Enterprises accelerate edge computing adoption

Enterprises are increasingly moving edge computing into production as they expand internet of things deployments, with 62 per cent adopting edge architectures, according to research firm Omdia. The survey of 570 IoT decision-makers across 10 countries found that 42 per cent ranked edge processing as their top technology investment priority. Omdia said edge computing is moving beyond experimentation, with 78 per cent of deployments progressing beyond the pilot stage. More than half, at 53 per cent, have reached moderate or extensive scale across business units or the wider enterprise. Among organisations that have deployed edge computing, 87 per cent said their deployments either met or exceeded expectations, indicating that the technology is increasingly delivering measurable business value. “As more enterprises seek to incorporate AI and machine learning into their deployments, they are considering how to adapt their architectures to support processing at the edge,” said John Canali, principal analyst for IoT at Omdia. “Improved security, lower data transmission costs and lower latency are encouraging this shift.” “Our survey shows that 78 per cent of edge deployments have moved beyond the pilot stage, including 36 per cent at moderate scale and 17 per cent at extensive scale,” Canali added. Despite positive results, security remains the biggest obstacle to wider deployment, cited by 31 per cent of respondents. Integration with operational technology and business processes was a challenge for 29 per cent, while 28 per cent reported difficulties integrating edge systems with legacy IT infrastructure. A lack of budget was cited by 21 per cent, suggesting that technical and integration issues are more common barriers to scaling edge deployments than financial constraints. Omdia said technology providers and service partners could help enterprises expand their use of edge computing by strengthening security across multiple sites and improving integration with existing systems and technologies from different vendors.