Today, over 90% of enterprise data is sent to the cloud to be stored and processed. By 2022, this number will drop to just 25% according to Gartner. Where is the rest of the data going? It is not going anywhere. It is stored and used on the device it was created on. This is called Edge Computing. It entails that data is stored and used locally, on the “edge” of the network, e.g. a phone or IoT device.
In the past, many IoT solutions started cloud-based. In this model, data is sent to the cloud where it is stored, and data processing takes place. A resulting operation may be sent back to the device. There are a several limitations that make the cloud an unfeasible infrastructure for most future IoT applications:
* Dependence on Internet Connection: Cloud-based applications only work when the device has an active connection. However, there are still many areas where internet connectivity is either unreliable or non-existent, e.g. in many warehouse floors, tunnels, cellars, or remote areas.
* Lack of Speed: The time delay between an action and its response is significant in a cloud application, even with a fast and stable network connection due to the round-trip the data needs to take. A speedy response is, however, critical for some IoT use cases (autonomous driving, etc.).
* Limited Data Security / Privacy: If data transmission can be omitted and the data stored decentralized on the device, the risk of a breach is reduced tremendously.
* Broadband Limitations: Data Volumes are exploding mainly due to massive growth of IoT devices: By 2025, there will be 20 million IoT devices and 1.7MB of data created per second and per person. Existing bandwidth infrastructure is too limited to allow for that data to be send to the cloud. The growth of data volumes and IoT devices exceeds the speed by which broadband infrastructure can be extended. This puts a hard stop to the growth of applications depending on the cloud.
* High Cloud Costs: The more data is sent to the cloud and stored in the cloud, the higher the cloud costs. This is an especially notable issue with high-fidelity data like audio or video, and in data intensive areas like AI, AR, ML.
Shifting from cloud to Edge Computing overcomes these issues. However, the prerequisite for true Edge Computing is having the same tech stack as a server / cloud infrastructure performing well on much smaller, restricted devices. E.g. to use a device for Edge Computing, application developers must be able to store and process data at the edge and synchronize that data with other data sources and/or central data hubs. ObjectBox empowers Edge Computing with a data storage and synchronization solution optimized for restricted devices and easy developer APIs for fast implementation.
EU Impact Solving the Growing Problem of Bandwidth Infrastructure Limitations: To meet demand expected by the 2020s, wireless providers will have to start deploying 5G technology. Many areas in Europe and North America are full of 'dark fiber'. Providers can often meet rising demand simply by starting to use some of this dark fiber. But such hard-wired connections do not help with the host of mobile phones, fitness trackers, virtual-reality headsets, cars, smart city infrastructure assets etc. now coming online. ObjectBox will keep the majority of data on the device and only necessary and useful data would be sent from the device and use up bandwidth.
EU Impact- Making IoT Applications More Sustainable: The communications industry could use 20% of all the world’s electricity by 2025, limited the attempts to meet climate change targets and straining grids as demand by power-hungry server farms storing digital data from billions of smartphones, tablets and internet-connected devices grows exponentially. With ObjectBox, data can be stored and processed on-device at a much lower energetic footprint.
We completed a technological roadmap, market assessment, pricing model assessment, Phase 2 partnerships, IP assessment and updated our Business plan.
