Retail always seems to come up when vendors and telcos talk about edge computing or the edge. It’s no surprise given that the global retail industry is forecasted by eMarketer to hit $27 trillion in sales worldwide in 2022. That’s a lot of retail, many modes of retail, and many categories of retail.
Continue readingWhy Edge Infrastructure is Important
It is now commonplace to hear folks say that edge computing does not exist or the edge doesn’t matter. It is meaningless and we shouldn’t talk about it. To be fair, for most audiences, edge computing and the idea of the “edge” does not matter. It is complicated, confusing stuff that most folks just won’t grasp, much like cloud. Much like AI. Most folks don’t care as long as the application works.
But much like cloud, AI, and other hyped and perennially misunderstood and confused techno trends, edge computing matters. It’s not that we shouldn’t talk about any of these things. We should talk about them in a more consistent and informed manner.
Continue readingC-Suite Insight: Privacy at the Edge
The increasingly instrumented and sensor-laden edge is making it difficult for people to find alone time and evade prying digital eyes. The challenge only promises to get bigger as consumer and industrial IoT continue to shed unwelcome light on our personal lives and our personal data. The issue of privacy is becoming a prominent topics of ethics and legality. What can you do as a member of the C-suite to steer your business with a privacy first compass?
Continue readingP2P Edge Computing: The Other Edge Architecture
When we thinking edge computing we typically think of an endpoint device such as a smartphone or an IoT gateway that connects to an edge or cloud infrastructure. We generally assume some form of data or computational offload or distribution between a cloud or edge server to an endpoint client. What about endpoint devices communicating with each other and sharing resources at the edge? It’s another paradigm of edge computing that doesn’t get talked about as much but is becoming an increasingly interesting and important architecture.
Continue readingCHIPS Act: The Leading Edge Gap
With $52.7 billion slated for grants to support Sections 9902 through 9906 of the 2021 National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA), Washington faces daunting next steps to define and execute on a CHIPS Act program to move the U.S. semiconductor industry toward domestic chip supply chain resiliency and manufacturing and technology leadership over the next five years.
With the growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait, the timeline for achieving domestic supply chain resiliency seems to be increasingly urgent. This is especially true for leading-edge manufacturing as the U.S. continues to trail Asia. There are nontrivial risks that need to be addressed for Washington’s near- and long-term promises for the CHIPS Act to be realized.
Continue readingCHIPS Act: A Vital First Step
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, signed Tuesday by President Biden, includes the stated purpose of challenging China’s pursuit of technological and manufacturing leadership in the global semiconductor industry. The bill easily passed both the Senate (64-33) and the House (243-187) with bipartisan support in both houses.
While the passage of the CHIPS Act is a historic achievement that directly addresses the need for chip supply chain resilience add capacity in the U.S., it is also a timely and important commitment to a much longer and comprehensive policy effort to ensure long-term U.S. technology and market share leadership in the vital semiconductor industry.
Continue readingC-Suite Insight: What Is the Industrial Edge?
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.”
Continue readingWhat is the Value of 5G at the Edge?
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?
Continue readingHow Will 5G Revolutionize Virtual Reality?
The question of how 5G will bring about the Metaverse has come up quite frequently lately as the hype engine continues to churn ahead. Some companies today claim that 5G will revolutionize the Metaverse and allege that it is a crucial ingredient for unleashing the expansive promises of Web 3.0 and the virtual worlds that will be built on top of it.
Continue readingIEEE Awards & VIC Summit 2022
The 2022 IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit and the venerable Honors Ceremony took place in San Diego presided by K.J. Ray Liu, 2022 IEEE President and CEO on May 6. The event was held at the San Diego Marriott Marina Hotel. I had the honor of being invited to attend in person and was the first IEEE event since becoming a member this year.
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