Edge computing has reached its climax! See how the three major operators fight the edge war

With the advent of the Internet of Everything era, the amount of data generated by network edge devices has grown rapidly, bringing higher data transmission bandwidth requirements. At the same time, new applications have also put forward higher requirements for the real-time performance of data processing and data storage. Traditional cloud computing models cannot meet the existing performance requirements, so edge computing models came into being.

Edge computing refers to processing and analyzing data at the edge of the network. So why has edge computing been on the fast track in recent years and is showing a trend of overtaking cloud computing?

The development of IoT technology has become a catalyst for edge computing

[[263489]]

The catalyst behind the growth of edge computing comes from the increasing use of IoT devices. These devices allow individuals and businesses to connect physical devices to the network in a secure way. IoT devices are becoming increasingly popular in terms of technology. Research conducted by Ericsson shows that IoT devices will surpass mobile phones in the future.

IoT devices come in all shapes and sizes, from smart lighting to air pollution monitors. Consumers and businesses have a large number of devices. The growth in the use of these devices far exceeds the scope of cloud computing, and the emergence of edge computing can alleviate these pressures to a certain extent.

Traditional cloud computing is inadequate, and edge computing is a powerful assistant

Cloud centers have powerful processing capabilities and can handle massive amounts of data. Since they were first proposed, they have been constantly changing the way we live, work, and study. However, the bottleneck of the cloud computing model lies in the limited network bandwidth. It takes a certain amount of time for the cloud center to process massive amounts of data, which increases the request response time and leads to poor user experience. At the same time, traditional cloud computing has certain drawbacks in terms of network bandwidth, data real-time, privacy protection, and energy consumption.

Also unlike cloud computing, edge computing allows enterprises to scale IoT networks as needed, regardless of available storage (or its cost).

5G applications cannot do without edge computing

[[263490]]

The three major application scenarios of 5G, eMBB enhanced mobile broadband, URLLC ultra-high reliability and ultra-low latency communication, and mMTC massive large-connection Internet of Things have put forward new demands on latency, bandwidth, security and other aspects.

In the current network architecture, due to the high-position deployment of the core network, the transmission delay is large and cannot meet the ultra-low latency business requirements such as the Internet of Vehicles. In addition, as the number of connections continues to increase, a huge amount of data will be generated. If all data is to be analyzed and terminated in the cloud, it will waste bandwidth and increase latency. These factors, to a certain extent, determine that the endpoints of 5G services cannot all be on the cloud platform at the back end of the core network.

In order to solve these problems, edge computing came into being. Compared with traditional centralized cloud computing, edge computing provides computing, storage and other infrastructure close to data sources or users, and provides cloud services and IT environment services for edge applications. In this way, edge computing can sink high-bandwidth, low-latency, and localized services to the edge of the network, solving problems such as long latency and excessive converged traffic, and providing better support for real-time and bandwidth-intensive services. Therefore, in the 5G era, edge computing will be a common model for building 5G network edge clouds.

To win the edge battle, the three major operators are moving forward together

In order to strengthen their own strength in the field of edge computing, the three major operators have begun to plan ahead and have achieved certain results.

China Telecom has proposed a 5G MEC converged architecture in terms of MEC. Based on a general hardware platform, it supports the rapid deployment of MEC functions and business applications. It also supports the sinking of user-side services and local deployment of business applications, and realizes the distributed, close-range, and on-demand deployment of user planes and services. It also supports network information perception and openness. The most important thing is to support services and applications such as caching and acceleration.

China Telecom is currently exploring MEC. First, it provides cache, push, and positioning services for high-density, high-traffic, and high-value customers such as large shopping malls, campuses, and museums; second, it provides virtual private networks, business hosting, and exclusive applications for large and medium-sized government and enterprise customers such as large parks, factories, and ports that have local data center and cloud service needs; third, it provides edge CDN, storage, and industry services for customers who need to provide nearby services to a large number of end users across regions and a large range, such as providers of Internet of Vehicles, CDN, and Internet games.

China Mobile established the Edge Computing Open Laboratory as early as October 30, 2018, dedicated to providing an industry cooperation platform, gathering the advantages of edge computing in various industries, and promoting the prosperity and development of the edge computing ecosystem. Currently, there are 34 partners in the first batch. The goals are to open up for entry, cross-border cooperation; provide services, open results; demand guidance, and application-oriented.

In the application field, China Mobile's Edge Computing Open Laboratory has built a total of 15 test beds with partners, covering emerging technologies such as high-definition video processing, artificial intelligence, TSN, and involving multiple scenarios such as smart buildings, smart construction, flexible manufacturing, CDN, cloud games, and Internet of Vehicles.

At the same time, at the MWC conference, China Mobile also released the "China Mobile Edge Computing Technology White Paper", which clarified the technical route and the edge computing "Pioneer 300" pioneer action, aiming to evaluate 100 test nodes that can deploy edge computing devices in 2019, open 100 edge computing capability APIs, and introduce 100 edge computing partners to help commercial applications land.

As early as 2018, China Unicom launched Edge-Cloud scale pilot projects in 15 provinces and cities, creating more than 30 pilot commercial model projects such as smart ports, smart driving, smart venues, smart manufacturing, video surveillance, cloud games, and smart medical care. According to Shao Guanglu, deputy general manager of China Unicom Group, in 2019, China Unicom will continue to implement the focus, innovation, and cooperation strategy, work with ecological partners, accelerate the scale deployment of MEC edge services in 31 provinces and cities across the country, expand industry cooperation, and accelerate industrial practice. In addition, it is understood that China Unicom currently has 153 MEC edge cloud ecological partners.

During the 2019 Mobile World Congress, China Unicom, together with Huawei and other partners, released the "China Unicom CUBE-Edge 2.0 and Industry Practice White Paper". It is understood that the white paper relies on China Unicom's 5G network evolution and MEC business needs, focusing on the MEC overall architecture and CUDE-Edge 2.0 edge intelligent business platform. The white paper points out that the MEC edge cloud sinks high-bandwidth, low-latency, and localized services to the edge of the network, becoming a key tool for 5G network reconstruction and digital transformation.

Can edge computing replace cloud computing?

[[263491]]

With the development of the Internet and the update and iteration of various products, major equipment manufacturers and giant companies have begun to develop technologies such as edge computing. But can the emergence of edge computing replace cloud computing?

Despite the hype about edge computing, just like cloud services, edge computing is not perfect. Like other aspects of IT, edge computing has its own set of cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, including weak passwords to access devices, insecure communications, and physical security risks. In addition to security issues, the current development of edge computing is also constrained by the massive and heterogeneous connections, the real-time nature of business, the intelligence of applications, and data optimization.

While the cloud computing model may not perform well in some cases, it still has its place in modern networks. Cloud computing services are ideal for providing decentralized users with centralized services that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. While organizations that seek the best performance may begin to adopt edge computing, cloud computing will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

But we can expect that as the edge computing mechanism is gradually improved, all the problems will be solved, and edge computing will also bring great application effects to the IoT market and the artificial intelligence market. Everything is expected in the future!