HAVE A LOOK AT THE FIRST PART (Edge Computing (PART-1) (wixsite.com)), TO GET A CLEAR VIEW. LET'S CONTINUE WITH PART - 2
Benefits of edge computing
Edge computing addresses vital infrastructure challenges -- such as bandwidth limitations, excess latency and network congestion -- but there are several potential additional benefits to edge computing that can make the approach appealing in other situations.
Autonomy. Edge computing is useful where connectivity is unreliable or bandwidth is restricted because of the site's environmental characteristics. Examples include oil rigs, ships at sea, remote farms or other remote locations, such as a rainforest or desert. Edge computing does the compute work on-site -- sometimes on the edge device itself -- such as water quality sensors on water purifiers in remote villages and can save data to transmit to a central point only when connectivity is available. By processing data locally, the amount of data to be sent can be vastly reduced, requiring far less bandwidth or connectivity time than might otherwise be necessary.
Data sovereignty. Moving huge amounts of data isn't just a technical problem. Data's journey across national and regional boundaries can pose additional problems for data security, privacy and other legal issues. Edge computing can be used to keep data close to its source and within the bounds of prevailing data sovereignty laws, such as the European Union's GDPR, which defines how data should be stored, processed and exposed. This can allow raw data to be processed locally, obscuring or securing any sensitive data before sending anything to the cloud or primary data centre, which can be in other jurisdictions.
Edge security. Finally, edge computing offers an additional opportunity to implement and ensure data security. Although cloud providers have IoT services and specialize in complex analysis, enterprises remain concerned about the safety and security of data once it leaves the edge and travels back to the cloud or data centre. By implementing computing at the edge, any data traversing the network back to the cloud or data centre can be secured through encryption, and the edge deployment itself can be hardened against hackers and other malicious activities -- even when security on IoT devices remains limited.
Challenges of edge computing
Although edge computing has the potential to provide compelling benefits across a multitude of use cases, the technology is far from foolproof. Beyond the traditional problems of network limitations, there are several key considerations that can affect the adoption of edge computing:
Limited capability. Part of the allure that clouds computing brings to edge -- or fog -- computing is the variety and scale of the resources and services. Deploying an infrastructure at the edge can be effective, but the scope and purpose of the edge deployment must be clearly defined -- even an extensive edge computing deployment serves a specific purpose at a pre-determined scale using limited resources and few services.
Connectivity. Edge computing overcomes typical network limitations, but even the most forgiving edge deployment will require some minimum level of connectivity. It's critical to design an edge deployment that accommodates poor or erratic connectivity and consider what happens at the edge when connectivity is lost. Autonomy, AI and graceful failure planning in the wake of connectivity problems are essential to successful edge computing.
Security. IoT devices are notoriously insecure, so it's vital to design an edge computing deployment that will emphasize proper device management, such as policy-driven configuration enforcement, as well as security in the computing and storage resources -- including factors such as software patching and updates -- with special attention to encryption in the data at rest and in flight. IoT services from major cloud providers include secure communications, but this isn't automatic when building an edge site from scratch.
Data lifecycles. The perennial problem with today's data glut is that so much of that data is unnecessary. Consider a medical monitoring device -- it's just the problem data that are critical, and there's little point in keeping days of normal patient data. Most of the data involved in real-time analytics are short-term data that isn't kept over the long term. A business must decide which data to keep and what to discard once analyses are performed. And the data that is retained must be protected in accordance with business and regulatory policies.
Edge computing implementation
Edge computing is a straightforward idea that might look easy on paper, but developing a cohesive strategy and implementing a sound deployment at the edge can be a challenging exercise.
The first vital element of any successful technology deployment is the creation of a meaningful business and technical edge strategy. Such a strategy isn't about picking vendors or gear. Instead, an edge strategy considers the need for edge computing. Understanding the "why" demands a clear understanding of the technical and business problems that the organization is trying to solve, such as overcoming network constraints and observing data sovereignty. Such strategies might start with a discussion of just what the edge means, where it exists for the business and how it should benefit the organization. Edge strategies should also align with existing business plans and technology roadmaps. For example, if the business seeks to reduce its centralized data centre footprint, then edge and other distributed computing technologies might align well.
As the project moves closer to implementation, it's important to evaluate hardware and software options carefully. There are many vendors in the edge computing space, including Adlink Technology, Cisco, Amazon, Dell EMC and HPE. Each product offering must be evaluated for cost, performance, features, interoperability and support. From a software perspective, tools should provide comprehensive visibility and control over the remote edge environment. The actual deployment of an edge computing initiative can vary dramatically in scope and scale, ranging from some local computing gear in a battle-hardened enclosure atop a utility to a vast array of sensors feeding a high-bandwidth, low-latency network connection to the public cloud. No two edge deployments are the same. It's these variations that make edge strategy and planning so critical to edge project success.
An edge deployment demands comprehensive monitoring. Remember that it might be difficult -- or even impossible -- to get IT, staff, to the physical edge site, so edge deployments should be architected to provide resilience, fault-tolerance and self-healing capabilities. Monitoring tools must offer a clear overview of the remote deployment, enable easy provisioning and configuration, offer comprehensive alerting and reporting and maintain the security of the installation and its data. Edge monitoring often involves an array of metrics and KPIs, such as site availability or uptime, network performance, storage capacity and utilization, and compute resources.
And no edge implementation would be complete without careful consideration of edge maintenance:
Security. Physical and logical security precautions are vital and should involve tools that emphasize vulnerability management and intrusion detection and prevention. Security must extend to sensor and IoT devices, as every device is a network element that can be accessed or hacked -- presenting a bewildering number of possible attack surfaces.
Connectivity. Connectivity is another issue, and provisions must be made for access to control and reporting even when connectivity for the actual data is unavailable. Some edge deployments use a secondary connection for backup connectivity and control.
Management. The remote and often inhospitable locations of edge deployments make remote provisioning and management essential. IT managers must be able to see what's happening at the edge and be able to control the deployment when necessary.
Physical maintenance. Physical maintenance requirements can't be overlooked. IoT devices often have limited lifespans with routine battery and device replacements. Gear fails and eventually requires maintenance and replacement. Practical site logistics must be included with maintenance.
Edge computing, IoT and 5G possibilities
Edge computing continues to evolve, using new technologies and practices to enhance its capabilities and performance. Perhaps the most noteworthy trend is edge availability, and edge services are expected to become available worldwide by 2028. Where edge computing is often situation-specific today, the technology is expected to become more ubiquitous and shift the way that the internet is used, bringing more abstraction and potential use cases for edge technology.
This can be seen in the proliferation of computing, storage and network appliance products specifically designed for edge computing. More multivendor partnerships will enable better product interoperability and flexibility at the edge. An example includes a partnership between AWS and Verizon to bring better connectivity to the edge.
Wireless communication technologies, such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6, will also affect edge deployments and utilization in the coming years, enabling virtualization and automation capabilities that have yet to be explored, such as better vehicle autonomy and workload migrations to the edge, while making wireless networks more flexible and cost-effective.
Edge computing gained notice with the rise of IoT and the sudden glut of data such devices produce. But with IoT technologies still in relative infancy, the evolution of IoT devices will also have an impact on the future development of edge computing. One example of such future alternatives is the development of micro modular data centres (MMDCs). The MMDC is basically a data centre in a box, putting a complete data centre within a small mobile system that can be deployed closer to data -- such as across a city or a region -- to get computing much closer to data without putting the edge at the data proper.
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DISCLAIMER
The information is provided by Tecquisition for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal advice. If you have any feedback, comments, requests for technical support or other inquiries, please mail us at tecqusition@gmail.com.
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