Edge computer and servers

What are Edge computers?

Edge computer are powerful systems, which are placed at the edge of a given network where the data computation needs to happen. They are physically placed in the near of the systems or applications that are producing the data being stored or used by the computer. Edge computers are used to capture, analyse, and process the data, which is collected by e. g. sensors and all other IoT components.

Traditional vs. Edge computing

In traditional networks the server is the main source of information to give resources to distribute them across the network. In comparison to this, Edge computer are the development of this idea. They are having the ability to put a lot of the needed computation right at the place where data is produced and needed.

Advantages of Edge computers

Due to the developments in e.g., artificial intelligence, machine vision and deep learning there is a huge amount of data, which is pushed into the cloud than ever before. Storing a lot of unfiltered data in the cloud and transmitting it is very expensive. More meaningful than this is just to store the data, which is really needed and used. So computational decisions should be made ahead of time before the data is pushed into the cloud. This way is a very cost-effective and lean method to deal with collected data because everything what is being transmitted is useful. In most cases Edge computers have a small and reliable form factor to implement them right on the place where the data is generated and needed.

Performance and functions

It is all about connectivity and connecting the Edge with the Cloud. Further there are a lot of opportunities of extensions, with standard PoE and Modbus. Wifi 4G and 5G are other options. Applications for the Edge computer are usually deployed as Docker Container over a Runtime from the Cloud.

IoT Edge Gateways

Welotec IoT Edge Gateways are fully integrated with Azure IoT Hub and Azure IoT Edge support. Beside the industrial grade computing platform, they come with a hardened Linux operating system, a secure TPM Module and a cloud integrated container runtime. With its compact housing, the edge gateways are designed for din-rail mounting and can be used in harsh environments. The EG500 is also available as 5G IoT Edge Gateway and the EG600 as 4G IoT Edge Gateway.