The Edge computing ecosystem

As stated previously, the Edge is anything outside of the traditional or Cloud data center. However, there are four relatively distinct tiers of locations where Edge computing can occur. We will discuss those here.

Far Edge – Edge devices

Much of our earlier discussion highlighted IoT – intelligent cameras, vehicles, OT embedded systems that have evolved to exploit general-purpose IT chips and software, POS registers, ATMs, smart refrigerators, and even high-end lighting fixtures. We refer to this entire class of purpose-built, intelligent equipment as Edge devices. You wouldn’t think of them as IT equipment, but because they’re built with commodity, general-purpose computing, and host the Linux operating system, they can be easily programmed with Cloud-native tools and technologies.

In general, any device (or server) that is co-located on the premises where business operations are performed – for instance, on...