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Top Six Edge Computing Trends To Know About In 2023

Forbes Technology Council

As Chief Product Officer of Zenlayer, David Xie oversees Cloud Product Management, Development, Marketing and Partnerships.

The world is rapidly changing, and many technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles and IoT, are emerging and promising to reshape industries and change societies. Even with lingering economic uncertainty, we are experiencing a time of massive innovation. Businesses are being forced to rethink their approach to computing and expand beyond the traditional computation and storage models of routing data to a remote data center or the cloud.

Companies are looking for opportunities to process data locally in order to reduce latency, and many organizations are now experimenting with edge computing—a distributed computing framework that enables companies to process data close to its source location. With edge computing, businesses no longer need to transmit data back to a central location, process it and get a response. Computation can instead take place in nearby edge data centers.

Here is a breakdown of some developments in edge computing and trends to watch out for in 2023.

1. Supporting Cloud AI Deployments With Edge Computing

The emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT tool at the end of 2022 ignited a global AI race with companies everywhere looking for ways to use AI to enhance productivity, improve performance and maximize efficiency. The next wave will hit when Google releases its Bard chatbot. This will be the first major challenger to ChatGPT.

Although it is still too early to tell how the AI race will unfold, it’s likely that in the short term, cloud providers will be increasing spending on technologies like edge computing to accelerate, improve and scale AI delivery. At present, most cloud providers are still training their AI models in centralized data centers, as they require large-scale computing infrastructure. Edge computing will allow cloud providers to roll out their models closer to end users and enable ultra-fast queries and responses.

2. Reconnecting The Post-Covid World

In many ways, the world is still recovering from the pandemic. For example, China is just starting to reopen, a decision that will impact companies worldwide, and I expect to see more cross-border communications, traveling and digital services. Businesses with distributed user bases will likely use edge networking to host latency-intensive apps and services at the edge of the network.

As the world continues to rebuild from the pandemic, it’s also possible that we may see more cross-border connectivity needs arise this year.

More businesses will likely work with edge computing providers to quickly deploy on-demand servers in overseas markets, giving them rapid expansion capabilities with less risk and easier management requirements than undergoing traditional network builds.

3. Using Edge Computing To Reduce IT Costs

Edge computing can often be perceived as more expensive than content delivery networks (CDNs) and clouds. However, it still has value, and when deployed properly, it has the potential to lower computing costs.

As Zenlayer’s Wade Chen explained in a recent Streaming Media Connect session titled "Overcoming Edge and CDN Infrastructure Challenges," you really must examine the TCO of edge delivery to get a true measure of its overall impact.

As companies continue to deploy edge computing, they are becoming savvier about measuring its overall value and figuring out ways to use it strategically to reduce costs and boost performance. It’s important to remember that edge computing doesn’t have to replace services like clouds or CDNs. Rather, it’s just another tool to maximize operational efficiencies.

4. Securing The Perimeter

Edge computing increases the attack surface for hackers to access sensitive data. According to a study from AT&T, 66% of respondents say they are concerned about ransomware attacks at the edge, while 74% say a compromise at the edge is likely and will be impactful. What’s more, 64% are concerned about attacks through cloud workloads.

Companies need to reconsider their security plans as they transition from centralized data centers to distributed frameworks. They also need to seek novel approaches to strengthen their endpoints.

5. Enabling Cloud Gaming

Up until this point, gaming companies have required end users to process games on their own devices. But a trend is emerging called cloud gaming, where processing occurs at the edge, which frees the terminal from having to do it. The gaming provider essentially streams the content to the user from an edge server. Gamers benefit by being able to save battery power and gaining access to a wider range of content regardless of the hardware they are using. And game providers benefit from exposing more customers to their titles and having more control over game performance.

The main drawback to delivering game content from the edge is that it can be cost-prohibitive. The traditional approach is typically much cheaper. However, gaming providers may want to consider investing in edge computing due to skyrocketing customer demands as gamers today prefer things to be simple and efficient. Companies that resist edge computing risk losing customers to savvy competitors who are willing to change their approach.

Of note, cloud gaming isn’t a new concept, but technologies have been maturing over time to better support it. It’s possible that this year or next, there may be progress in this field.

6. Hosting Apps And Services At The Edge

This year, I expect to see more cross-border businesses with distributed user bases begin to host latency-intensive apps and services at the edge of the network.

As many people know, edge compute servers come in two options: bare metal servers and virtual machines (VMs). Bare metal is a physical server that you rent from a local service provider, while a VM is a virtualized, logical part of a server. Bare metal gives you full control of your instance, while VM requires sharing a tenancy with other VMs on the same machine.

One trend that is certain for the coming year and beyond is that innovation and advancements will lead the way. Businesses will have to adapt and stay open to the next biggest thing coming right around the corner.


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