The Edge Outlook The Now, the New and the Next of edge computing 1) Now: CIOs are realizing that Introduction the edge is the key to unleashing Companies today are facing a mammoth task. The world in which they operate in is changing – at a rate innovative opportunities exacerbated by a disruptive pandemic, the climate crisis, First, we had the PC era. Then came the “post-PC” era, defined by the and rising social and political tensions – and they are portability and connectivity of mobile devices and the Cloud. Now, we being asked to step up to help society meet these new have officially entered a new era of computing: distributed intelligence. IDC challenges. At the same time, our reliance on technology predicts that by 2025, every connected person in the world will have at least has increased and data is growing exponentially, which one digital data interaction every 18 seconds—likely from one of the billions in turn has accelerated digital transformation and driven of IoT devices, which are expected to generate over 90 ZB of data in 2025. pervasive demand for computing power. This era brings with it a number of We are entering a revolutionary era of distributed intelligence, Enter the edge. fast-growing opportunities, such as and there is a key technology inflection that will allow businesses automation and hyper-personalisation. Enter the edge. According to IDC, to keep up with this unprecedented pace of change. Edge But capitalizing on these opportunities spending on edge computing will hit computing. Putting compute closer to data sources at the edge – requires that data be tapped for value $250 billion by 2024, led by a future of i.e., all the data endpoints that exist outside the data centre, from – a task that is becoming increasingly ‘extraordinary value and opportunity.’ smartphones and PCs to IoT devices and sensors – is the only harder as the amount of data explodes, way to manage the volume of data now being generated. Edge CIOs know that data strategy must be particularly with COVID-19 accelerating computing will also play a pivotal role in enabling businesses to a top priority, with recent research from the growth of remote environments realize the advantages of emerging technology, like 5G and AI. HPE Aruba demonstrating that they are and connected. Put simply, the edge is where businesses can turn ambitious recognizing that analyzing real-time ideas into reality. During the first lockdown, broadband data nearer to the Edge yields greater data usage increased by 47%, Zoom’s efficiencies and insights, which enhances Edge computing is already transforming entire companies, from measurement of “annualized meeting business outcomes. According to the the way they operate to the products and services they deliver. minutes” jumped 20-fold, from 100 billion global study, 72% of IT leaders are CIOs cannot afford to ignore the edge any longer. at the end of January to over two trillion already using Edge technologies to deliver new outcomes. This report will provide predictions on the now, new, and next in April, while Microsoft Teams set a of edge computing to help businesses achieve real business record of 2.7 billion total meeting minutes While barriers to adoption remain outcomes, such as driving operational efficiencies to creating in a single day. Sending all this data – a recent IDG pollfound that identifying new products and opening new revenue streams. It also includes back to the cloud for processing would clear use cases, security, lack of internal real use cases from Intel customers, offering insight into how be impractical, not only because of the skills and cost concerns are among the top companies across key industries have successfully leveraged latency, but because of the sheer volume considerations – this suggests that CIOs this technology, and practical advice from Digital Pioneer and of data involved. are beginning to understand the value of AI Scientist, Inma Martinez. At Intel we believe now is the time to the edge. They recognise that the edge quickly accelerate the move to edge computing to deliver the best means working towards a future where business outcomes. data is no longer stored where it has no value. Instead, companies who adopt edge technologies can move, process and % extract value from this data in real time – 76 the key to innovation. stated that identifying This creates a new urgency for companies. “the ideal location” With numerous examples of edge for data analysis deployments already generating real business value across multiple industries, was challenging companies wanting to stay competitive forward progress must act now. 2 3 2) New: Companies will bring the edge to life, fuelling innovation and optimisation across every industry Edge computing is already bringing digital services to the next frontier working in synergy with critical technologies like AI and 5G. Among Intel customers alone, there is over 24,000 edge deployments generating real business value and helping companies grow and innovate in the distributed intelligence era. In this next section, we have used these customer stories to show how the edge is transforming four key industries: retail, industrial, healthcare and telecommunications. 1. Retail: Transforming shopping and inventory management. The retail sector understands the increased Today’s digital signs and interactive kiosks Finally, Edge-powered video analytics demand for technology to help ease current are connected, intelligent, and responsive, and AI that can identify potential criminal challenges, with retailers forced to accelerate with smart sensors and cameras making it behaviour in real-time mean that their digital transformation in response possible for kiosks to recognize products, criminal activity like shoplifting and label Today’s digital to COVID-19. The edge, with its capacity respond to touchless gestures, and even switching, whether an autonomous store to deliver competitive advantages like address loss prevention. Vision capabilities or otherwise, saving stores money and signs and increased efficiency and enhanced customer for AI-powered analytics also let retailers enabling a safer shopping environment. experiences, will be fundamental to helping know when a message is truly effective. interactive kiosks retailers thrive in the future of retail For instance, Intel customer Wonderstore, – a future shaped by unprecedented an Italian luxury computer vision boutique, are connected, levels of engagement, personalisation, uses visual sensors and real-time analysis and convenience. powered by edge technologies to customise intelligent, The opportunities for retail companies at store experiences based on customers’ the edge fall primarily into two categories. fashion choices, sentiment, and dwell time. Not only has Wonderstore’s shop window and responsive First, insights generated by the edge are conversion rate improved by nearly correcting massive amounts of inventory 17%, they have also been able to optimise distortion while making supply chains and personnel management and create seamless product development incredibly efficient. omnichannel experiences that extend the Thanks to the edge, retailers are using customer journey beyond the physical store. machine vision to address this challenge by enabling predictive inventory and supply Another use case is autonomous stores, chain control – ensuring that critical which allow contactless convenience and materials are in the hands of those who safety. Data flowing from supermarket need them most. shelves, conveying important information on inventory, traffic flow, purchase frequency Secondly, the edge is providing and linger time, can be combined with real-time consumer behaviour analysis, sensors, computer vision, and robotics to empowering retailers to deliver increased deliver automated checkouts and “just walk convenience and more engaging, out” purchase experiences at point of sale. personalised experiences. 4 5 2. Industrial: Driving transformative results for Industry 4.0 Edge technologies are driving the fourth These edge deployments helped Intel industrial revolution, which brings digital customer Audi boost weld inspections by and physical technologies together 100 times with 18ms latency and reduce – AI and IoT, additive manufacturing labour costs by 30 to 50 percent at their robotics, and cloud computing – to Neckarsulm plant in Germany, one of the create more flexible, responsive, and company’s two principal assembly plants. interconnected enterprises that make Increasing automation and efficiency better decisions, fast. is not about replacing workers. These Its great potential to transform industrial innovations reduce risking employees processes is largely due to the amounts opportunities and enable new knowledge of raw data generated by machines. and skills.. Edge computing is even One such use case is condition-based enhancing employee experience by monitoring and predictive maintenance. powering wearable and handheld Hyperconverged edge data centres augmented reality (AR) devices that speed perform analytics and filter data locally on-the-job safety training, provide hands for faster asset condition assessment, free complex assembly instructions, and opening up the possibility of maintenance display equipment stats like temperature contracts based on actual machine health. and vibration to assist maintenance. Edge computing is also working to remove human error and limitations from manufacturing. With the help of machine learning, edge computing collects, aggregates,