Two years ago, at the Edge Computing Technology Summit, Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, put forward ten questions on edge computing, which directly targeted the core issues of technological evolution and industrial development, causing a huge response in the industry.

In the last two years, the edge computing industry has grown significantly, and the number of market players has increased. At the “China Mobile ‘5G+E’ Mesh Convergence Technology Summit” held recently, Academician Wu Hequan asked edge computing again, let us have a sneak peek!

Q: Where is the edge?

IGP20-T22D5N-L1 The edge closest to the user is the terminal, but although MEC functions can sink to the terminal, it is not appropriate to consider the terminal as a MEC.

The actual deployment location of the MEC is flexible. In addition to considering the proximity of the data source to reduce latency, the coverage of the business application service (such as the campus) and the need for the data localization of the business application (considering data security) must be considered.

In the mobile communication network, MEC can be in DU, CU, or CN edge; In industrial enterprises, the MEC can be set up inside the enterprise together with the base station, that is, the UPF is in the enterprise, and the network signaling can still be security authentication and control in the core network, and the data is not out of the enterprise. It can also be set at the edge of the operator’s core network, regardless of whether the base station is inside the enterprise; OTT service providers can define any node between the terminal/data source and the cloud computing center as a MEC landing point, which can be a pure software form or a hardware gateway with integrated middleware.

IGP20-T22D5N-L1 Second question: What is multiple access?

In 2016, ETSI extended the concept of MEC from Mobile Edge Computing (Mobile Edge Computing) to Multi-Access edge computing (multi-access Edge Computing), further expanding edge computing from telecom cellular networks to other access networks.

Multi-Access Computing does not emphasize that MEC serves multiple access systems at the same time. Nor does it mean that the MEC has a multi-homing function. Multi-access may mean that MEC can work in mobile communication network or WLAN, that is, adapt to the heterogeneity of access. Multi-access can also be understood to mean that the MEC can be integrated with multiple types of network elements in the access/metropolitan area network.

Q: Is MEC an edge cloud?

IGP20-T22D5N-L1 MEC is the edge cloud, and the cloud computing is a collaborative and complementary relationship. Cloud computing grasps the whole and focuses on the analysis of non-real-time and long-period data, which can play a strong role in periodic maintenance and other fields, while MEC focuses on the local and focuses on the analysis of real-time and short-period data, which can better support the real-time intelligent processing and execution of local businesses.

Cloud computing is the concept of intensive shared services. At present, MEC is not intensive enough if there are not many service terminals and applications. In addition, DaaS, KaaS, PaaS, SaaS of cloud computing should be configured in MEC?

Q4: What are the similarities and differences between MEC and CDN and DC?

The traditional CDN is an I/ O-intensive system centered on cache distribution service, and its main function is to distribute hot content nearby, or “distribution acceleration”. MEC not only needs to “accelerate”, but also has open API capabilities and localized computing and storage capabilities, with a certain degree of intelligence. So MEC can be thought of as a micro CDN with functionality closer to the edge of the wireless network.

IGP20-T22D5N-L1 Some CDNS now look more like cloud providers by offering some combination of container as a service, VM as a service, bare metal as a service, and serverless capabilities, rather than just a cache of hot content. From this point of view, the line between CDN and MEC is blurred, but from the position relative to the data source, the CDN is more like fog computing.

MEC has laaS functions, especially virtualized network, storage, and computing resources. It can be seen that MEC has certain data center (DC) functions, but DC should be large capacity from the perspective of energy efficiency, so MEC’s main ability is not to make micro DC.

Q: What does the MEC calculate?

From ETSI’s MEC function diagram, MEC has laas and Paas functions, that is, the main function of cloud computing, but it is more important to emphasize the encapsulation of MEC functions into virtual applications (local streaming, wireless caching, AR/VR technology, business optimization, positioning and other applications) and open to third parties. The current framework needs to complement the interaction with cloud network capabilities.