The network infrastructure of the future is intelligent

Smart systems have become an increasingly common part of everyday life. Using a combination of wireless communication networks, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), edge and fog computing, and a variety of other cutting-edge technologies and frameworks, vendors are enhancing and improving their operations and services.

The Internet of Things has quickly become one of the fastest growing areas in many industries, with the current IoT market estimated at around $520 billion, including hardware, software, system integration and data services. By 2027, the market size of related artificial intelligence technology is expected to reach $267 billion, with 37% of businesses and organizations already using it.

However, with the advent of technological advancements such as 5G and autonomous vehicles, and proposed national infrastructure bills that could change the infrastructure landscape, organizations across industries are continually looking for ways to leverage their infrastructure to digitally transform their businesses.

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The solutions they are looking for lie in technological improvements at the edge of the network.

Network edge computing increases computing power at the edge of the network, improving application responsiveness while reducing data transmission to the core data center. In this way, edge computing complements the "cloud" processing in the core data center.

The adoption of edge technology is growing rapidly. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global edge computing market size is expected to reach $28.84 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 54%.

The key to success at the edge of the network is improved connectivity and processing resources closer to the devices that generate data and use the results of data processing. In fact, emerging innovative approaches combine connectivity and processing resources in the same scalable edge platform built on smart edge node (SEN) technology. This approach is particularly suitable for logistics and large-scale manufacturing, as well as the expanding Internet of Things (IoT) where the number of sensors or data collection devices is large and highly distributed.

As the government discusses infrastructure investment to “rebuild and reimagine the economy,” edge network technology is sure to play a major role in the future of the nation’s infrastructure.

Edge networks offer countless benefits and can optimize large parts of national infrastructure.

First, one of the most obvious benefits of a processing-enabled edge network is improved application performance and decision making through reduced latency. Speed ​​of decision making is critical for any company, and for businesses that provide data-driven services to customers, lagging application performance can frustrate customers and cause long-term damage to the brand. Because intelligent edge nodes process IoT data locally, the information they collect does not have to travel nearly as far as it would with traditional cloud architectures—and application responsiveness improves.

Another major impact that edge-computing-enabled “smart” networks could have in the nation’s infrastructure push is the development of self-driving cars in constant communication with the world around them, making split-second decisions based on information pouring in from a complex array of sensors.

Edge networking technology will allow the vehicles themselves to exchange most of the data without requiring them to interface with a remote cloud server. This effectively turns every vehicle on the highway into an extension of every other vehicle’s sensors, effectively providing the best possible information and decisions in a highway environment.

Automakers must leverage edge computing technologies to meet these ever-changing challenges of processing, processing, and analyzing large amounts of data in order to make critical decisions quickly and efficiently. Estimates vary, but a single autonomous test car can generate a staggering 30TB of data in a single day of driving, and much of this unstructured data will require powerful analytical software programs to generate the real-time decisions required for self-driving cars.

Intelligent edge networks also offer better scalability than enterprise data centers. As companies grow, they can’t always predict their IT infrastructure needs. Building a dedicated data center is an expensive proposition, which makes planning for the future more difficult.

However, by using intelligent edge networks, scaling data collection and analysis no longer requires companies to rely solely on centralized private data centers, which are expensive to build, maintain, and scale. By combining managed services with regional edge computing data centers, organizations can quickly and cost-effectively expand the reach of their intelligent edge networks.

Compute, storage, and analytics capabilities are increasingly being combined into intelligent edge node devices that take up less space and can be easily moved closer to end users. As local processing needs grow, leveraging the flexibility of intelligent edge network capabilities enables organizations to quickly adapt to evolving markets and scale their data and compute needs more efficiently.

Finally, intelligent edge networks can also greatly improve network security, which is critical in today's cyber environment for both organizations and entire nations. As cyber threats continue to increase in number and sophistication, edge processing-enhanced network security can be a powerful defensive tool. For example, a major concern with IoT devices is that they can be used as entry points for cyberattacks, allowing malware or other intrusions to infect the network from a single weak point. With the right, secure edge computing software, these malware-infected devices can be detected and "locked down" to prevent catastrophic damage.

While the proliferation of IoT edge computing devices does increase the overall attack surface of a network, it also offers some important security benefits.

Today's traditional cloud computing architecture is centralized, making it particularly vulnerable to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and regional infrastructure failures. Intelligent edge networks distribute processing, storage, and applications across various devices and data centers, making it more difficult for any single outage to bring down the entire network.

Edge computing also reduces data exposure because more data is processed locally on the device rather than being transmitted over the internet to a central data center. Less data is intercepted in transit, and even if a device is compromised, it will only contain the data it has collected locally, rather than the treasure trove of data that a compromised central server might expose.

Shifting data processing to the edge of the network can help organizations take advantage of the growing number of IoT edge devices, increase network speeds and enhance customer experience. The scalability of intelligent edge networks also makes them an ideal solution for fast-growing, agile companies. By leveraging the power of edge computing, companies can optimize their networks to deliver flexible and reliable services that strengthen their brands and keep their customers happy.