We Have to Define What Edge Computing Is
We Have to Define What Edge Computing Is

Edge Computing promises millions of dollars of revenue. However, we do not yet have a definition of what it is.

Photo by Edurne Chopeitia on Unsplash

The first time I heard about edge computing was back in 2015. Since then, I have been working for startups to enable distributed data-driven solutions for the edge. It looks like everybody (or almost everybody) is aware of what edge computing is. However, all this time I have been working in a technological paradigm without a clear definition statement.

At the moment of writing this post, there is no clear definition of what the edge is. These are some definitions you can find online. Some of them are the ones used in the Wikipedia entry for edge computing.

all computing outside the cloud happening at the edge of the network, and more specifically in applications where real-time processing of data is required

Karim Arabi

Your mobile phone and all your wearables are the edge according to this definition.

anything that’s not a traditional data center could be the ‘edge’ to somebody

ETSI

This may include elements such as server proxies.

the edge node is mostly one or two hops away from the mobile client to meet the response time constraints for real-time games’

Gamelets — Multiplayer mobile games with distributed micro-clouds

In this case, the edge is not the final user device. It is something between the cloud and the user.

computing that’s done at or near the source of the data, instead of relying on the cloud at one of a dozen data centers to do all the work

Paul Miller

This definition points out the idea of data proximity.

Well, I have to say that all these definitions are correct. Why? Because the edge is so abstract that it admits almost any definition. The edge is so vaguely defined, that becomes something blurry and difficult to demarcate in any architectural design. Also, we have the cloud and the fog. What does the edge have to do with the cloud? And the fog?
['Juan M. Tirado']
['Technology', 'Software Development', 'Data', 'Future', 'Programming']