So we started with centralized mainframes, because it was too expensive for everybody to have their own computer. As hardware improves, computers become cheaper and more powerful and then everybody can have their own, and we move to a distributed model. Then as internet speeds improve, it becomes practical to bring all the compute back in to centralized data centres and communicate with them over the internet from small, less powerful devices. Then as the hardware improves again, the small devices become powerful enough to perform their own computation.
In the talk, he says that the reason we need to do the compute "on the edge" is because the latency between the cloud is insufficient for real-time devices. So what happens when network speeds improve again (better fibre infrastructure, LiFi, etc.)? Will we bring the compute back in to centralized data centres? Will we continue to bounce back and forwards forever, as network and hardware technology leapfrog each other? Is one model better than the other?
In the talk, he says that the reason we need to do the compute "on the edge" is because the latency between the cloud is insufficient for real-time devices. So what happens when network speeds improve again (better fibre infrastructure, LiFi, etc.)? Will we bring the compute back in to centralized data centres? Will we continue to bounce back and forwards forever, as network and hardware technology leapfrog each other? Is one model better than the other?