In enterprise IoT architectures, cloud computing can play a significant role in organizing, storing and analyzing a variety of data collected from IoT sensors, However, as companies start to use IoT for a broader array purposes, including management of mission-critical or industrial applications, there will be a growing need for real-time analytics and faster decision-making to occur directly on the IoT device, or somewhere closer to the device, .
For example, an autonomous car or a critical piece of equipment in a partially automated factory may require instant, almost zero-latency response to detected conditions, as human lives or business livelihood, may hang in the balance. To enable necessary action to be taken more quickly–perhaps autonomously–companies deploying IoT for such purposes increasingly may turn to the concept of edge computing.