business outcomes, faster computing and enhanced end-user experiences. Below are three ways to leverage edge computing to improve outcomes, security, and user experiences.
1. Enter edge as a complement to a hybrid cloud strategy by deploying edge computing using cloud-native concepts for scaling and ease of mobility of workloads. You might have the same workloads at 100 different sites; by containerizing workloads, automating your maintenance and updating tasks makes it easier to move workloads compared to a monolithic application. This way, the containerization of workloads allows edge computing to react to changing business requirements for the digital economy.
2. Design new products and services to exploit endpoint, near-edge and far-edge processing enabling superior security and performance or reducing hardware and network costs by offloading local processing to shared edge devices. For example, you can reduce latency by confining data analysis to the edge where it is created, which translates into faster response times. Edge computing allows for pre-analysis of your data at the edge, sending only the results back to the data center while reducing the overall network and compute loads of your enterprise at large—improving performance for all your enterprise applications and services. Additionally, edge computing enables your data to be more relevant, useful and actionable, which gives your organization the ability to uncover innovative ways of working.
3. Since it is a critical component of edge computing, strongly consider security throughout the development and application of edge technology. IoT security has become increasingly complex with the rise in connected devices. The more data moves to the edge, the more important security becomes. While edge technology makes it possible for real-time data processing to dramatically enhance the way many businesses operate, it should also allow organizations to filter out sensitive, personally identifiable data locally, sending only non-sensitive data to the cloud or data center for processing.
Living on the edge
Our worlds are all interconnected, seeing access to greater capabilities at faster speeds every day. Edge computing is fueling digital transformation by driving business outcomes and delivering those outcomes faster. More companies are accelerating the use of edge computing to improve analytics, quality control, troubleshooting and disaster recovery. The experts at Sirius can help you determine if an edge computing strategy is feasible for your enterprise or not. If you are ready to consider edge computing as part of your overall IT strategy, contact your Sirius representative today. Sirius has the experience and expertise to help you define that strategy and help build out and manage your edge solution.
