We are not far from a world where we will be immersed in ambient intelligence. A key trend, captured in our ‘State of IT Infrastructure Report 2020’, which will be realized by ambient computing systems that send data to and from edge devices such as routers, cameras, robots, drones, sensors, medical devices, etc., to a cloud or data center. These could be thousands of miles away and prove to be impractical when responses are required in real time. The only way to realize the benefits of ambient computing is to arm edge devices, where the data is produced and consumed, with compute power. 

Edge computing is a crucial element of next generation digital services. No organization can afford to ignore it. At the moment, investments in edge computing are growing, propelled by the roll out of ultra-reliable low-latency 5G networks across the world. 5G networks hold the promise of dramatically improving the edge computing experience. By 2027, the edge computing market is expected to reach $43.4 billion, growing at 37.4% over the forecast period.ⁱ

There are several options to establish edge computing (see Figure 1 - Three patterns of edge computing):

Outpost of a public cloud provider: Most public cloud providers today have some sort of small Proof of delivery (PoDs) that can be deployed anywhere in the world and networked to their clouds. These serve the purpose of remote processing in collaboration with their central clouds. 

Telco’s mobile edge compute: As part of the evolution in cellular technology, 5G rollouts by cellular operators will involve deploying micro data centers across countries. These data centers will also provide multi-access edge compute on an open standard that can be availed by any party that wants to deploy any application or its sub component. 

Enterprise’s remote and branch offices: Enterprises will have unique requirements where they will want secure facilities for information processing away from data centers or clouds. An example of this is a factory that requires such private edge data centers, where mission-critical information processing can be undertaken. 

To leverage this unified edge, enterprises will have to embrace a holistic framework to deliver robust and production grade edge services. An example from the retail industry serves to understand how this should work in an organization’s edge implementation. The retail industry is advancing rapidly with technologies like smart displays, shelf monitoring, video analytics, chatbots, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and supply chain logistics. These technologies are now critical for many more industries, particularly with 5G cellular networks that are close to realization. 5G brings in a set of features that will be of significant interest to businesses seeking to leverage new features like ultra-low latency, high bandwidth, high density M2M communication etc. to create new use cases. 

To embrace these, the edge operation should provide the crucial layer to bring all these together under one framework. It should also deploy a vast array of accelerators (end-to-end cloud solutions, reference architectures, re-usable components, and shared services) on top of the framework to address every need to support edge devices and sustain an ambient computing environment. 

The goal of the framework should be to provide an enterprise grade deployment of edge services by addressing:

• The distributed, zero-touch nature of edge devices that demand platforms to operate at scale
• The unique operational requirements of organizations by leveraging cross industry experience 
• Field support to maintain quality of service 
• The roll out of projects on a global scale using our expertise in systems integration
• The need to connect a supply chain of platform, hardware and device partnerships

Wipro solves the above challenges using its Boundaryless Universal Edge – BLUE in short –that addresses the requirements in one unified framework (see Figure 2).

Wipro brings in a range of accelerators over the BLUE framework. This includes ready to adopt end-to-end cloud-based solutions, reference architecture, reusable components, and shared services that are tuned to address the complete lifecycle. BLUE has synergies at various touch points with the Boundaryless Enterprise solution and therefore several of its assets can be leveraged here. Most organizations will want to leverage the potential of BLUE because it goes beyond technology. It does this by providing a complete wrapper around edge device needs, saving time and assisting the organization to almost-instantly ramp up ambient computing from strategy to success.

References:

ⁱ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-edge-computing-market

Saji Thoppil 

Wipro Fellow, Chief Technologist – Cloud and Infrastructure Services

Saji drives the adoption of a range of next generation solutions under Wipro’s Chief Technology Office themes that include 5G, blockchain, AR/VR, AI, and Quantum Computing. He has 25+ years of IT industry experience encompassing design, build and operationalization of complex, distributed IT systems. Saji has created multiple practices and incubated several new IPs for Wipro. In recognition of his contribution to the organization and the industry, he was conferred the title of Wipro Fellow - Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.  

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