IoT will unlock the potential of cloud, the edge and blockchain
Joseph Denne, CEO of Edge, analyses the evolving relationship between the Internet of things (IoT), blockchain, edge computing and cloud infrastructure.
Technology is moving at an incredibly rapid pace, even if the recent “blockchain bubble” may have burst, the ups and downs in technology progression is far from over.
These cycles are highly important when it comes to technological evolution as learning and refinement helps to make technology fit for purpose. An area that has been emerging as a relatively new theme over the last few years is edge computing, how it will complement or even replace centralised clouds and how it will help meet the demands of the ever increasing volumes of data generated with the evolution of a “smart” world.
There are some staggering predictions when it comes to this proliferation of data. Global population increases are not slowing down and developing economies are seeing more and more people acquire mobile devices. On top of this, developed economies are seeing the number of smart devices grow exponentially. This trend will only accelerate as more cities become “smarter”, which is another very emerging and topical movement.
As a result, it is little wonder that 29bn connected devices are expected to be in operation by 2022 and over 75bn IoT devices by 2025 worldwide. The forecasts vary widely from source to source, but the trend is undeniable. So, how will all this data be verified, managed and, most importantly, protected?
Whilst blockchains were in existence for many years before Bitcoin was even conceived, it is the “blue-chip” cryptocurrency that has brought blockchain to the mainstream. Its strongest attributes, encryption and avoiding double counting, is what makes it so powerful in technology infrastructures today and why so many industries are implementing it to help store, manage, access, reconcile and secure data in a more streamlined manner. Our own experience has taught us how revolutionary blockchain is, and how it is a natural fit for edge computing.
We are now seeing demand for edge computing in multiple industries as the distributed nature of the technology allows for secure, fast and scalable computing. As more smart devices come online and the amount of data generated increases, centralised cloud systems will remain relevant and important, however more data will need to be processed at the edge of networks. Centralised cloud systems are increasingly suffering from performance issues, security problems and data protection.
Edge networks are effectively decentralised clouds that process data at the edge, reducing the number of “hops” that data has to take in order to be validated by large centralised data centres (aka clouds).
