With edge computing in the newer scenarios, this is even more the case. Distribution of infrastructure between a core and edge is mostly about separation of functions to maximize end-user performance. The two work in tandem and not at the expense of one other. Edge computing deployments are being built closely integrated with connectivity hubs at the core, so that primary or public cloud infrastructure can be easily accessed. And this will, in turn, push cloud (and interconnection) growth – not cannibalize it! The whole idea of cannibalization just does not make sense here.

Back to the future.

The debate around cloud and edge computing harkens back to the rise of cloud computing over a decade ago. Operators and investors alike were greatly concerned about the cloud cannibalizing traditional infrastructure service models like colocation, managed hosting, and dedicated hosting. It is fair to say that eventually there was some cannibalization, but it took over a decade to play out, and only at the scale that hyperscale platforms have recently achieved was this cannibalization most directly felt.

It is worth noting, for example, that even a segment like bare metal still has use cases to support and can continue to show positive growth despite all the headwinds. These are not shrinking industries like mainframes. Yes, cloud weakened certain infrastructure service segments, but overall, it has lifted the entire internet infrastructure ecosystem while bringing on change to others.

Could we see something similar play out in edge computing? It is not a perfect comparison. Public cloud was and is disruptive to traditional infrastructure models. Edge is more an extension or iteration of where infrastructure is going. That alone makes the notion of edge cannibalizing cloud – and actually moderating its growth trajectory – unlikely if not entirely impossible in the short term.

Gartner’s comments have not aged well.

Gartner has made similarly bold statements that just don’t stand up to scrutiny. Back in 2017, a Gartner analyst claimed in an article: “there’s another trend that will shift workloads and data and processing and business value significantly away from the cloud. The edge will eat the cloud. And this is perhaps as important as the cloud computing trend ever was.” We’ve addressed above why this is a misguided point of view. Edge computing is not eating cloud and this is not a zero-sum game.

The edge and core (cloud) will work together and often mutually benefit with the effect of the rising tide lifting both boats. The analyst goes on: “cloud computing providers are really good at managing their standardized, centralized, massively-scaled data centers and control software. But the technologies for the edge will be completely different, much more dynamic, much more evolutionary and competitive.” This is a similarly baffling statement. It is not clear how the building-block technologies are going to be completely different and how they will be competitive. Edge computing is still about servers, power, cooling, terrestrial connectivity, interconnection, and real estate. Wireless connectivity and smaller micro data centers are the new building blocks, but they’re hardly new and imposing technologies that are going to fundamentally change things.

And how would “new technologies” be competitive? Would they make internet infrastructure obsolete and then irrelevant? That would have to happen if edge were to “eat the cloud.” And who and what are the mythical edge winners going to be? AWS is already pushing to the edge. It has Outposts, Local Zones, Wavelength, and now even smaller versions of Outposts that can fit almost anywhere. Microsoft Azure has Azure Stack and Azure Arc.

AWS is not moving to the edge because it is a new and shiny object that will disrupt its core cloud business. AWS is going to the edge because it knows it can drive even more cloud growth (infrastructure and uptake in machine learning and analytics tools). It just needs to extend and tap into the eyeballs at the edge, accumulate the data and get it back to the core. This is the essence of a close relationship and the antithesis of a zero-sum game.

Angle.

When done in binary terms, commentary around edge computing is misleading. Both Forrester and Gartner are guilty of that here, and it probably should not be all that surprising. Many technology analysts come to cloud and tend to think in terms of disruption and obsolescence. They don’t think of cloud as an infrastructure business that is primarily about operational expertise, service delivery, and, well, infrastructure. For such analysts, the Blackberry is dominant one day and disappears the next. And so too will the cloud. It will be taken over by the next new thing: edge computing.

Some investors (non-industry types) have been guilty of this as well, as we noted a few years back when an investor tried to suggest the data center would just end up being obsolete with the accelerating progression of miniaturization. Internet infrastructure is fundamentally a different business. It is not subject to the same whims and cycles we see in other technology segments, which are more “pure” technology (such as with the BlackBerry example).

The edge is going to do some amazing things, but it is the logical next iteration of what is going to happen with cloud-based computing, and this process is going to take years to play out. It is the close and symbiotic relationship between the edge and core that makes it wrong to think in terms of winners and losers. The cloud was the disruptor (or maybe better described as a paradigm shift). It has won, and the edge is going to take things to the next level by reaching end users wherever they are or supporting the decentralization of applications to reach those same end users wherever they are. The cloud at the core remains the foundation of the internet infrastructure ecosystem.

Overall, do not expect anything out of the ordinary to happen in 2021 around edge computing. We’ll see more deployments, new markets will get more infrastructure, more partnerships will be established, and live customers will pop up at the edge. By and large, this is a market driven by hyperscale cloud. Don’t buy into the hype. Buy into the medium and long-term transition to a more complex and sophisticated way to delivery infrastructure to every end user, wherever they are, on a global basis.

Original article can be found here: Fallacies About Edge Computing