[Technology companies want to compete in the edge computing market. Which type of manufacturer is closer to the main battlefield of edge computing? You may be familiar with cloud services, the CDN market battles, but recently there has been a new hot topic, which is edge computing. Some people think that edge computing will become another new track worth 100 billion yuan after cloud computing and CDN services. In the face of huge market opportunities for edge computing, not only CDN service providers such as ChinaNetCenter must lay out large-scale services, cloud service providers such as AWS and Alibaba Cloud are eager to try, and traditional IT vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, DELL, Huawei, etc. also share this future. Big cake.
In particular, with the maturity of preconditions such as Internet of Things and 5G technology, the demand for interconnections between people and objects has increased. After massive outbreaks of data and traffic, edge computing will become a must for many businesses and applications. Then the question arises. After each one has pulled away from competition for marginal computing, which type of manufacturer is closer to the main battlefield of edge computing? What other manufacturers are only playing the role of soy sauce?
To answer this question, we must first explain the path to edge calculations.
In fact, there are two roads, one is the upgrade mode of microservices. A simple understanding is to allow users to run applications on the edge platform and provide an open programming environment, which is similar to the path of software definition in recent years.
The second is the infiltration of the edge into the cloud, the use of edge capabilities to penetrate the core products and services in the cloud domain, such as the marginalization of databases, computing, storage, and security. After clarifying the evolutionary path map of the edge calculations, we can basically judge the respective strengths and weaknesses of several major legions.
Cloud service providers fight the battle
Let's look at cloud service providers who have been fighting price wars for several years. The cloud computing architecture is a typical centralized model. It often builds huge data center infrastructure in several large areas. The edge computing distributed network architecture, with the advantage of being closer to the user, is to some extent a "shunt" to the cloud computing center, and it is the original business of the cloud service provider.
With the decentralization of network interactions, cloud service providers have to lay out edge computing in order to hold onto the market space that they originally had. As a result, cloud service providers entering the edge computing can not be said to open up a new continent, but more like playing a "defense."
According to the data, it is estimated that about 5.3 billion terminals and 15 billion sensors will be connected to the Internet of Things in 2020. The scale of the nodes is far greater than that of the Internet. Moreover, the IDC's "2016-2020 Forecast of China's Manufacturing Internet of Things Market" report pointed out that 40 percent of data in 2018 will need to be analyzed, processed, and stored at the edge of the network. Each IoT node generates a large amount of real-time data, which means that cloud service providers have to lay out about 40% of computing power at the edge, and the investment scale and time period are huge challenges.
Of course, cloud service providers certainly can not be reconciled to move their own cheese, so Microsoft Public Cloud launched the AzureIoTEdge platform, placing machine learning, advanced analysis and artificial intelligence services on front-end IoT devices close to the data source; Amazon is Expanding AWS IoT capabilities and launching the software platform GreenGrass provides users with an environment for developing edge applications and analytics. Because AWS and Microsoft public cloud are more of a sales role in China, and lack of support for localized development frameworks and environments in China, the disadvantages are more obvious in competing for edge computing opportunities.
In comparison, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud and other actions are much faster and both are actively deploying edge computing. Alibaba Cloud has already begun to publicize its edge computing. It announced the strategic investment edge calculation at the recently held cloud habitat assembly and also launched the linkEdge platform. This allows developers to deploy edge computing capabilities to various smart device computing nodes and even to Speech recognition, AI capabilities sink to the edge. Tencent Cloud and Ali's strategy are not the same, take the "CDN + cloud" line, let the CDN have the ability of intelligent computing, but has not yet introduced an open framework based on the edge, just in Tencent has advantages of video broadcast, games, intelligence The exploration of Huang Jian et al.
For cloud service providers, it is an attitude of love and hate for edge computing. Of course, they are not without advantages. After all, cloud computing service providers have AI, security, and other functions and can implement migration. This is for Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, etc. For cloud service providers supported by artificial intelligence, this is not a bad news. In contrast, the short boards of independent cloud service providers such as Jinshan Cloud and Ucloud will emerge, and the advantages in the edge computing era will be further weakened.
The CDN service provider is a near-water tower, closer to the edge calculations
Edge computing is inherently a distributed architecture and solves problems at the end nodes. Without edge computing support, many applications may not run. For example, unmanned cars interact with real-time information, and the delay requirements for data transmission and interaction are very demanding. Once the response is slow, traffic accidents are serious, and the driverless experience is greatly reduced.
