Cloud computing (CC) refers to the delivery of computing services such as servers, databases, storage, networking, software, and analytics – over the Internet. ‘Edge computing (EC)’ differs from cloud in the sense that it is used to process time-sensitive data (low latency), while CC is used to process data that is not time-driven. Besides latency, EC is preferred over CC in remote locations, where there is limited or no access to a centralized cloud server.
Many enterprises deploy their AI applications using EC to process data at the very location of its generation. Instead of cloud processing doing the work in a distant, centralized data reserve, EC handles and stores data locally in an edge device. This is the reason EC has also gained significant momentum over the years.
Market Opportunity: US Cloud Computing and Edge Computing,
Since EC is a relatively new concept, the market of CC is significantly higher in size owing to the substantial awareness and adoption over the years across industries. Currently, there is not even a single industry that is untouched of CC. This is because any business which uses internet is also using CC in one way or the other. At the same time, EC also presents notable opportunity as its growth is expected to be almost double the growth of CC in coming years.
Popular subsegments in CC: Software as a service (SaaS) is the most dominant sub-segment representing over half of the market, followed by Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS)
Popular subsegments in EC: Since ‘hardware’ is a key element of EC, it is expected to represent the major share of the market, followed by the platforms that will be leveraged to manage the installed hardware
Key Use Cases for ‘Computing at the Edge’: Since the application of cloud is well known across industries, let us explore the areas presenting considerable and emerging growth opportunities for edge:
- Retail: IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Retail 2022 Predictions reveals that “by 2025, 90% of the top 2000 retailers will employ EC to harness the explosion of data in stores for better workforce productivity and customer experience while reducing costs by 20%.”
- NVIDIA launched its EC stack EGX in 2019. Walmart uses EGX to analyse 1.6 terabytes of data / second
- Customer Experience (CX): Since customer interactions across sectors are becoming digital first, the performance of websites and apps plays a major role in CX. A 2020 study by Deloitte Digital revealed that a 100-millisecond improvement in mobile retail website speed results in an 8.4% growth in customer conversion. EC is that piece of the puzzle helping deliver the time reduction
- Autonomous vehicles: Autonomous technology is the future of passenger as well as commercial vehicles. Such vehicles are equipped with a range of sensors, and the large amount of data created by these sensors needs to be processed in real-time. This processing can be delivered through EC to reduce accidents, improve safety, enhance efficiency, and decrease traffic congestion.
- As an example, Tesla has created a processor having six billion transistors. As compared with NVIDIA GPU, it boosts performance by 21x and has been installed in Tesla Model S, Model 3 and Model X models.
- Oil and Gas (O&G): Real-time monitoring of assets and operations is of the utmost importance for O&G companies. O&G plants are often located in remote locations and EC enables data processing close to the facility. Additionally, linking of EC with the cloud allows the remote team to monitor large numbers of sites.
- In December 2020, Hivecell, an EC services provider announced that WPX Energy has implemented its ‘Edge-as-a-Service’ solution. It has been adopted for real-time decision making and control optimization at the drilling and completion operations in oil fields of West Texas and North Dakota.
- Healthcare:Currently, healthcare teams are using EC devices for automated delivery of care, remote patient monitoring, improved speed and accuracy of diagnoses, and many other use cases.
- For instance, UCLA Health and Massachusetts General Hospital have deployed edge devices like Hyperfine’s portable MRI machine to capture brain scans at the patient’s bedside in real-time.
- Space: The application of EC is not just limited to global business operations, but in speeding up space exploration as well. For instance, NASA has started leveraging EC for data processing close to where it’s generated, rather than sending it back to Earth.
- Specifically, International Space Station (ISS) astronauts are currently studying microbial DNA through ‘edge’ technology. Using the traditional approach, data transmission to earth would take weeks, hence those analyses are being performed onboard the ISS within minutes.
- Smart cities: Governments are beginning to experiment with EC as well, incorporating emerging technologies such as the IoT and AI/ML to quickly identify and remediate problems impacting public safety, citizen satisfaction and environmental sustainability.
- In March 2021, Autonomy Institute, a US-based cooperative research consortium focused on advancing AI at the edge, announced plans to launch a Public Infrastructure Network Node (PINN) pilot at the Texas Military Department in Austin, Texas.
- PINN is set to be the first unified open standard incorporating EC, 5G, enhanced GPS, wireless, radar, lidar, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) as a single unified system.
1 https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/cloud-computing-industry
2 https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/edge-computing-market
3 https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US47249621
4 https://devops.com/edge-computing-techs-next-trillion-dollar-opportunity/
5 https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consulting/articles/5g-in-oil-and-gas.html
7 https://www.hpe.com/us/en/insights/articles/how-the-edge-is-reshaping-healthcare-2103.html
8https://mediacenter.ibm.com/media/IBM+Edge+Computing+helps+NASA+analyze+DNA+in+Space/1_k9ng0dqh
9 https://www.intelligentinfra.com/2022/02/22/pinn-pilot-scheme-to-be-established-in-austin/
10 https://www.gartner.com/en/doc/750789-infographic-understanding-edge-computing
Outlook:
In totality, EC will act more like a complementary technology to the CC. At present, the dependence on cloud is so large that it will be going stay relevant even in the longer run. According to Gartner, EC is still at its nascent stage, but will be supporting CC in nearly every enterprise by 2025.
Source: Gartner, Deloitte, Industry Articles
https://mediacenter.ibm.com/media/IBM+Edge+Computing+helps+NASA+analyze+DNA+in+Space/1_k9ng0dqh
https://www.gartner.com/en/doc/750789-infographic-understanding-edge-computing
