By: Jeffrey Ricker, co-founder and CEO of Hivecell

There has been an exponential shift in technology within the security industry. Driving that shift is a variety of factors, including but not limited to greater customer demand for security systems and what they can provide, along with the sheer volume of smart products.

In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2028, there will be one indoor surveillance camera per five employees in the U.S. and one per employee in China.

Whether it’s a welcome change or not, security companies need to understand what drives this growth and determine the best path forward for using underlying technologies. To do so, it’s essential to learn the factors contributing to the shift and what technologies are the right solution as the industry continues to evolve.

What is driving change?

As products such as cameras and sensors become more economically accessible, companies are adding thousands of new devices to their security lineup. These new touchpoints then produce vast amounts of raw data every second of every day, which in turn causes a data overload.

To help with this abundance of data, there has been an explosion of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning solutions that help organizations be more effective and efficient with their physical security. These solutions take the raw data and turn it into actionable insights. However, they also require a large amount of computing power to run.

In an effort to work smarter and not harder, security leaders have realized the limitations their current infrastructures have in terms of data processing and analytics.

Why cloud computing may not be the answer

Cloud computing has emerged as a common next step for technology upgrades. But with the cloud, companies are pushing endless hours of data to it, and time and money are being wasted on bandwidth and putting sensitive data at risk.

For example, the data could be too sensitive to move: Some countries dictate where and how data can be stored, which prevents the use of the cloud, even if the information is encrypted and on a private cloud. For larger companies, there may be issues with certain sensitive information crossing state and country lines.

Regarding cost, moving large amounts of data across the Internet and storing it in the cloud can be expensive. The price is especially vexing when the raw data does not provide any value for a business. Costs add up quickly when pulling from thousands of sensors and cameras from multiple locations, making it imperative to solely pull the business-relevant data.

Matching the pace of evolution with edge computing

Based on the above factors, edge computing is a logical option for the industry. Edge computing is a new type of compute power that exists between smart security technologies and the cloud. This solution allows companies using the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, and machine learning to harness the power of business-relevant data, cut costs, and manage their data remotely.

Gartner estimates that by 2025, 75 percent of data will be processed outside the traditional data center or cloud, making the industry ripe for implementing edge computing.

For many companies, the cost savings can be a large driver in deploying edge computing. Companies that embraced the cloud for many of their applications may have discovered that bandwidth costs were higher than they expected.

Organizations should look for edge computing power that offers easy-to-deploy, future-proofed, technology agnostic solutions that can empower organizations to scale infinitely and save massive amounts of resources in managing and processing big data.

Edge computing, like many technologies before it, arose as a response to a specific issue. However, its scalability and ability to evolve to meet company needs is not to be ignored. If the world of physical security is looking for its anchor, it should keep its eyes on the edge.

Jeffrey Ricker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Hivecell, the Edge-as-a-Service company. Jeffrey is an experienced technology leader, a hands-on senior software developer and entrepreneur. He has a 30-year career working with the financial industry, start-up companies and the Defense Department.

Source: hivecell.com