"In essence, edge computing complements cloud computing, extending digital transformation to the edge," Bittman said. Gartner research shows that edge computing has value in all industries, "although how it's used varies widely," Bittman said. "Whenever an enterprise has people or assets widely distributed, where interactions are taking place at the edge — shopping, assembling, collaborating, systems of all sorts — edge computing may make sense." Sectors that are the most distributed or are asset-heavy are and will use edge computing the most, Bittman said. "Edge computing brings data, analytics processing, and storage closer to the equipment to monitor machine health in real time," she said.

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Persons: Thomas Bittman, Bittman, Michele Pelino, Pelino Organizations: International Data Corporation, IDC, Companies, Gartner, Forrester Research