We have focused on edge computing and the implications for Enterprise IT over the last few years – https://www.vamsitalkstech.com/tag/edge/ This blogpost discusses why its key to understand that its not one unified edge and why that definition varies based on the kind of business and workload in question.
Edge computing deals with application design that is intended to run or be deployed close to a data or activity source. These activity sources can vary from farm equipment to mobile devices to sensors to self-driving cars. And the environments that edge compute workloads can run in vary from small data centers to a bunch of servers installed in a rack running inside a truck or headends/cable closets or cell towers. are essentially data centers that reside relatively close to a data generation source. Multi-Access Edge Computing or Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is a network architecture that enables cloud computing capabilities and an IT service environment at the edge of a cellular network. MEC provides the way for telecom operators to address the needs of new IoT technologies and new-age use cases.
For telecom operators, it is an opportunity to deploy computing to provide attractive and monetizable services to their subscribers. We have already seen a surge in digital needs due to the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding growth in video streaming platforms. It is also a great opportunity for Telecom operators to re-platform their networks by deploying edges and to offer subscribers services.
EDGE TAXONOMY
The Linux Foundation’s LF Edge views MEC as a continuum of compute infrastructure all the way from the User Edge to Centralized datacenters as shown below. Given that there are several edges, developers and operators can locate the application at the right tier thus based on latency, cost and business needs.
Image: Edge Continuum[1]
The above model breaks down MEC into two main tiers that comprise last-mile networks, the “Service Provider Edge” and the “User Edge”, with each being further broken down into subcategories.
The User Edge consists of
- Consumer-oriented and self-contained end-point devices, such as smartphones, wearables, and automobiles;
- Industrial gateway devices such as IoT aggregators, switching and routing devices;
- CDN/Closet deployable on-premises server platforms.
The Service Provider Edge, which is farther from the devices themselves and can thus host more raw compute power consists of:
- Access sites – these typically house network access equipment, such as cellular radio base stations, xDSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) access sites etc
- Aggregation hubs – which aggregate connections from access sites
- Regional data centers and central offices
So what are the key capabilities these Edge management platforms should provide to the operators across both the User edge and the Service provider edge?
I posit that there are seven benefits and all of these essentially drive the MEC to be a “cloud provider” like.
- Lower Management cost by offering self-service & a Single pane of glass across a range of vendor applications deployed on the Cloud/Datacenter/Edge continuum. MEC deployers and users should be able to perform ‘single click’ or API call based compute, network and storage provisioning using a catalog
- Support massive scale by securely supporting multi-tenancy for both business users as well as IT users – infrastructure and developers
- Provide flexible NFV/SDN capabilities at the Edge which help reduce time delays as well as manual provisioning of both infrastructure as well as applications
- Open new revenue streams by providing services to both businesses and consumers. Typically as a catalog of business applications for such users to launch
- Support (near) realtime provisioning of both compute capacity and these applications by abstracting away infrastructure complexity
- Provide the ability to bring up datacenters on the fly
- Support the unified management of VM, Bare metal and Container clusters (across both VMs and Bare Metal)
References
[1] The State of the Edge Report 2021 – https://stateoftheedge.com/