Organizations rely on data, and the number of connected devices needed to support that purpose continues to grow by billions every year.
The number of connected devices is expected to reach 17.08 billion in 2024, compared to 15.14 billion in 2023, according to forecasts in a July 2023 report by Statista, a German market and consumer data company. Masu.
As a result, these devices generate mind-boggling amounts of data.
According to the report “Worldwide IDC Global DataSphere Forecast, 2023-2027: It’s a Distributed, Diverse, and Dynamic (3D) DataSphere” published by IDC in April 2023, 157 zettabytes of data will be generated in 2024. It is said that Furthermore, the report estimates that 20% of that data is generated at the edge.
According to an IDC report, from 2022 to 2027, the amount of data generated at the edge is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 34% over the forecast period, compared to data generated at the core or endpoints. data.
Organizations are looking to make instantaneous decisions using large amounts of data, so they need the computing power to handle it.
That’s where edge computing comes in.
Edge computing is a distributed IT architecture that places data processing, analysis, and even intelligence as close as possible to the endpoints that generate the data, so that subsequent insights gleaned from that data can be used to Be able to make decisions.
Computing at the edge is typically housed in dedicated devices such as edge gateways that serve as entry points for cloud services. However, edge computing power can be housed in a variety of devices, including the endpoint itself. For example, a smartphone can serve as an endpoint as it can provide some data processing services even when offline.
Organizations across industries are evolving the technologies that support and surround edge computing and how they use edge computing technology.
Here are some notable developments in this field to watch in 2024.
1. Spending on edge technology continues to skyrocket
Although market value numbers vary widely, multiple studies and analyst reports agree that edge spending is increasing and will continue to do so.
According to IDC’s Worldwide Edge Spending Guide published in July 2023, global spending on edge computing is expected to exceed $208 billion in 2023, up 13.1 billion from 2022 numbers. % increase. The study also forecasts hardware and software spending for businesses and service providers. Services for edge solutions will maintain its pace until 2026, with spending expected to reach $317 billion.
Yih-Khai Wong, senior analyst at New York-based market research firm ABI Research, said nearly every industry recognizes the need for businesses to put computing at the edge. For example, the automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail industries are leading the way in edge adoption.
“These are all industries where we’re seeing a lot of noise around edge computing,” Wong said.
2. Types of edge computing will continue to expand
The number and variety of edge computing devices and deployments are expanding.
“Edge is a family of technologies that includes hardware, software, data, and services, and ensures that those elements are placed where they can be optimized, which is inherently more strategic and broader. “It’s becoming a big thing,” said Michele Perino, principal analyst at Forrester. the study.
According to Perino, organizations across industries are deploying dedicated edge computing devices within their facilities, but that’s only a fraction of the edge computing power in the world today.
Some companies are building second and third tier data centers to house edge capabilities. For example, such data centers may be located within commercial buildings and process data within that particular facility.
Additionally, organizations use content delivery networks. It is a collection of geographically distributed but interconnected servers that cache content locally for faster delivery to end users.
Some organizations purchase edge computing capabilities from communications service providers. Communications service providers’ extensive infrastructure and far-reaching reach allow them to physically place edge devices in nearly every potential customer. Carriers are leveraging their proximity to offer edge computing equipment, services, and supporting components such as Secure Access Services Edge, which bundles network and security features as a service into a single service. Masu.
3. Edge growth creates infrastructure challenges
The distributed nature of edge computing presents challenges, and the impact of those challenges is increasing with the demand for and adoption of edge hardware.
“There are some headwinds at the edge,” says David Witkowski, IEEE senior member and CEO of Oku Solutions, an Aptos, Calif.-based provider of professional support services to the wireless communications industry. states.
A key concern facing enterprises is the sustainable management of edge assets across multiple locations and devices.
“The equipment will be on a pedestal or a roadside safe, which creates challenges with power supply and cooling,” he said.
The overall risk of using public space to house edge equipment is another concern.
“Vault security poses challenges [that house them]”These assets are in public areas where they can be compromised, and it’s going to be difficult for companies deploying this equipment to even have the space to put them,” Witkowski said. Ta.
Telecommunications service providers and other companies building edge computing capabilities are grappling with such issues, but these challenges may slow the pace of edge adoption and reduce innovation and dependence on edge computing capabilities. It can slow down use cases such as self-driving cars. It’s the technology to operate, he said.
