Edge Computing Vs. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC)
Edge Computing Vs. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC)
Edge computing is a decentralized networking method where the main effort is to have data processed where the source of the data is without having to transport all of them to the data processing center. In other words, edge computing helps eliminate or at least, reduce the amount of processing on the cloud, which equals to less latency and bandwidth use, and move the process the local devices. It optimizes the amount of mandatory long-distance communication between a client and a server. Real life examples include safety monitoring of oil rigs, streaming video optimization, or autopilot features or smart utility grid analysis. In MIS3406, I worked with NodeJS and I could see in an application, the client has to send requests to the server, and while it is activated and listens to requests, it has to respond to the client in order for my application to accomplish a task. That was just on an experimental scale, if the volume of data is larger and requires more servers to process all the request, it is considerably faster and cost-efficient for application developers to have their data processed locally to speed up the process and cut down on expenses that spent on running servers. Edge computing is ideal on a business or corporate level where enormous amount of data flow in and out of a server every second.
While still concentrating in the cost-efficiency and processing-efficiency aspects, Mobile Cloud Computing or MCC is a new trend of computational method that is mostly similar to cloud computing but for mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. Instead of processing locally like edge computing to minimize the cost on bandwidth use for communication between clients and servers, MCC focuses on using the cloud to do the processing so that the experience is enhance. Since mobile devices are getting tremendously popular for everyone nowadays, MCC elevates the convenience of smartphones. Because all the data processing is carried out by the cloud, it’s a save on the devices’ wear and tear of the processing chip and the battery. Even though you are not actually carrying around a 1TB data storage memory card, you are carrying a device that is connected to one. Thus, you can save on the storage capacity of your physical mobile device. Your data is stored in the cloud, so data management and synchronization are also easier. All in all, it creates a superior experience for users because of enhanced performance and the cost you save on the storage capacity of your device. MCC is a great choice but it’s more of a user-experience-driven type of method where it’s beneficial for single users. Dropbox is a great example for MCC, it runs completely on the cloud. In MIS3406, S3 is a similar service to Dropbox that is accessible through HTTP or the AWS S3 web interface.
To compare the two method, edge computing cut down the expense and abundance on cloud use and utilize the local equipment to carry the heavy loads, so it speeds up the process and save the cost on overloading cloud servers. Communication between clients and servers will be reduced, hence, the considerable reduction on latency and use of bandwidth. The process will be less dependent on the stability of internet connection. MCC, on the other hand, concentrates on the convenience and performance on individual devices rather than as a whole. It optimizes the direct processing on the mobile device and let the cloud servers carry out all the hard work, so the users can maximize their storage capacity, battery health and data management capability.
References:
Mobile Cloud Computing – The Future of Mobile Applications. (n.d.). RapidSSLOnline. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.rapidsslonline.com/blog/mobile-cloud-computing-future-mobile-applications/
How to explain edge computing in plain English. (n.d.). The Enterprisers Project. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://enterprisersproject.com/article/2019/7/edge-computing-explained-plain-english
What is edge computing? (n.d.). Cloudflare. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/serverless/glossary/what-is-edge-computing/
Gyarmathy, K. (n.d.). Edge Computing vs. Cloud Computing: What You Need to Know. VXChange. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from https://www.vxchnge.com/blog/edge-computing-vs-cloud-computing
GeeksforGeeks. (2020, July 9). What is Mobile Cloud Computing? https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-mobile-cloud-computing/