A Preview of Edge Computing in 2021


Edge computing is drawing attention as the next destination for cloud computing, but it may lose some of its benefits due to its complexity and security.

In 2019 and 2020, edge computing received a lot of attention as most of the centralized cloud computing suffered a delay that is seldom solved. Cloud service providers are building new POPs (Point of Presence) closer to users, and while numerous PoPs continue to appear around the world, delays remain a common problem.

New edge computing projects tend to be obsessed with collecting and processing data closer to data sources and data users. But if you're an architect, you need to deal with it in a more scalable and manageable way. If operated individually, the number of edge systems that need to be managed will reach a point where operations and security can hardly keep up. Therefore, rather than operating each edge-based system individually, it is necessary to focus on establishing an overall management and environment configuration system. 

Interestingly, many companies see edge computing as a counter to public cloud computing and as a tool to solve the myriad of problems and complexities caused by the cloud. But in reality, public cloud computing is the starting point for any successful edge computing strategy. The operation team manages the edge computing system using a centralized control center, and the environment configuration and security profile are centrally preserved and managed within the public cloud service provider.

New approaches will emerge over time. For example, such as EdgeOps and EdgeSecOps exist independently of large public cloud service providers. However, given the resources required for successful EdgeOps management, these services or technologies are unlikely to be as attractive as those offered by cloud-based systems and public cloud service providers hosting edge-based systems. Anyone who sees this market as an edge-to-cloud competitive landscape misses out on what really matters. 

So, what does this trend mean for a general company that wants to know the possibilities of edge computing? What will happen this year? My predictions are as follows.
  • Security and governance issues have not been addressed well in the emerging edge computing. Hackers will try to infiltrate edge-based systems as access points, and the use of edge computing will be activated before edge computing security.
  • Many companies will move to edge computing for performance reasons. This is because most of the delay problems can be solved. However, companies still operate a wide range of distributed systems. There will be a very little delay between the edge-based system and the data it collects, but most edge systems have to rely on a centralized data store. The system needs data processed at the edge, and some delay is inevitable to access this data.
  • In many cases, using edge computing abandons the productive capabilities of public clouds, such as serverless and managed containers. These functions will also appear as cloud-based edge computing processing, but they will be far behind the core functions of the centralized public cloud.

You don't have to give up edge computing for this kind of problem, but you need to figure out exactly what the reality is. Only then will many companies be broadly embraced by edge computing, and edge computing will not panic as it evolves from the hype to realistic operations.

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