This distributed architecture is exactly in line with the technical architecture of the CDN. Since the birth of CDN, it is a natural distributed architecture that meets the data-carrying requirements of different phases. In the era of large-volume outbreaks, the CDN platform solves the problems of edge data and application distribution. Direct upgrade to the edge computing platform is the most logical transition. .
So, for the CDN service provider, it is close to the waterfront, and only on the basis of the original CDN, through the upgrade of hardware and software, the functions of calculation, storage and security can be increased. These node resources can be fully reused. To a degree, this kind of distributed edge computing is to rob the traditional cloud computing business.
Of course, there is another point. Edge computing is closer to the application scenario. Therefore, the deployment, operation, maintenance, and follow-up service capabilities of a professional localization service team are much more complicated than in the cloud environment of the enterprise. The number of nodes and the total bandwidth are required. With the support of multiple capabilities such as quantity, stability, quality, large redundancy, and resistance to attack, from this perspective, the service capabilities of professional third-party CDN service providers are more dominant than those of cloud service providers.
After entering the Internet of Things, more data needs to be calculated and delivered on the edge of the network. Whether it is the current Internet or the future of the Internet of Things, such applications are inseparable from the edge of computing, the market for localization services, The demand for customized development will be highlighted. From the service experience of CDN service providers, customized development capability is one of its core advantages in professional CDN services. In the future, this capability will help them to seize the frontier in the field of edge computing. machine.
It is precisely because of these points that, from the current situation, professional CDN service providers are much more excited about the rise of the edge computing market. For example, Limelight launched an enhanced version of EdgePrismOS software on its CDN network, allowing users to input and deliver local content on the edge; another CDN service provider, CloudFlare, launched CloudFlareWorkers in 2017 to open up edge computing services in the form of microservices. , support for user programming at the edge. ChinaNetCenter also officially announced that it has upgraded its existing CDN network to an edge computing network and will gradually build an edge computing platform, open up edge computing resources and services, and provide IaaS and PaaS services on the edge of the platform, allowing more developers to Develop applications.
It can be seen that the CDN service providers have seen edge computing as an opportunity to expand their own sites. Once successful, they will aggressively seize the market of cloud vendors and seize new business opportunities by occupying 40% of marginal data processing.
Breaking through cooperation - The key to the edge calculation of equipment vendors entering the market
The last category is servers, storage hardware vendors such as Huawei, IBM, and Inspur. In fact, these traditional IT vendors face the danger of being marginalized in the era of cloud services. Although equipment vendors such as Huawei and Inspur have begun to deploy the public cloud market in large numbers, it is still a bit of a thunderstorm. So, with the advent of the edge computing era, can they change this passive situation?
In fact, edge computing provides equipment vendors with an opportunity to sell a large amount of new software and hardware and solutions, especially in the private cloud market, which attaches importance to data isolation and security, and can bring them new growth opportunities. Will not be caught by the cloud service provider market. However, as a large number of applications and businesses migrate to the public cloud, this market has become increasingly crowded.
At present, traditional IT vendors are still at the back-end supply and have not escaped the “sales pipeline†role. If equipment manufacturers want to take the initiative in the edge computing industry chain and gain greater industrial dividend, they need to break through the cooperation.
However, in the selection of partners, on the one hand, we must look for service providers with edge computing resources and capabilities to form complementary advantages and jointly attack and capture the edge computing market; on the other hand, we must avoid partners with obvious business trends, so as to avoid Making wedding dresses for the business empire of others has once again become a stepping stone for the industry. Judging from the viable path of industrial cooperation, professional third-party CDN service providers will have broad industrial cooperation space in the future.
This means that CDN service providers are more likely to win the battle in this one-billion-dollar marginal computing arena either from an innate advantage or a strategic layout. One of the reasons for this conclusion is that, in the era of data-driven economy, the application and maturity of edge computing and IoT are positively related, and data is the “raw material†of edge computing. Therefore, the edge Calculated enterprises or applications will pay more attention to data security. Professional CDN service providers are more likely to be favored due to their third-party neutral position.
Compared with AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and other large groups, some customers may be jealous and fear that data security is threatened. There are also many examples of this, such as Amazon's acquisition of a Whole Foods supermarket, commercial retail companies will basically not choose AWS.
In general, the marginal computing drama has only just begun. The forces of various parties have only completed preliminary layouts, and they still lack the practice of industrial applications and key scenes. Under this background, different forces need to form a joint force to promote marginal computing. It is still too early to talk about competition.
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