Consider this: by 2020; predictions say that nearly 50 billion things will be connected to the Internet. According to a Gartner report, these devices will send trillions of messages on a day to day basis—exponentially increasing loads across the network as well as the quantity of data that can be turned into actionable insights.

IoT, or “Internet Of Things” is a revolution that’s clearly here to stay. It is no longer a niche for a handful of businesses but is quickly and firmly transforming the way we live and work. As the number of devices connected to the internet increase, it is spurring on a new computing model called edge computing, another dimension that promises to alter the way businesses operate.

Edge Computing Complements the Cloud

According to Gartner, approximately 10% of enterprise-generated data is created, and processed outside a traditional data centre or the cloud. The report predicts that by 2020, the number will increase to 50%. So does that mean, edge computing will replace the cloud? Or do you think, as we Irisians do, that we will soon see a new hybrid model which combines the best of both worlds?

Real-time insights are the crux of edge computing after all. In edge computing, devices analyse sensor data on the factory floor or across businesses and are then sent to the cloud or data centre as needed.

The number of intelligent, connected devices have been skyrocketing.  At the same time, businesses are growing at breakneck speed – with reduced reaction times becoming critical competitive advantages for many industries. Edge computing can help enterprises to very rapidly and inexpensively analyse and store portions of their data closer to where it’s needed, making it an important complement to cloud computing.

How is edge computing transforming businesses?

As edge computing gains popularity, it stands to provide strategic benefits to a wide range of industries. Here are five ways edge computing will transform businesses in times to come:

1) Decreasing costs of IoT solutions: Since, edge computing lets you analyze and portions of data closer to where it is needed, it reduces the amount of data that flows back and forth. Businesses can select which servers to run at the edge and which data gets sent to the cloud, lowering IoT costs and obtaining greater value from.

2) Improved Security: Edge computing resolves a majority of the security concerns that had hampered the widespread use of the Cloud.  It helps companies filter out sensitive data which they want to keep close to their premise, and which data they are ok to send to the cloud.

3) Quicker response times: As the amount of data flowing to the cloud and back is reduced, the time taken to garner actionable insights is reduced considerably. Edge computing is here to enable instant data analytics.

4) Reliable operations even with sketchy connectivity: Businesses can now operate without disruption or downtime even in the event of internet connectivity failures by choosing to place mission-critical data on the edge. This makes it an ideal solution to analyse data in remote locations such as aeroplanes, ships, rural markets, etc.

5) Bridging the gap between new and legacy devices: Edge computing enables interoperability between legacy industrial equipment with modern smart devices. It converts the communication protocols used by legacy devices into a language that modern smart devices and the cloud can understand so business can get started with IoT without investing in expensive new equipment.