EDGE COMPUTING
Stephen Lawrence, Sector
Director for Enterprise, SSE
Enterprise Telecoms
ssetelecoms.com
As businesses look to collect, store and process an increasing
wealth of data and take advantage of new technologies
including software-defined networking (SDN) and network
functions virtualisation (NFV), the underlying network
architecture is having to adapt. A prime example of this is
the emergence of edge computing; this is a system in which
computing takes place geographically closer to the edge of
the network and to the source of the data. It’s an exciting
new approach that helps organisations to overcome some of
the hurdles of traditional cloud-based networks.
One such hurdle is the reduction of latency – the time
lag that occurs when having to send information back to
a centralised hub, that could be located anywhere in the
world. For businesses such as large trading banks who are
reliant on receiving up to date data that can be presented
to traders quickly, this is especially beneficial. Just consider
the marginal time improvements gained from running
algorithms closer to a stock exchange which will ensure stock
pricing is updated faster and more efficiently.
Network expansion
Edge computing is also an extremely exciting network
proposition for organisations looking to drive infrastructure
expansion across new geographies. They will now have the
opportunity to partner with an edge data centre provider
that services customers without the need to create a
centralised physical presence.
Through shifting away from having a singular central
location to hold valuable data, edge computing also has
security advantages. Computer processes can now take
place across a wide array of devices and locations, making
it harder for breaches or network downtime to lead to a
critical failure of the entire network. Network architects are
21
Edge computing and the evolution
of networks to reduce latency and
speed up data processing
also able to close off specific areas of vulnerability if threats
emerge, without needing to shut down the entire network.
Thus, improving the customer experience and saving
organisations money.
Technology in practice
Some of the use cases for edge computing could include
enabling the deployment of autonomous vehicles. These
vehicles will generate a significant amount of data,
needing to be able to ‘talk’ to each other as well as other
elements on the open road. Edge computing will ensure
the prioritisation of this data, meaning vehicles make
the correct, and safe, decisions. Also, for large streaming
companies, edge infrastructure will reduce capacity
demands, because computing power will take place closer to
the end-user. This means that services will run quicker and
there will be improvements to any quality of service issues
the customer may encounter.
What the future holds
It’s hard to apply a one-size-fits-all approach to network
architectures, as ultimately it comes down to the investment
made in the network that connects all IT assets. Plus, there’s
a dependency on how much faith a business has placed in
migrating critical processes into public cloud environments.
Many businesses will maintain a mixture of private cloud,
siloed and external systems, and so this also plays a role in
determining the effectiveness of edge computing.
What is important is that resilient and diverse routes
are invested in for critical data traffic. It will certainly be
interesting to see how the process fares in the coming
months and years as organisations look to expand their
global footprint in a more cost-effective and secure way. n
www.networkseuropemagazine.com