Edge computing refers to geographically locating infrastructure in proximity to where data is generated or consumed. Instead of pushing this data to a public or private cloud for storage and computing, the data is processed “on the edge,” using infrastructure that can be simple commodity servers or sophisticated platforms like AWS for the Edge, Azure Stack Edge, or Google Distributed Cloud.
Computing “at the edge” also has a second meaning around the upper boundaries of performance, reliability, safety, and other operating and compliance requirements. To support these edge requirements, shifting compute, storage, and bandwidth to edge infrastructure can enable scaling apps that aren’t feasible if architected for a centralized cloud.
