The advent of 5G technology, which possesses a higher speed than the existing 4G, can process mammoth amounts of data in real-time and improve business applications’ performance. Its partnership with mobile edge computing will reduce latency significantly.
Strong Reasons Why 5G Needs Mobile Edge Computing
- 5G is only capable among the currently available technologies to meet the latency targets that have been set.
- Once 5G enjoys full coverage, it will cultivate an ecosystem of new applications.
Mobile Edge Computing Is the Backbone for the Continued Proliferation of 5G
- Both 4G and edge computing can help contribute to increasing 5G coverage and device adoption.
- When compared to 5G, 4G is not cost-efficient and does not ensure high performance, but it will be good enough to provide the basis for securing a greater demand for services.
Understanding the Meaning of Mobile Edge Computing
It provides execution resources (complete and storage) for applications with networking close to the end-users, typically within or at the boundary of operator networks. The infrastructure of Mobile Edge Computing will be managed by communication service providers. The entire connectivity can be handled in the form of one solution through a distributed cloud. Mobile Edge Computing is also known as Multi-Access Edge Computing. It offers a plethora of benefits in the form of low latency, high bandwidth, superior device processing, and data offload.
5G and Edge computing will be applicable in IoT services, virtual reality, and gaming applications.
Why Is Mobile Edge Computing Needed Urgently?
Though cloud computing has helped in performing computational tasks easily, it becomes challenging when computing servers and high-volume data sources are far away. Mobile Edge Computing enables new vertical business segments and services for consumers and enterprises. It helps in reaching out to the central cloud computing platform with less data. It assists in creating a new ecosystem and value chain by authorizing third parties to flexibly deploy innovative applications and services targeting mobile subscribers, enterprises, and industry verticals. Mobile Edge Computing can boost the performance of the existing distributed applications.
Cloud computing has undergone a sea change. Earlier, companies used to be concerned about the associated costs and vendor lock-in obligation along with security and migration pitfalls associated with public clouds. Today, the cloud is considered safer, scalable, and integral as a part of every agile IT architecture system.
Reasons Why Mobile Edge Computing Has Become a Huge Trend Now
New types of workloads, the use of distributed computing, and the advent of the Internet of Things, have fuelled the rise of Mobile Edge Computing. Instead of running all their operations from the data centre, companies find processing data at the edge will lead to better chances of data accumulation using computing.
- It brings a combination of the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, along with data processing, to run virtual machines directly into a wide range of devices.
- The need to support an increasing number of devices and rapid connectivity has necessitated the demand for Mobile Edge Computing, which can handle more bandwidth, support more devices on the network, and provides supreme data security.
- It can work across a range of applications such as smart homes, wearable devices, autonomous cars, video analysis, gaming, and deep lens cameras.
Role of 5G in Enhancing the Performance of Mobile Edge Computing
- Sensors kept in far-away locations would give real-time updates about the connected devices to the users.
- Their success depends on the devices that use them, whether the network operator owns them, or leases them through service models, or rely on established cloud providers to help.
- It all boils down to 5G, reaching its full potential and meeting everyone’s high expectations.
- Users utilizing Mobile Edge Computing with 5G technology must take utmost care to minimize any risks, especially those associated with security. With more number of devices on the network collecting users’ data, people may not check security vulnerabilities regularly or keep the software updated.
Challenges for Mobile Edge Computing in the Future
- Hardware constraints - In the case of embedded devices, not much hardware can be fitted when compared to a full-scale data centre.
- Limitations in accessibility and operations - The operator cost may shoot up due to the logistical challenges in deploying IT resources to manage Mobile Edge Computing. The overhead costs can increase due to challenges in distance, the huge volume of devices to be handled, geographical accessibility, and other associated expenses.
- The need for remote management - There is a shortage of skilled operators for delivering timely updates, debugging in case of problems, and deployment of additional devices as and when needed. They need a variety of skill-sets, such as data caching, data analysis, message brokering, device management, and fault tolerance.
- Support for air-gapped deployments - Since Mobile Edge Computing involves managing remote devices in constrained locations without human intervention, high latency to the central cloud can lead to delays and affect the working of the applications.
- Security vulnerabilities - Mobile Edge Computing has to ensure secure communication from the Data Center, ensuring its utmost privacy. In case of an attack, a quick ability to identify rogue devices would be required.
- Lack of a unified architecture - This is due to the complex and unmanageable matrix of different codebases, pipelines, deployment processes, and operational practices. This creates issues as Mobile Edge Computing applications need to be deployed across other environments and data centers seamlessly.
Wrapping Up!
What is in store for Mobile Edge Computing?
With a connected world in the offering, Mobile Edge Computing should improve customer experience with specific use cases. It has to be integrated with a variety of existing channels for driving engagement. The processes involved in building, operating, and managing clouds has to become more comfortable. Special attention has to be paid to the data being collected from the Mobile Edge Computing devices. The data has to provide valuable insights in reducing unnecessary inventory, preventing economic damage, and other related quality issues. Along with supporting low latency, Mobile Edge Computing has to enable a high degree of work parallelism and fault tolerance.
