CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4 - 62

The Final Word

Edge
Computing
in a Pandemic
World
GH Rao
President
Engineering and
R&D Services
HCL Technologies
As the cover article in this issue makes clear,

up testing sites and temporary treatment

edge computing is about to have a huge

centers. Optimizing supply chains through

impact on business and our lives. Among

sensor-generated data could help prevent

other beneﬁts, edge computing enables the

shortages of essential goods such as surgical

nearly real-time processing and application

masks, ventilators and testing kits.

of data generated by the Internet of Things.
This will have an effect on everything from

But edge computing - processing IoT data

agriculture to autonomous vehicles.

near its source, without having to send it all
the way to the cloud for analysis - could help

The rapid analysis of IoT-generated data at

battle and manage a pandemic in

the edge of a network will result in greater

additional ways.

use of that data. The relative ineffectiveness
of cloud computing analytics, currently the

Identifying hot spots while protecting

norm, is highlighted by the fact that 90% of

patient data. Symptoms such as fever or

enterprise data is unused.

coughing among a cluster of individuals
can provide early warning of a coronavirus

Could edge computing also play a role in

outbreak. Sensors that constantly monitor

better managing COVID-19 and

people's temperature or other vital signs in

future pandemics?

places like nursing homes could generate
data that would help track outbreaks locally

Clearly, the Internet of Things on its own

and across the country. Processing that data

offers tremendous potential to combat a

locally, then encrypting it before sending

pandemic. For example, smartphones and

it on to a national database in the cloud,

location-based apps could automate the

would limit the dissemination of personally

massive task of contact tracing to minimize

identiﬁable information to a small local

the spread of a virus. IoT devices could

network.

facilitate the rapid deployment of pop62
CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CTO Straight Talk - Issue 4
