We all know what is cloud computing. Today, we are going to learn about cloud computing vs fog computing. From the same makers of the “Cloud”, we get “the fog”. And no, it’s not about a Stephen King book, but about data processing in the limbus between hardware and network.
It may seem to some that I took the term out of my pocket just to invent a title. I was a little familiar with the general meaning of what we will explain next, but by reading How to Geek I discovered it was called “Fog Computing”. After reading many explanations that try more to sell me something than to illustrate the concept, I was convinced that it was something much simpler than it seems.
Consider cloud computing as an initial concept, as many already know what it means. All those computer services that are offered online, on the Internet, that involve a large network of computers connected to host the data of the software that users access without having to install anything. Cloud services concentrate and process everything on a central server and not on the user’s computer.
Cloud computing vs fog computing?
Granted, it’s a funny term. Fog computing is a model where data processing and applications focus on devices on the edge of the network and not entirely in the cloud. This allows data to be processed locally on an intelligent device instead of sending it to the cloud. This model is specifically designed to focus on the Internet of Things, all the new devices like your home thermostat or fridge that are now connected to the Internet.
Such devices can transfer large amounts of data, and the idea of Fog Computing is to use the same device as an access point to increase the speed of data processing and thus relieve the cloud of some of the work for smoother and more immediate user experience. After all, who wants to wait 30 seconds for the refrigerator to know the condition of their vegetables?
On the other hand, some argue that current cloud computing already has all the elements of supposed fog computing and that it is just a marketing term to attract attention. And indeed, what is “the cloud”, but a metaphor for the Internet.
Fog Computing and 5G Mobile Computing
Some experts believe that the expected implementation of 5G mobile communications could create more opportunities for Fog Computing. 5G technology in some cases requires the installation of very dense antennas, and under certain circumstances, the antennas must be within 20 kilometers of each other. In such an application, a fog computing architecture could be created between these stations, including a central controller that manages applications running on this 5G network and manages connections to data centers or background clouds.
How does Fog Computing work?
A fog computer fabric can have a variety of components and functions. It could also be Fog c, which are gateways that accept data from IoT devices. It could include a variety of wired and wireless granular collection endpoints, including rugged routers and switching devices. Other aspects could include the equipment of customer premises (CPE) and gateways for accessing edge nodes. Further up the stack, fog computer architectures would also affect central networks and routers, and ultimately services and servers in the global cloud.
The OpenFog Consortium, the group that develops reference architectures, has defined three goals for the development of a Fog framework. Fog environments should be horizontally scalable, meaning that they support vertical use cases from different industries, can work from the cloud to the continuum of things and are a system-level technology that extends from things across the boundaries of the network to the cloud and across different network protocols.