Every day, more and more articles, white papers and discussions extol the virtues of the rapidly-evolving world of edge computing. With diverse use cases that include city-scale IoT, autonomous vehicles, and real-time mobile gaming, there is no shortage of new and exciting applications driving edge computing, as deployed on either side of the last mile network.
But: What does it mean for a complex set of technologies, such as those combining to create edge computing, to be deployable today? Truly deployable technologies get out of your way and let you focus on what you need to do for your own unique use case. They don’t require you to employ an army of scientists to get them to work; they abstract away as much of that complexity as possible, leaving you with a focused set of capabilities and tools.
Today’s edge computing market is a collection of disparate capabilities offered by many different companies, each with their own unique specialty. To move beyond the whiteboard stage and to true deployability, however, we need to bring these capabilities together, much like a recipe can bring the dizzying array of choices in the grocery store into sharp focus. What edge computing needs is a recipe book, with definitions of how the best products in the industry work together.
Beyond the eye-catching use cases are more fundamental reasons behind the use of edge computing. 5G networks will continue to merge the network with compute to create flexible and adaptable network systems. This allows network operators to improve the services they offer, respond to diverse and changing customer requirements, and make the most effective use of their investment in network infrastructure. The need for edge computing infrastructure is clear.
As exciting as all the buzz around edge computing is, there’s a problem today: to bring these vital technologies out of the minds of researchers and into reality, they need to be deployable. Without this critical step, all the innovation, power and possibilities of these ideas will remain on the whiteboards of meeting rooms across the world, rather than empowering real people.
The Kinetic Edge Alliance: Making the Edge Deployable
To help speed up edge deployments, Vapor IO has launched the Kinetic Edge Alliance. As the leading edge colocation company, our Kinetic Edge platform, a growing nationwide network of tower-connected edge data centers, is the ideal place to begin the crucial industry-wide drive to make edge computing deployable. By creating edge computing reference designs, facilitating partner interoperation and bringing the leading companies in the space together, we aim to create those vital recipes.
The Kinetic Edge Alliance is the place to go for all those who want to ‘do edge,’ focused on the practical deployment of the best edge computing solutions from leading companies across the industry, using the Kinetic Edge as their underlying edge colocation platform. Coming together within the Kinetic Edge Alliance, both deployment and technical partners are driving edge computing forward in the real world, creating practical and deployable recipes for the edge.
Since its recent inception, the Kinetic Edge Alliance has gone from strength to strength and added many new members. In the coming months, more announcements, reference designs and innovative partners will come online. Keep an eye on the Kinetic Edge Alliance across LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with all the latest news from the best in edge computing.
For more information about the Kinetic Edge Alliance, including how to join, see here.
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