Companies Extend Cloud to the Edge

Firms world-wide on pace to spend $240.6 billion on edge computing through 2024

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Companies are expected to raise spending over the next few years on technology designed to power data-processing tools installed directly on factory-floor machinery, cellphone towers, train-track signals or store-checkout hardware—instead of in a data center.

The goal of edge computing is to improve the performance of production and service applications by processing data where it is being generated and apply it at lightning speed. The rapid growth of edge computing across industries comes as digitized functions and processes spew massive amounts of data, which is increasingly stored and processes in the cloud, analysts say.

Software company Red Hat Inc., an affiliate of International Business Machines Corp. , last week launched an edge-computing platform designed to operate across multiple cloud services.

“With so much data, we have to get it closer to where it’s needed,” Red Hat Chief Executive Paul Cormier said. “You can’t always take the time on a factory floor to push all that data down the line; you need it right on the production line to make very quick decisions,” he said.