Edge Computing – Facts & Figures

The Quintessence — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:00:55 +0000

Edge Computing is changing the connected world of tomorrow. It is having a turbo-charged effect on various areas of technology. Future Markets Magazine provides an overview of the most interesting facts and figures about Edge Computing and its impact.

The number of networked devices is booming

From minuscule chips right through to mighty machines, more and more devices will be able to exchange many informations with each other or with humans. The progress from year 2006 to year 2020 of networked devices:

2020: 200 Billion

2015: 15 Billion

2006: 2 Billion

(Source: IDC, Intel, United Nations)

Business applications are driving networking forwards

Most networked devices are found in factories, businesses and the healthcare sector, but also in a few others. There, they supply the data that are so crucial for locating objects, managing machines, boosting efficiency, saving costs and even saving lives. An overview of the different sectors:

40,2 % in Business and Manufacturing

30,3 % in Healthcare

8,3 % in Retail

7,7 % in Security

4,1 % in Transportation

(Source: Intel, Strategy Analytics, McKinsey, NYtimes.com)

Inconceivable data volumes

175 zettabytes – that is the sum of all data forecast to be generated in the year 2025. While in 2018, the figure still stood at 33 zettabytes.

(Source: IDC)

Edge Computing saves money

Sample calculation for a wind farm with security cameras and other sensors. Compared to a purely cloud-based solution costs of $80,531, a combined solution incorporating both the cloud and Edge Computing costs around 1/3 less, i.e. only $28,927, for managing and processing data.

(Source: Wikibon IoT Project)

More and more real-time data

In the future, more and more applications will require data processing in under 5 milliseconds, while some will even demand as little as 1 millisecond:

2010: 0 zettabytes

2018: 5 zettabytes

2025: 47 zettabytes