Augmented humans: the personalisation of edge computing

The rapid growth of AR (augmented reality) combined with our newfound love of wearable technology is driving a trajectory where people will become the highest value consumption point.?

According to IDC’s Worldwide CIO Agenda Predictions 2021 Survey, 45 percent of respondents were exploring early deployments or early pilot initiatives of AR technologies.?

Organisations are realising the power of AR to achieve efficiency and productivity gains across production, maintenance, and training tasks. As a result, we’re seeing it used in manufacturing, retail, energy, construction, and the automotive sectors, to name a few, with use cases including:

• Training – on-site education initiatives are being created with mobile devices and hands-free, heads-up displays.?
• Guided assembly – hands-free, heads-up displays are assisting production line operators with real-time step-by-step instructions.?
• Quality assurance – AR enables streamlined comparisons of manufactured output to design specs to ensure the correct assembly of products.?
• Remote maintenance and repair – on-site workers provide live video feeds to remote experts for troubleshooting and targeted feedback.?

Elsewhere, broadcasters are looking to create virtual studios that bring fans and viewers closer to the action. And VR (virtual reality) use is on the rise, with marketing and sales departments looking to bring their products to life through wearable technologies.?

AR and VR are also delivering new benefits and efficiencies in medicine. For example, a surgeon on one side of the world can leverage the mixed reality of both AR and VR to gain remote expertise from another surgeon on the other side of the world.?

Gartner predicts 30 percent of IT organisations will have Bring Your Own Enhancement (BYOE) policies by 2023 to accommodate the increasing use of wearable augmentation technologies such as smartwatches, cochlear implants, heads-up displays, and AR and VR headsets.?

Personalisation at the edge

All these examples signify the advent of “the human edge.” The rich data available to collect and analyse will enable businesses to design and deliver ultra-personalised services and experiences to each person, creating the next wave of digital value for enterprises.?

However, these technologies share a common denominator - they exist at the edge. Gartner defines edge computing as “part of a distributed computing topology in which information processing is located close to the edge – where things and people produce or consume that information.?

And with IDC predicting the number of connected devices across society and business to exceed 56 billion by 2025, the need for compute and storage at the edge is apparent. Organisations wanting to capitalise on the power and possibility of AR and wearable technology will need to process the data locally so they can act on it in real-time.?

The amount of data generated across various use cases will not facilitate critical data and analytics moving from the edge to a data centre on the other side of the world. Thus, the appetite for actionable insight in real-time will drive the adoption of edge data centres – modular, self-contained units that can be installed easily in any location and function as an on-site public cloud.?

The next wave of digital value for enterprises is just around the corner. With the right edge computing technology, organisations will be able to capitalise on an augmented future for a personalised edge that brings universal value across efficiency, productivity, serviceability, and experience.?

About the author

As the APAC Greenlake Cloud Services Director, I drive large-scale projects with a specialised focus on hybrid cloud, data analytics, security, and software-defined data centres (edge and hyperscale). A business strategist, customer advocate, and technologist at heart, I continuously strive to innovate in my work and always look for better opportunities. These traits have helped me understand what drives customer’s experiences today, technology being one of them. And, I believe Hybrid IT and consumption-based IT will help in laying the cornerstone for tomorrow’s infrastructure.