What is edge computing?
How should its billion dollar market be activated?

        Today, the data collected by billions of IoT and mobile devices is growing exponentially, driving a shift from sending data to the cloud for processing and storage to a distributed model. Under this trend, some computing occurs at the network edge, closer to the location of data creation. This kind of computing is collectively called edge computing. With the continuous development of science and technology, edge computing can play a market value of 100 billion yuan.

    Edge computing is a distributed open platform integrating network, computing, storage, application and other core capabilities, providing edge intelligent services nearby, and meeting the key requirements of industry digitalization in agile connection, real-time business, data optimization, application intelligence, security and privacy protection.

    With the rapid development of the Internet of Things and the popularization of 5G wireless networks, we have entered the era of intelligent connectivity of all things. The rapid increase in the number of network edge devices has enabled the data generated by such devices to reach the level of zettabytes. In the era of centralized big data processing centered on cloud computing models, its key technologies are no longer able to efficiently process data generated by edge devices, mainly manifested in:

1) The centralized cloud computing capability with linear growth cannot match the explosive growth of massive edge data;

2) Transferring massive amounts of data from network edge devices to cloud centers results in a sharp increase in the load of network transmission bandwidth, causing significant network latency;

3) Network edge data involves personal privacy, making privacy and security issues particularly prominent;

4) The transmission of data from network edge devices with limited electrical energy to cloud centers consumes a significant amount of electrical energy, among other things.

    For this reason, the edge big data processing, which takes the edge computing model as the core and faces the massive data computing generated by network edge devices, came into being. It is combined with the existing centralized big data processing, which takes the cloud computing model as the core, that is, the two complement each other. It is applied to the big data processing in the cloud center and the network edge, and better solves the above problems in the big data processing in the era of the Internet of Things. The "edge" in edge computing is a relative concept, which refers to any computing resources and network resources between the data source and the data path of the cloud computing center. The basic idea of edge computing is to run computing tasks on computing resources close to data sources.

    Edge computing has also become the next evolution direction of cloud computing. Edge computing has five advantages: low latency, security, cost saving and high reliability. Based on the above advantages, edge computing extends the capabilities of the central cloud to the edge, realizing digital application scenarios covering retail, home furnishing, transportation, medical care, education, security, manufacturing, AI, finance, etc.

Value and Advantages

    Edge computing can process some temporary data, and only needs to transmit valuable data to the cloud without uploading all of it, which greatly reduces the pressure on network bandwidth, reduces the demand for computing and storage resources, and thus reduces the pressure on bandwidth; At the same time, computing data closer to the source at the edge can greatly reduce latency and make response time faster.

    The adoption of the edge computing+cloud computing model will also bring significant cost savings compared with the complete dependence on cloud computing, which is also the direct driving force for users to adopt edge computing.

    In addition, if some enterprises need privacy protection and localization due to security or industry specific requirements, edge computing can also meet these special needs.

Classification application scenarios

    The Global Distributed Cloud Alliance divides the field of edge computing into three categories, namely edge cloud, MEC (Mobile edge computing) and edge AI.

    Edge cloud evolved from CDN (Content Delivery Network) business. Traditional CDN focuses on content transmission. After upgrading CDN nodes, they can undertake some of the functions of central cloud and become edge nodes with storage, computing, transmission, and security functions.

    MEC (Mobile edge computing) is closely combined with 5G and has significant advantages in bandwidth, delay, etc. It can greatly promote the Internet and intelligent transformation of industrial enterprises. The integration of 5G+MEC and industry has spawned many typical application scenarios of industrial Internet. These application scenarios have high requirements for low latency, large bandwidth, high reliability, and data security and privacy, such as remote driving, remote control, AR remote assistance, predictive maintenance, and machine vision quality inspection.

    Edge AI serves the further decentralization needs of edge computing, allows more applications to run at the edge, reduces the delay caused by data transmission speed and bandwidth restrictions, performs data analysis locally at the edge, shares the work of the cloud, and can also maintain business operation in the special case of disconnecting from the central cloud. Edge AI has ample fusion application scenarios in both edge cloud and MEC fields.

Market prospect analysis

    Although edge computing has formed the most mature application scenarios in the CDN field, in other vertical fields, the concept of edge computing is hot, but its popularization speed is relatively slow. Finally, the edge computing market still needs to be implemented in the business needs of enterprises and the business model of edge ecology. At present, more and more enterprises are transforming into a hybrid business model, which brings new opportunities for the development of edge computing. At the same time, with the strategy of "calculating data from the east to the west", as well as the technological development of 5G and the Internet of Things, edge computing is about to usher in a booming period.

    According to the survey data released by the ICT Institute in May 2020, less than 5% of Chinese enterprises use edge computing, but the planned proportion is as high as 442%. It can be seen that although edge cloud computing is still in its infancy, the future growth space is very broad.

    In 2020, the scale of China's edge cloud computing market was 9.1 billion yuan, with regional, on-site, and IoT edge cloud markets reaching 3.7 billion yuan, 3.8 billion yuan, and 1.6 billion yuan respectively. It is expected that by 2025, the overall scale of edge cloud will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.0% to 55 billion yuan, with regional edge cloud leading the way with mature scenarios such as interactive live streaming, vCDN, and connected vehicles. By 2030, the scale of China's edge cloud computing market is expected to reach nearly 250 billion yuan.

    Edge computing plays an increasingly important role in the era of intelligent Internet of Things. It can not only improve data processing efficiency and real-time performance, but also reduce network load and costs, enhance data security and user experience. Therefore, edge computing is considered as one of the core driving forces in the era of intelligent Internet of Things, providing endless power for our future.