Currently, the edge of cloud computing is a hot potato. Most people are skeptical about its effect on the cloud. Others hold the opinion it will kill the cloud while others believe cloud computing will cope. What do you think?
The growth of the Internet of Things coupled with increasing sensors raises questions on whether cloud computing technologies can combine with the large volumes of data generated by machines. Moreover, there is a strong need for the technologies to speed up to cope with the sensors and machines production capacity.
Automobile Perspective
Take a driverless car for instance. For every mile covered, it produces approximately 10 GB of data. The data comes inform of GPS, surroundings and street signs. The vehicle’s sensors need to respond to all that data at incredible speeds to achieve real-time monitoring and reduce the chances of crashing.
The car cannot rely solely on data from the central cloud to take action. For the vehicle to stop, it must process large volumes of data in milliseconds. Furthermore, the processing must be done near the device and not in virtual space. This supports the argument that a driverless car is merely a mobile data unit analyzing massive information data in real time.
Expert Opinion
Already some tech-savvy experts foresee the future for collecting the world’s information. Peter Levine in his presentation opines that sensors will be vital everywhere. They will be placed in cars, ovens, shoes and even keys. Most devices will communicate with each other to make recommendations and work in tandem. Some devices such as smart watches and thermostats have set precedence.
Future devices will not be producing the commonly known text-based data but also images and videos. This reiterates the need for enormous processing power over a given network.
As smart devices are utilized in every aspect of our lives, most people predict the return of distributed computers close to where data processing is required marking the end of cloud. Already most IT firms and online streaming service providers have moved their systems closer to users than before. For sensors to work optimally, the edge has to be close enough to the end users.
Asset Monitoring
Technological advancement is moving towards improving physical assets monitoring. The more the monitoring and the assets the more the data that require processing. Even though we have been patient for a few seconds waiting for information from the cloud, this will change. We will expect instant feedback and recommendations. Our dependence on such devices will also increase tremendously in almost every aspect of our lives. They will play the following roles:
- Provide guidance
- Give insights
- Provide recommendations
- Make the necessary automatic action
One thing is indeed known; technology will be the connecting factor. At the moment, we seem not to think that technology affects our trainers regarding data or cloud. However, shortly, the trainers will all be supported by technology and data. They will be connected to our phones. Just like we are all dependent on our phones, our future world will become more and more reliant on technology.
As everything comes down to tech dependence, opportunities continue to grow. Can the current cloud cope with the real edge controlled the world?
David Brown is an entrepreneur that has been helping businesses since 1999. He’s worked with mom & pop start-ups to INC500 and Fortune 500 companies. He is always looking for ways to improve companies through technology.
