What is the Edge and why are we all talking about it?
Edge Computing Today
After the cloud came the Edge. We take a look at the Edge computing phenomenon and attempt to assess what all the fuss is about.
Edge Computing is a popular term in the high tech media, and, like many buzzwords that rise to claim a place in the limelight, the term "Edge" appears to have emerged fully formed before the industry settled on a clear definition for what it is. So what is Edge computing, and how does it differ from other approaches? How is Edge computing related to IoT or other contemporary technologies? We decided it was time for a visit to the Edge.
Beyond the Cloud
For years now, large cloud providers have attempted to entice customers with the benefits of managing their data and infrastructure from a central, cloud-based location. For many companies, the cloud means abandoning their own on-premises data center and instead trusting their data to AWS, Azure, or another cloud company. The goal of the cloud is centralization. The data is all in one place, managed by experts with economies of scale. Security, fault tolerance, and other essential tasks are handled from the central facility. In many cases, all the data and processing power for an entire company might be in one or two locations, with branch offices accessing it from all over the world.
Edge computing is the exact opposite of this centralized cloud paradigm. The goal of Edge computing is to provide similar cloud-like services, but to move computing resources to the farthest edge of the environment – geographically close to where the data is gathered and accessed.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.