Enterprises quickly moved their workloads to the Cloud to maintain business continuity and productivity after the pandemic. The cloud is not always the solution. But not always.
Internet of Things (IoT), devices that generate huge amounts of information in real time — currently 10 billion in total worldwide — suffer from poor performance when they have to send data back and forth between the cloud and their device. This results in reduced agility and transmission latency as well as increased costs.
Enterprise IT teams were able to use the Edge, which is a distributed digital architecture that moves computation storage and network services close to end-users, to improve app performance.
What is the Edge?
It can be viewed in two ways. The first is the far edge. This is where enterprise IT teams perform edge computing on-premise. It can include anything from brick-and mortar retail stores to autonomous cars. All these different locations share one commonality: They perform computations at the location of the end-user, which is where the data was originally collected.
What is the real benefit to edge computing? Edge computing speeds up data processing and reduces latency. Enterprise IT departments are rapidly adopting edge computing as a standard.
More than 40% of cloud rollouts by companies will incorporate edge computing in 2022. The global market is expected to reach nearly $250 billion by 2024.
What about multi-access edge computing and near-edge computing?
Alternately there is the near edge, that provides multi-access edge computing. This market is expected to grow to $23 billion by 2028.
MEC allows enterprises to access real-time cloud services at their service provider’s network edge. This can be at base stations, telco information centers, or points-of-presence (PoPs). They are still very close to the end-users. This allows for better data performance, faster processing speeds and improved storage capabilities.
The same service is offered by both the near and far edge computing
Regardless of the definitions, the far edge and near edges provide the same service: Secure and reliable network connectivity. This can only be achieved through secure access service edge (SASE), which delivers SD-WAN and security-as-a-service to both near and far-edge sites via a global network of PoPs.
Here’s a closer look how edge computing, SASE and MEC transform end-user data collection and processing across industries.
Profit from the edge computing power
As connectivity needs increase across industries, 30% will be generated and collected in real time by 2025. This data must be processed at the far edge to enable real-time responses. It positions resources such as storage and computing as close as possible to end users.
This allows customer networks to reduce latency and speeds up data processing. It also increases bandwidth savings.
Edge computing has many benefits.
Everybody — from manufacturing, agriculture, and healthcare, to network optimization and workplace safety, retail, and even manufacturing — there are endless possibilities.
Edge computing provides solutions to framework problems like network congestion and bandwidth limitations. It also gives autonomy in areas where reliable connectivity is difficult to find. Plus, it allows data sovereignty and security to allow sensitive data to locally be processed and protected via encryption or other methods, before being sent to the cloud.
Augmented Reality Computing
Imagine you’re a retail store owner. Interactive digital content can make your customers’ shopping experience more enjoyable. Edge computing is a way to run augmented reality-powered shopping apps such as smart mirrors, which require human feedback.
What if you are driving an autonomous vehicle? Edge computing is the only way your car can ingest, process and analyze data from multiple sources. This includes satellite data, car sensors, and more. All of this information must be gathered and processed in real time, giving your car artificial intelligence the ability to make quick driving decisions and keep you safe.
SASE offers flexible and cheaper solutions for data protection
Enterprises are searching for ways to connect their users securely to their business and entertainment resources, regardless of where they are connecting from.
Although effective, SD-WAN was designed to connect specific branches and home workers. This makes it inefficient when you consider the increasing number of remote devices and services that are available outside these branches. SASE combines the benefits of SD-WAN’s network performance with a more efficient way to deliver on-demand security services from anywhere. It is similar to other cloud-based services.
SASE automates data protection and ensures that networks can access and send real-time data from different cloud locations. Each PoP can use the entire suite of enterprise security functions regardless of where they connect.
SASE technology has quickly become a key asset for companies looking to improve their network security.
SASE tech reduces the number vendors that IT teams need, which in turn makes it more affordable and less complicated. SASE tech is able to route through multiple PoPs, which makes it more efficient for companies that use latency-sensitive collaboration tools.
SASE’s distributed architecture makes remote work possible. IT can perform security functions for end users easily.
The marketplace is still trying to figure out the best SASE solution. Innovations must be pursued by innovators to find flexible solutions that do not compromise simplicity and scalable.
MEC: Boosting data speeds and reducing latency
An astonishing 175 zettabytes worth of data will be created each year by 2025 — and 60% of that data will come from enterprises. What is 175 zettabytes of data? You might want to clear your calendar — it would take 1.8 billion years for all of it.
MEC can help you prepare for the massive shift in big data.
MEC handles huge amounts of information in real time, performing data processing, storage, and analysis. These tasks are not performed in distant clouds but in base stations, telco-data centers or PoPs near the edge — via radio access network — within your network. SD-WAN provides enhanced security and connectivity.
MEC powers ultra low latency
How will this impact the game? MEC provides ultra-low latency and lightning-fast data transmission for customers. This will allow you to offer a better quality of service (QoE). It dramatically reduces traffic that is offloaded to the backend server or core network, allowing you to use these resources for more business-critical tasks.
MEC, like edge computing supports endless use cases across industries. MEC will be used by manufacturers to enable smart factories and agile manufacturing. MEC allows engineers to quickly detect and analyze even the smallest faults and defects via video. This empowers them to prevent major issues from developing.
MEC also benefits law enforcement
British police are equipped with dash cameras in their squad cars, and have body cameras. However, they struggle to transfer all of their imagery data to a central location where it can be analyzed. They have installed ruggedized UCB-style devices inside their police cruisers. These include a video processing unit (VPU), a SD-WAN Edge device and dual LTE connections.
As officers got out of their cruisers, the cameras broadcast via Wi-Fi to the recorder in their car’s trunk. The data is processed by the VPU and uploaded to a base station near the edge. This allows for post-processing, analysis and storage.
Conclusion
Enterprises around the globe are turning to Edge technology to improve app performance. The Edge processes data where it is collected in real time and very close to users, drastically reducing latency.
MEC is the one at the edge. They handle large amounts of data in real time and perform data processing at lightning speed. This improves end-user QoE. IT teams: What is the endgame?
They can reduce their dependence on the cloud and speed up data transmission, increase agility, and lower costs, which will support next-generation innovations that only exist in imagination.