The Benefits of Edge Computing for Feds

Every federal agency knows the value and importance of shifting to cloud infrastructure. But what about edge computing?

As agencies deploy more Internet of Things sensors and demand more robust mobile and computing capabilities in the field, more of that data processing will be happening where devices and users are located – at the network edge.

Edge computing is essentially about bringing compute capabilities to where agencies’ missions take place, and the technology allows data to be processed without it traveling back to a data center.

This is where industry and government seem to be trending. Gartner predicted last year that by 2025, 80 percent of enterprises will have shut down their traditional data centers, versus 10 percent from 2018. Gartner also reported in 2018that around 10 percent of enterprise-generated data was created and processed outside a traditional centralized data center or cloud. By 2025, Gartner projected, this figure would jump to 75 percent.

Edge allows agencies to take the power of the cloud all the way to the network edge, especially to areas where they have not been able to use it before. Agencies can perform data analytics and processing and gain insights at the edge before routing that data back to centralized data centers for further analysis.

Edge computing allows agencies to deploy smarter sensors and compute capacity closer to the data they are creating and analyzing to get better insights as the data flows through their networks and ultimately back to a data center or enterprise cloud.

Numerous agencies are already taking advantage of edge computing. The armed forces are using edge computing since so many of their users are deployed away from home bases and data centers.

But edge computing is also relevant to civilian agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which deploys users into the field to respond to disasters.