Are you ready for ‘the edge’? Time to find out.

The edge computing revolution is transforming how billions of devices store, process, and analyze data.

Initially, the objective of edge computing was to reduce the cost of moving raw data from the source to enterprise data centers or clouds. In recent years, the concept has gained traction with the advent of real-time applications that require minimal latency.

According to Gartner, edge computing is “part of a distributed computing topology in which information processing is located close to the edge—where things and people produce or consume that information.”

Edge computing brings data storage and computation closer to the devices that gather the data rather than in a central data center far away. This aims to prevent issues with latency that can affect an application’s performance, especially with real-time data.

Find out whether edge computing is suitable for you by completing this self-assessment quiz. You will be emailed a report once you have completed the five-minute assessment, and if you are interested, we can talk more about how to meet your needs and expand on your opportunities.

Though edge environments are supported by some form of centralized processing, running applications locally, on-premises solves many of the intrinsic challenges of data centers and cloud computing.

Latency. Data can be transmitted easily across a network if only one device sends data, but problems arise when multiple devices transmit data simultaneously. Information takes time to travel across a network. The longer it takes, the more it impacts end-to-end processing times. Expectations for application response times vary from one application, and organization, to the next. However, the more an application experience benefits from a real-time response, the more important it is to remove distance as a factor. Edge computing brings applications closer to where they are used, reducing lag time, and improving efficiency.

Resiliency. Reliable connectivity is key when applications are running from a centralized location. Whether it’s a complete outage, occasional drop or simply high error rates, any interruption is bound to affect the availability and performance of applications relying on that connection. Running applications locally means they can continue to operate as expected, even without a connection to the cloud or data center.

Regulatory compliance. Complying with data security and privacy regulations is serious. The risk of interception and potential for regulatory non-compliance increases every time data is moved. By definition, the cloud is a fuzzy place, making it difficult to know exactly where data is and where it has been. The more data can be collected and processed on-site, the simpler maintaining compliance becomes.

Costs. Cost savings can still be a driving force for companies to deploy edge computing. IoT devices, video systems and environmental sensors are just some of the many technologies saturating our physical spaces. These devices generate massive amounts of data, much of which has value when it can be properly collected and analyzed. But bandwidth isn’t free and transferring all that data to the cloud for processing is both impractical and cost-prohibitive. Edge computing allows all this rich data to be collected and processed locally.

The more connected “things” you have, the higher the uptime, the better the response time, the more bandwidth you will have, and the more efficient your applications, and your organization, will be.

How can edge computing bring new opportunities to your business? What’s driving your need? We have developed this Edge Computing Self Assessment Tool to help you think through the unique needs of your organization. While no assessment provides an exact formula, the personalized data our new tool offers can help you identify and explore your needs and preferences.

Find out whether edge computing is suitable for you by completing this self-assessment. You will be emailed a report once you have completed the five-minute assessment, and if you are interested, we can talk more about how to meet your needs and expand on your opportunities.