"A portion of a distributed computing architecture in which big data is positioned near to the rim things and people generate or consume that information," according to Gartner, defines edge computing. At its most basic level, edge computing brings computation and data storage closer to the devices where it is being gathered, rather than relying on a central location that can be thousands of miles away. This is done to prevent latency problems from impacting the performance of an application when dealing with data, especially real-time data. Local processing can also save businesses money by minimising the quantity of data that needs to be transmitted to a centralised or cloud-based location.

This is done to prevent latency problems from affecting data, particularly real-time data, which could impair the performance of an application. By decreasing the quantity of data that needs to be transferred to the a central or cloud-based location and having the analysis done locally, businesses can also save money. Edge computing hardware and services can help solve this problem by providing a local processing and storage source for many of these systems. For example, an edge gateway can process data from edge devices and send only relevant data back through the cloud. Alternatively, data can be sent back to edge devices for real-time application requests. (See: Edge gateways are flexible and robust IoT enablers)

What connection exists between edge computing and 5G?

Edge computing can be deployed in non-5G networks (such as 4G LTE), but not necessarily vice versa. In other words, businesses can only really benefit from his 5G if they have edge computing infrastructure. Dave McCarthy, Research Director, Edge Strategy, IDC, said: Mahadev Satyanarayanan, his Professor of Science at Carnegie Mellon University and first co-author of the Edge Computing Pioneer paper in 2009, agrees. “If I have to go back to a data center across the country or on the other side of the world, what difference does a last hop of 0 milliseconds make?” As more 5G networks roll out , the relationship between edge computing and 5G wireless will continue to be interconnected, but organizations can continue to deploy edge computing infrastructure over different network models, including wired and optionally Wi-Fi. . However, edge infrastructure is more likely to use 5G networks, especially in rural areas where wired networks are not provided, given the high speeds that 5G offers.