Technology is shaping our world and modifying our lives with constant updates and up-gradation. Along with the diversity in multiple devices and types of equipment with the network sensors of the internet, the technological era is constantly increasing the challenges for the services, architectures, businesses, and smart applications, which are capable of producing huge datasets that are being generated continuously.

Both edge computing and the blockchain are part of these emerging technologies. Edge computing is an advanced and extended form of cloud computing, with collaboration to the internet of things. On the other hand, the blockchain is the main underlying technology of the currencies with the help of the internet of things. Both of these are working on the networks and share the data through the networks. Edge computing and blockchain can hold their backs in their own ways like the blockchain can provide the decentralized marketplace for edge computing whereas edge computing can provide the low latency infrastructure to the blockchain for better performance. For your convenience, I am starting with some introductory parts for both of them.

How does Blockchain work?

Blockchain is the backbone of currencies which underpins digital transactions, e.g., Bitcoins. The blockchain consists of two words, block, and chain. The block is the information or the data and the chain is the part that connects the data of a device with multiple locations through a network. The technology allows the data to be shared, distributed, and visible to multiple locations and multiple users who have the access to view the data, but the data can not get copied, which means each of the data always has one owner. The data or the information is being restored to its database, allows it to be updated and stored in multiple locations. It decentralizes the main data part, so it can not be altered or modified, or deleted, once it is in the blockchain, it will be in the blockchain.

How does Edge Computing work?

Edge computing is mainly a technology that brings both the computation power and the data storage closer, i.e., the devices that are used to gather the data using the computational power through the internet, to the edge of the network. The way data is being handled, or processed, or delivered through the network is changing with the arrival of edge computing. With the exponential growth of the internet of things or IoT and the multiple interconnected devices, the applications require real-time computation power to process the data, so they continue to drive edge computing. By bringing closer the computation and the data, it allows the devices to work in higher bandwidth and lower latency rate, which reduces the heavy load of the data into the network and also the consumption of the high computation power. Also, millions of devices are processing millions of data that are being shared over the network in real-time, causing heavy traffic on the network, and consumes time. But the edge computing can make local networks for each of the devices with their servers, so that the data can be stored in the mini networks of a server around a device or a location, and by time and need they can share only the required data through the network, which causes the less network traffic and reduce the workloads over the networks.

How Blockchain and Edge Computing support each other?

Though blockchain is a super technology that enables digital transactions by making the information visible to the accessible devices at a time to the multiple locations without any central location, it has some drawbacks.

First, sharing of the data or the information on the blockchain requires huge time and high computation power most of the time. As the inequality of the processors and the processing servers make the consumption of high power which consumes time. Edge computing collaboration with this can reduce the time consumption by bringing both the processor and the sever closer with its high bandwidth lower latency type infrastructures.

Second, the blockchain nodes share data or information with each other over the network to the main server which consumes the high computational power and makes internet traffic. With the lower latency infrastructure, edge computing can create new mini data centers on the local network of each device. So the data can be stored in the local data centers and connected to the main server.

Edge computing has some drawbacks too. Like the edge computing does not have the proper marketplace or a commercial model where a developer can connect with the multiple local edge telecoms. S/He had to connect with each of the local telecom edges for the knowledge of edge performances, which readily consumes lots of time to get the information. If blockchain gets connected to edge computing, then it can provide a truly open marketplace for the edge. Where a developer can get the options for all locally available telecom edges and look into the best performing edge. The transaction can also be easier through a decentralized network of the blockchain. Also, the information will be stored on the main server.

The above passages show you how a decentralized technology like blockchain can support a decentralized alternative edge computing and vice versa. If both the blockchain and edge computing complied into one system, then it can enable reliable access and control over the network and computational power by distributing it at the edge of the large scale network servers. It can also provide the data storing facility and the computation validity in a more secure manner. Despite all of these, it can further improve the scalability of the device to process and transfer data continuously.

Thank you for reading the article. If you find the article helpful then let me know by commenting below in the comment box. Also, please share the article with your friends and colleagues. And, if you find that something is missing in the article or you have something on your mind that can add up here, then please let us know that by commenting below. If you want to leverage blockchain and edge computing to your business then contact us. We in the WinSquares are always here ready to help you. Thank you again!