Terms like fog computing describe an emerging computing paradigm that brings data, analytics and applications closer to the edge of the network. It helps improve the performance of cloud-based services.
This technology enables the local monitoring and analysis of data from connected devices almost in real time. Compared to conventional pure cloud solutions, fog computing offers better scalability and performance for applications via so-called fog nodes.
This form of network structure acts as an intermediary between the cloud and the end device or edge device. In addition, fog computing improves security through dynamic authentication, encryption and access control features.
Fog computing is used in numerous industries – from transport to healthcare to Industry 4.0. It can be used in the transport sector for intelligent trafficmanagement systems or autonomous, intelligent vehicles.
The same is true in healthcare for remote patient monitoring. Fog computing can guarantee higher reliability
here than other technologies before it.
Even agriculture can benefit from this technology. Fog computing can be used to monitor soil and plant conditions in the immediate vicinity. This is achieved with greater accuracy and reliability than before.
The network structure of fog computing and edge computing is very similar. Only in this way can the communication between the cloud services provider and the end device succeed.
Compared to conventional cloud solutions, it enables the processing of sensitive data from connected devices almost
in real time. At the same time, the system retains high scalability and incurs lower costs. It does this by connecting services and the Internet of Things (IoT) in a decentralised way at the edge of the cloud.
Companies can perform calculations or monitor events from connected devices almost in real time. This might not have been possible with classic cloud computing.
These often have a long transmission path and thus have a higher latency. However, applications such as the Internet of Things depend on low latencies.