What is the Industrial Edge? This is a topic that is heavily debated in techno circles outside of the industrial domain. Schneider Electric describes the industrial edge as, “the places where digitized industrial assets and human operators are located. Siemens describes it as, “an open, ready-to-use Edge computing platform consisting of Edge devices, Edge apps, Edge connectivity, and an application and device management infrastructure.”
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Lately, a lot of folks have been questioning the value of 5G at the edge. Can’t we just use Wi-Fi? We can just set up a Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) network for our Internet of Things (IoT) devices and technology. Is 5G even ready to make a difference? I don’t see the difference on my smartphone. These are all very good questions and concerns. So, why does and will 5G matter at the edge?
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Innovation is such a generic and overused term. It seems that every organization claims that they are, or aspire to be, innovative. But what does it mean to innovate with all the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities coming to the edge? What kind of approach should you have to take this expansive and complex thing that is edge computing plus AI to discover opportunities for creating value that was not there before for your business or your customers?
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One of the more exciting things happening across a variety of edges is artificial intelligence. It is becoming more prevalent especially on our consumer devices, but also across a fast-expanding range of IoT devices that are enabling intelligent digital twinning of factory equipment or monitoring of crops in a field.
As AI-capable devices and emerging edge infrastructures foster new concepts in distributed AI architectures, business leaders and the C-suite can expect pockets of opportunity to arise across an increasingly cognitive and intelligent edge.
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If you hang out in blockchain circles for more than a moment you will undoubtedly hear about smart contracts. In 2017, when blockchain was the disruptive technology du jour, crypto pundits at the time claimed that smart contracts would quickly disintermediate escrow companies, freight forwarders, medical insurance claim processors, financial clearinghouses, and middlemen across all industries. Five years later, none of these “disruptions” have happened nor are they close to happening. Traditional intermediaries continue to enjoy their place in their respective industries. While Ethereum, the crypto network which is the basis for the nascent but heavily hyped DeFi (Decentralized Finance) phenomenon, and the overhyped NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens), has come a long way in terms of market value, few smart contract applications founded on it have scaled to a degree to pose a threat to traditional contractual media or networks.
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Today’s CXO is often faced with making decisions before all the aspects of an emerging technology are known. Take for example Blockchain technologies, something that there is a lot of talk about, as well as perceived need, yet still shrouded in mystery. Add to that the intricacies of edge computing and CXOs start to tread in uncertain territories. The potential intersection of edge computing and blockchain deserves a much closer look before CXOs pull the trigger.
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This analyst brief, authored by Acceleration Economy Analyst Leonard Lee, with contribution from analysts Kenny Mullican, and Ronak Mathur, offers insights into critical automation that is used at the network edge. And how those technologies are redefining workflows, changing value propositions, and creating autonomous environments that enable enhanced efficiencies, by removing manual processes from critical operational workflows.
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We have talked about how the edge has and is continuing to become more “cloudified”. Every day, we see multiple press releases from a slew of startups as well as the leading cloud service providers that lend proof to the notion that cloud technologies and service delivery models are making their way across the edge. In this article, I will touch on how the edge cloud is shaping the future of computing.
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Let’s talk about the first principles of edge computing. Edge computing – why do we do it? Why will we do it? To be honest, edge computing is such a broad and deep topic, it is difficult to discuss the need for it. There are several lenses that can be applied to consider rationale and benefit. I will give it a shot and appreciate your help if you think I got it wrong. We are all in this together.
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We have been doing edge computing for a long time, depending on who you ask. If that is the case, what is the big deal about edge computing? It really is the emerging edge cloud. Edge cloud can be defined as the rapid push of cloud computing out across the edge continuum between the central data center or public cloud megaplexes to the on-premise edge appliances supporting IoT (Internet of Things) applications or a base station at the edge of the mobile network.
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