Edge Computing: A Need for Speed

You’ll be familiar with “the cloud” -  that magical place where your photos and files reside. Not only is it useful for data storage, but for computing too, and cloud computing has had a huge impact on how businesses and individuals use technology. But it has its limits, and that’s where “edge computing” comes in…  

Edge computing is a better way of organising things - an architectural overhaul, if you will. And the main benefit? Speed. Processes that might have taken seconds via the cloud could now take milliseconds - an improvement vital for some of the most exciting technologies in our future, including driverless cars.  

In late 2021, Siri and Alexa devices upgraded from the cloud to the edge by doing all speech recognition on-device - a move only made possible with the latest generation of high-powered, low-energy-use, low-cost computer chips. These chips, however, are in short supply…