Intelligent Edge – The New Path of Empowering Transformation

Article by Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director, Arrow PC Network

Edge Computing has been pivotal in the digital transformation process of the organizations’ infrastructure. With the blast in data generation due to the increase in real-time data processing, edge computing was brought in as a solution to increase latency, bandwidth and data security. Using edge computing organizations can contribute to the smart infrastructure that yields insights that helps in business transformation. However, there is no such thing as too much data insight with the current trends and that is where Intelligent Edge comes into the picture.

By definition intelligent edge analyses data and development of solutions at the site where the data is generated. With an intelligent edge, organizations can generate deep data insight at the source instead of sending the data to DC or a 3rd party data analysis company. By analyzing the data at the source one not only does speed up the processing time but also ensures data security where the chances of breaching of data. This is in fact helpful to reduce unnecessary expenses by organizations to send over data to DCs or 3rd party organizations. This is one reason why cloud service providers are now advising organizations to implement intelligent edge.

Over 20 billion Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices have already been installed and the number is estimated to grow to 75.44 billion by 2025. The legacy systems cannot keep up with such new age data explosion taking place at every point at every connected device across the world and this is where the intelligent edge comes into the picture. According to IDC’s study, 45% have begun using new internal data sources. This has led to 38% of companies creating new key performance indicators (KPIs) within their business and 55% of organizations reporting the use of new cloud-based business intelligence tools. Such data collection and analysis helps organizations plan their operations, expect what the market and/ their clients require, and the latest trends. A solution like the intelligent edge is what bridges the gap between legacy and modern infrastructure. The increased remote working post-pandemic has increased from 6% to 52% as per the survey in June 2020 only shows how intelligent edge has given a chance for the world to mirror the real-world functioning.

There are a lot of challenges that organizations are experiencing with the data burst. As data is the new oil, organizations need to upgrade their infrastructure to benefit from the technology upgradation. One major portion of it is to ensure a safe and secure perimeter policy to be implemented based on a zero-trust system and edge computing is one way to secure the network and its nodules. The power boost that intelligent edge receives is from AI/ML which helps in detecting any slight variation in security behaviour. Intelligent systems can provide stylistic insights for customers as they browse the shop, and facial recognition software can be used for fraud detection. Edge intelligence can provide predictive risk assessments for healthcare professionals and promote better health awareness. There’s no limit as to the benefits the intelligent edge can provide, not even the cloud. With dynamic changes in the world of Information Technology, the intelligent edge is continually expanding and is the right fuel needed for the data ‘machine’ to drive.