Aggregation at the Edge: Beyond the Decentralized Versus Centralized Debate

Many times we think about ideas in terms of debate — that there are only two ideas that are oppositional in nature and that one is superior to the other. This is true right now in the network conversation concerning an industry push toward either decentralized edge computing or more centralized network systems. What if, as is often the case, there is another way to think about duality where a unity lies somewhere in between? Raj Yavatkar, CTO of Juniper Networks, believes that to be the situation in terms of the debate for supremacy between decentralized versus centralized networks. 

“So before I get into the debate, which is a very interesting debate, you can say that three factors, a trio of trains, are coming together. People are putting more and more workloads to the public cloud, the 5G infrastructure, which is very densified, and there [are] micro cells.There's a densification of the traffic, which is at the edge. And third is the new applications based on A.I., M.L. and analytics. So when you look at all these three trends, it's not so much just sending the traffic to the public cloud. You're using edge from multiple lists.” 

In this episode of IT Visionaries, Raj proposes that, in truth, networks can be both things simultaneously as they become increasingly “aggregated at the edge.” He also shares that teleportation via quantum networking is occurring right now.

Main Takeaway

• Aggregation at the Edge: Rather than an either or proposition concerning decentralized edge computing or centralized network consolidation, there is a great deal of network aggregation at the edge. On one hand, there is a drive to centralize due to the ability to send traffic to the public cloud. Alternatively, issues concerning limits of data transfer across national boundaries due to GDPR regulations as well as the potential need for local networks for automation are promoting edge computing. In reality, aggregation is still occurring but simply on the edge.
• Customers Drive Tech Advances: Customers are the vanguard of technological advancement and driving development based upon their evolving needs. Customers increasingly want automation and predictive analytics to support maintenance. In terms of network service, this includes maintaining the physical products that support the network operating seamlessly.
• Quantum Networking is Real: Not only is computing capacity advancing rapidly but so is communications. Simply put, quantum networking is real. It is based upon the idea of encoding data into quantum bits in order to send it along a network. In other words, teleportation is not relegated to the realm of science fiction. It’s happening now.

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