As cloud services applying Internet of Things (IoT) technology become more common, the amount of data that cloud servers have to process is increasing significantly. In order to solve the limitations of servers, “edge computing,” which distributes some data in user terminals, is emerging as an alternative.

Patents related to “edge computing,” which helps efficiently process excessive data in the cloud, have increased about 3.5 times over the past decade, and related markets are led by the U.S. [Picture = auto image]

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (Director Lee In-sil) said that patents related to “edge computing-based cloud technology” filed with major patent offices such as Korea, the U.S., Japan, China, and the EU have increased 3.5 times from 1,033 to 3,659 in the past 10 years.

According to the results of a survey conducted by Market & Market, the edge computing market is expected to grow 45% every year, reaching “4.85 billion dollars” in 2027, raising competition for related technologies.

Unlike conventional cloud services that process all data on a central server, edge computing is a technology that processes data around (edge) where data occurs, such as sensors and user terminals. As a result, it is being used in various areas such as autonomous driving and smart factories, where real-time service is possible by reducing data load and response time, and rapid data processing is essential