Edge computing is to bloom:Forrester

It is always an advantage to have edge computing then the cloud computing if one have their most customers to serve locally and a report from Forrester Research says, 2020 is set to be a “breakout year” for edge computing technology.

With the propel edge computing into the enterprise technology limelight for good, Edge computing is a “mesh network of micro data centers that process or store critical data locally and push all received data to a central data center or cloud storage repository, in a footprint of less than 100 square feet,” according to research firm IDC.

Edge computing allows data produced by internet of things (IoT) devices to be processed closer to where it is created instead of sending it across long routes to data centers or clouds.

What it all boils down to, in some ways, is that form factors will shift sharply away from traditional rack, blade or tower servers in the coming year, depending on where the edge technology is deployed. An autonomous car, for example, won’t be able to run a traditionally constructed server.

It’ll also mean that telecom companies will begin to feature a lot more heavily in the cloud and distributed-computing markets.

Forrester said that CDNs and colocation vendors could become juicy acquisition targets for big telecom, which missed the boat on cloud computing to a certain extent, and is eager to be a bigger part of the edge. They’re also investing in open-source projects like Akraino, an edge software stack designed to support carrier availability.

But the biggest carrier impact on edge computing in 2020 will undoubtedly be the growing availability of 5G network coverage, Forrester says. While that availability will still mostly be confined to major cities, that should be enough to prompt reconsideration of edge strategies by businesses that want to take advantage of capabilities like smart, real-time video processing, 3D mapping for worker productivity and use cases involving autonomous robots or drones.

Beyond the carriers, there’s a huge range of players in the edge computing, all of which have their eyes firmly on the future. Operational-device makers in every field from medicine to utilities to heavy industry will need custom edge devices for connectivity and control, huge cloud vendors will look to consolidate their hold over that end of the market and AI/ML startups will look to enable brand-new levels of insight and functionality.

According to Forrester, which noted that integrators who can pull products and services from many different vendors into a single system will be highly sought-after in the coming year. Multivendor solutions are likely to be much more popular than single-vendor, in large part because few individual companies have products that address all parts of the edge and IoT stacks.

Increasingly, developers are discovering the benefits to doing some compute and analytics closer to the end user, and even right on devices. By moving data processing closer to the end user, you can reduce latency for critical applications. You can also help manage the massive deluge of data generated by the billions of devices, and deliver fast, intelligent, near real-time responsiveness