4. More hackers targeting edge deployments
Threat actors are turning to the growing number of IoT and edge computing devices as prime targets.
Researchers have identified a number of potential threats, including:
- Attacks against users and endpoint devices.
- Sniffing attacks on radio access networks (RAN).
- Attacks against servers and data at the network edge.
- Sniffing attacks against endpoint (user) devices and components.
- Attacks on related cloud workloads.
- Attacks on applications at the network edge.
- Supply chain attack.
- Attacks on 5G core networks.
- Physical attacks on technology components such as IoT devices or abandoned assets.
- DDoS to RAN.
- Attacks on multi-access edge computing.
“What we’re talking about is fragmented connected devices opening the door for even worse things to happen,” Perino said. “Companies need to be proactive about security very early on.”
According to AT&T Cybersecurity’s 2023 Edge Ecosystem Report, enterprise leaders are prioritizing edge deployments.
According to the report, security ranks third as an organization’s top investment area, followed by network design, deployment, and maintenance in first place, and overall strategy and planning in second place.
5. Edge computing is getting more powerful
Apple made headlines in October 2023 when it announced the arrival of the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips. It is the first personal computer chip built using 3-nanometer process technology, which packs more transistors into a smaller space for increased speed and efficiency.
Juan Orlandini, CTO of North America for Insight Enterprises, an IT services consultancy based in Tempe, Arizona, said the news is an example of the increase in computing power happening on edge devices.
“You can now get more computing power in a smaller footprint than you could have dreamed of before,” he said. “This provides an incredible set of capabilities and allows us to do more intelligent processing at the edge.”
6. AI capabilities are moving to the edge
This high computing power allows AI to move from cloud services to the edge.
This has created multiple benefits that can support increased innovation and wider adoption, Wong said.
He said AI requires the power of cloud computing to handle the vast amounts of data it processes and analyses. However, sending data from endpoints to the cloud requires high bandwidth, increasing network costs and introducing latency issues.
The ability to support AI in edge computing continues to improve.
Advances in processing power will allow organizations to move AI capabilities to edge devices, reducing latency and cost, Wong said. This opens up many potential applications across industries, from healthcare to manufacturing to retail.
7. 5G growth will transform edge computing capabilities
Edge computing helps reduce latency by placing computing resources closer to the endpoints that generate the data, but the combination of 5G speeds and edge computing will reduce latency even further, enabling near real-time processing. supports important use cases.
5G will create larger and faster pipes to transmit data, resulting in the ultra-low latency needed for many applications, including widespread adoption of self-driving cars, advanced medical services such as remote telesurgery and the Metaverse. can be achieved.
That’s why many people are looking at the expansion of 5G networks.
5G will become the fastest growing and most widely adopted wireless cellular technology by 2028, according to a September 2023 study conducted by wireless industry trade association 5G Americas in collaboration with research firm Omdia. The number of connections is expected to exceed 4G LTE by more than 2.5 billion.
According to the study, 5G connections are expected to reach 2 billion connections by the end of 2023 and 8 billion connections by 2026, outpacing LTE’s first 10-year increase by more than 2.5 billion connections.
While these are big numbers, Witkowski said 5G is not yet widespread.
“We can’t do anything really interesting with 5G networks until they are fully present,” he said. “That will happen eventually, but it’s not happening today.”
8. Hints emerge of 6G’s potential impact on the edge
While 5G continues to be rolled out, gaining attention for its low latency and high bandwidth, many companies are already working on bringing 6G to market. 6G networks, short for 6th generation wireless, use higher frequencies and higher capacity than 5G while delivering significantly lower latency.
Future 6G networks will eventually replace 5G connectivity, just as 5G replaced previous generations with 4G. Just as 5G provided the ability to enhance edge computing and support new use cases, including edge computing, 6G offers even more possibilities. While 6G efforts are underway and many technology companies are pushing efforts on that front, this technology isn’t coming soon.
“There is a lot of discussion about what 6G will look like in the future, but we are still in its infancy. [design]”There’s no such thing as 6G deployment yet,” Witkowski said.
However, the industry is on track for eventual adoption.
“Draft standards and release candidates will be announced in about five years, in 2028, but a full 6G specification will not appear until 2030,” he said.
Editor’s note: These trends were identified by industry experts and research. This article was written by him in 2020. Revised in 2024 by TechTarget editors to improve reader experience.
Mary K. Pratt is an award-winning freelance journalist focused on covering corporate IT, cybersecurity management, and strategy.
