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What is Fog Computing?

Written by meda

What is Fog Computing?

Overview

Fog computing is a computing paradigm that extends cloud computing and services to the edge of the networks. Meaning, it allows applications to run in close proximity to users. And it can be highly geo-distributed and support user mobility. Moreover, it is a system level horizontal architecture. And extends compute, network, and storage capability of cloud to the edge of the networks.

Fog and Cloud Computing

By extending the cloud to be closer to the IoT devices, fog enables latency sensitive computing to be available in proximity to the gadgets. This results in more efficient network bandwidth and more functional and efficient solutions. Additionally, The computing platform is a necessity for emerging IoT applications that demand real-time and predictable latency. Owing to its wide and dense geographical distribution, the fog paradigm is preferable for real-time big data analytics solutions.

A federation of fog and cloud can further handle the big data acquisition, aggregation and pre-processing. And it reduces data transportation and storage, balancing computational power on data processing nodes.

The deployment of services in fog computing platforms is not any different from services deployment in the cloud environments. And the computing layer supports hosting physical and as well as virtual machines as required.

Characteristics of Fog Computing

The isolation and interdependence of the components of the architecture delivers many unique characteristics that are not found in cloud platforms. And the following concepts are some of the typical characteristics of fog computing platforms:

  • Wide Scale Distribution: The nodes reside geographically closer to smart objects, playing the roles of routing, computational delegation, communication, and resource access.
  • Mobility Support: Nodes within the network should not be geographically static. Device identity should be decouple from location and IP.
  • Wireless Access: Nodes are not hardwire to the Internet and thus rely on wireless networks for communication between smart objects and Fog nodes, as well as between Fog nodes to the Cloud.
  • Heterogeneity: Nodes perform in a multitude of differing environments and contexts and will exist in a variety of form factors.
  • Interoperability: The nodes must be capable of seamlessly communicating and cooperating with a variety of nodes and services.

These unique characteristics of fog computing platforms makes it the best technology to deploy between cloud computing paradigms and edge devices at the periphery.