As enterprises become hopeful for 2021, they are starting to take initiatives and incorporate technologies such as edge computing that will help them to take a major leap forward. Hence, enterprises must put a keen focus on the edge computing predictions for 2021.
The COVID-19 has accelerated the development of emerging technologies that have helped enterprises to keep pace with dynamic market demands. Among them, edge computing’s development has been notable. Technology vendors for cloud, software, hardware have taken the edge computing train to attract customers across diverse industries.
“In the next year, we’ll see edge computing become more mainstream, which will, in turn, allow information to be processed closer to the source, with increased speed. With as many as 50 billion devices online in the future, all generating data, this capability will be crucial when it comes to effectively delivering the internet of things (IoT) and rolling out 5G connectivity,” says Rory Duncan, Security Go To Market Leader, NTT Ltd.
In 2021, a new set of business models will emerge that will help with the deployment of edge in production. Cloud platforms that are continuously competing with artificial intelligence and the rapid adoption of 5G applications will make edge computing practical.
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Below are five edge computing trends that enterprises should keep in mind to thrive in 2021:
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Security will take a lead
Since its widespread proliferation, enterprises are increasingly concerned as their current infrastructure isn’t secure to mitigate the cybersecurity risks. Thus, enterprises need to have a few steps to keep their infrastructure secure.
As Dave Klein, Chief of Cybersecurity, Guardicore puts it, “Enterprises need to isolate edge devices from their critical enterprise assets. Firewalls are a start, but much better is the use of software-based segmentation, which blocks the lateral movement of unauthorized traffic between enterprise IT assets and data repositories.”
He further adds, “Enterprises also need to establish a routine to include edge devices in their continuous vulnerability assessments and have a clear upgrade/replacement strategy to handle vulnerabilities and crypto algorithm upgrades.”
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Hosting Edge will become a priority
Content delivery networks have taken an interest in edge computing demands. Thus, they have started reaching out to colocation enterprises for small, widely distributed data centers where they host the applications for them to serve their customers.
In 2021, the colocation marketplace leaders will rise as prime choices for the CDNs and global collocation leaders to fulfill enterprise needs.
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The domination of Kubernetes
The lightweight Kubernetes deployment will slowly take the stance of edge orchestration in 2021. However, it won’t end the battle for edge orchestration. Witnessing its immense benefits in 2020, technology vendors will increase their investment to expand their lightweight, edge-optimized platforms giving a fierce competition.
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Edge will take over AI’s place in the data center
In 2021, the data center will opt for edge computing and forgo training the machine learning models. Edge application intelligence will not only help enterprises that are lagging in their digital transformation journey but also will bring physical to the closer proximity of digital in real-time.
Read More: Strengthening Cyber Security Framework Boosts the Digital Transformation Effectiveness
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Cloud’s growth will take a backseat to Edge’s
To exploit its many applications, enterprises will pivot their focus from cloud to edge computing, especially for enterprises that have heavily invested in cloud-solutions that mirror edge technology and content delivery.
Public clouds won’t perish straight away. But each new additional feature to edge’s immense capabilities will surely threaten its existence.
