Virginia Leading the Way for Autonomous Technology Programs

The future looks bright for Virginia’s economy as the state continues to be a leader by participating and investing in advancing technologies.  Already making its mark as a key player in the nation’s data center market, Virginia is now making plans to position itself as a national leader in the automation industry.  Back in May, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe created the Autonomous Systems Center of Excellence to serve as a testing facility for autonomous technology across all sectors.  With the influx of Internet of Things (IoT) making their way into the marketplace, edge data centers will be at the heart of crunching the massive amounts of data being generated by smart devices, sensors, surveillance cameras and autonomous vehicles.

Speaking of self- driving cars, on July 19th the Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to approve the testing of those vehicles in High Occupancy Toll lanes of Interstate 95 and 495 in Northern Virginia later this year. Distracted drivers account for a high percentage of car crashes.  Initial phases of testing would have sensors on vehicles that would take over some of the driver’s functions should they not be paying attention and significantly increase safety on the roads. The automation industry is expected to be $82 billion by 2025 and Virginia is going to get its share of the market.

Taking a Closer Look at Edge Landscapes

The proliferation of networked devices in the internet of things (IoT) is one of the driving factors behind edge computing. Processing data at the periphery of the network, as close to the originating source as possible, results in major edge computing benefits such as reduction in response time and network bottlenecks. Architecting IoT solutions by bringing the advantages of cloud computing closer to the data source optimizes response times for either good user experiences or to avoid dangerous situations. However, there are many types of edged landscapes depending on the environment and the data being processed.

A recent article discussing the various types of edge computing models identifies them as: the personal edge, the business edge and the cloudy edge. Each type takes into consideration the systems needed to sense, process and act based on a different set of circumstances for an intended outcome.  As the IoT takes hold, the business edge is most often currently being discussed especially in reference to mission critical data. However, more insights will be gained at the personal edge as advances are made in smart home devices and digital health initiatives. For a deeper dive into the various types of edges, read full article here.

Edging Out the Cloud?

These are exciting times for edge computing as massive amounts of collected and consumed data continues to grow rapidly.  In addition, the advances being made in processing data at the edge of the network is likely to revolutionize how technology is used going forward. With IoT devices and the digital era upon us, a data glut is being created that may clog up data centers to the point of being unable to survive with current processing methods. As published by the IDC, the digital universe is doubling in size every two years and by 2020 will reach 44 zettabytes, or 44 trillion gigabytes.  With that in mind, innovators are increasingly looking to edge computing as a means of thriving in the future.

So will edge computing replace cloud computing at some point as more issues arise due to high traffic and latency problems? Consumer reliance on smart devices and the growth of the IoT market result in higher demands for more localized processing. However, cloud computing is not likely to go away anytime soon. The way it works may transform its uses to work in conjunction with edge computing in order to have the best of both worlds. For an interesting perspective, read full article here.