OpenStack aims to advance edge architecture, design and testing

The white paper, “Edge Computing: Next Steps in Architecture, Design and Testing,” describes specific ways open infrastructure operators are shaping the future of edge computing by collecting use cases and technology requirements and contributing architectures, open source components and considerations for testing activities.

“Edge computing is an exciting step in the technology evolution that is moving to the phase of solutions that OpenStack and the Open Infrastructure community broadly are working on,” said Ildiko Vancsa, ecosystem technical lead at the OpenStack Foundation.

“Edge means different things to operators in various, not only IT-specific, industry segments, each with unique variables to optimize for. The new white paper is a thoughtful compilation of architectural models that provides connection points between different use cases as well as directions to pick the right solutions,” Vancsa said.

Among the use cases discussed:

– 5G/edge compute

– Content caching

– Industry 4.0/Manufacturing

– Intelligent Aquaculture

The paper discusses a number of implications for reference architectures, including situations that call for centralized control planes versus decentralized control planes.

Ultimately, the paper’s authors suggest that the combination of varying architectures and technology components will require a high degree of integration. Their conclusion?

“The real challenge lies in efficient and thorough testing of the new concepts and evolving architecture models. New test cases need to be identified along with values that are representative to typical circumstances and system failures. Testing can help with both enhancing architectural considerations as well as identifying shortcomings of different solutions,” the authors stated.

Article Topics

5G  |  edge cloud  |  edge computing  |  industry standards  |  OpenStack  |  reference design  |  testing