EDITOR’S QUESTION
/////////////////
“
USERS SHOULDN’T
BE AWARE OF WHETHER IT IS
EDGE OR CLOUD COMPUTING
THEY ARE ACCESSING –
THEY SHOULD JUST HAVE AN
AMAZING USER EXPERIENCE.
A
lot of people think of edge computing as anything that
is IoT-focused. In fact, anything that is not cloud is edge
computing. That means any smart device – laptops,
smartphones, tablets, computers. At New Signature, we refer to
anything that has some local processing power as edge. doing all the analytics as previously. We have smart devices that
are also extremely powerful. What we need is for the technology
to work symbiotically, so it is the right technology doing the most
appropriate analysis and processing. It should not matter whether
it is edge or cloud that is enabling this to happen.
Times have changed but there is still a similarity with where we were
with technology 10 years ago. Back then, the focus was on client/
server, where we held some information on a centralised device
and client devices that fed into this. As technology has evolved, we
have more intelligent devices and a more powerful core in the cloud.
Specific applications have been developed to ensure that cloud and
smart devices work together more effectively. Traditionally, the cloud has been the backbone of a technology
offering with devices syncing, backing up and using a local cache.
With the emergence of IOT and smart devices, the cloud is becoming
an orchestrator of the technology, especially as more edge devices
are collecting and processing data in real time. As these devices get
more sophisticated, we are seeing more power at the edge which is
really exciting. Currently, we are taking this data and still handling
the analysis centrally, but this won’t be the case for long. One of our
considerations is how we can collect the data from the edge device
more efficiently.
Client/server has morphed into intelligent edge and intelligent
cloud with all applications requiring some central power and
distributed power. What’s important about this is that users
shouldn’t be aware of whether it is edge or cloud computing they
are accessing – they should just have an amazing user experience.
The challenge is how we streamline the link between edge and
cloud computing further. It is no longer the case of the cloud
38
INTELLIGENTCIO
The relationship between edge and cloud is constantly changing
but as smart devices get more powerful and do the jobs that have
previously been the responsibility of the cloud, the real challenge is
whether the cloud can grow quickly enough to keep up.
www.intelligentcio.com