Edge computing means latency more important than transmission rate: Lumen/Intel/IDC study
Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) says a study it co-sponsored with Intel Corp. shows that, as enterprises move toward greater use of edge computing, latency eclipses data rate in importance. The study, conducted on the corporations’ request by IDC, indicated that two-thirds of the global IT respondents are implementing edge computing.
The study garnered responses from 800 IT and operational technology decision-makers (director level or above) divided equally across the energy, logistics, government/public sector, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and retail banking sectors. Respondents hailed from the United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Singapore. Lumen says approximately 30% of the respondents work in organizations with more than 10,000 employees and the rest were from organizations of between 1,000 to 10,000 employees.
Ninety percent of these respondents indicated their applications require latency of 10 ms or less. Seventy-five percent said they require 5 ms or less for edge initiatives. Forty percent of organizations represented in the survey have plans to invest in edge capabilities in less than a year; 54% said they were comfortable contracting with a technology service provider for their requirements, with 73% preferring a flexible managed service model with subscription-based services.
"C-suite leaders across verticals are looking to edge computing solutions to achieve significant operational efficiencies and improved security and compliance by limiting movement of data," said Ghassan Abdo, research vice president, WW telecom, virtualization & CDN at IDC. "They also want to deliver better customer experiences. All of these priorities can be addressed through edge computing solutions."
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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