In this article, we spotlight 60 companies (in alphabetical order) who are making waves in edge computing and are “ones to watch” over the next few years.
All of those featured below entered our “Edge companies to watch in 2021” competition. Entrants spanned from global, established companies to new ventures that only began last year, providing a rich snapshot of the growing edge computing ecosystem.
1. Aarna Neworks
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration
Notable achievements in 2020: Released Aarna Networks Multi Cluster Orchestration Platform (open source software product for orchestration, management and automation of 5G networks and edge applications) and was part of: (1) cloud native 5G demo with Red Hat, Altran, Kaloom and A10, (2) Akraino Private LTE/5G over CBRS blueprint (3) Akraino Public Cloud Edge Interface blueprint. Was also featured in the 2020 CRN® Edge Computing 100 List.
Ambitions for 2021: Intends to bring additional functionalities to its edge product with analytics and service assurance capabilities and hopes to bring value in the areas of network slicing, non-real-time RIC and NWDAF.
2. Accedian
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, Content & application delivery
Notable achievements in 2020: Most notably, launched partnership with MobiledgeX, and started working with Sfara, Solace and MobiledgeX on a Multi-Modal Collision Avoidance System (MCAS).
Ambitions for 2021: Will have a couple of big announcements for edge this year, advancing the capabilities of its Skylight product range, such as cybersecurity threat detection and new sensor types.
3. AECS Consulting
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, IoT Platform
Notable achievements in 2020: Completed development of video analytics in their IoT gateway & edge computing platform.
Ambitions for 2021: Aiming to complete development of IoT ecosystem interoperability features in their IoT gateway & edge computing platform.
4. AlefEdge
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Multi-cloud platform; Application/software, Software; Network, Edge Gateway
Notable achievements in 2020: Launched EdgeNet in Q4, with dozens of edge sites in the US, India, Brazil and Europe. In addition to this, AlefEdge have multiple reference applications (Private Edge, Alef Boost, Alef AdVision and Alef Video Enablement), a Partner Programme and have been recognised as leaders by Frost and Sullivan and the Intel Winners Circle Award.
Ambitions for 2021: Deploying additional edge sites with partners across the globe. One of the key programmes it will focus on is the developer ecosystem to leverage AlefEdge’s APIs and build out applications requiring ultra–low latency and ultra–high bandwidth.
5. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, IaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: Launched Wavelength, which puts AWS infrastructure at the edge of telco networks. These deployments embed AWS compute and storage services within communications service providers’ (CSP) datacenters at the edge of the 5G network, so application traffic from 5G devices can reach application servers without leaving the telecommunications network. AWS established 12 Wavelength Zones in 2020.
Ambitions for 2021: Keen to continue expansion of AWS Wavelength Zones, with a planned launch of additional AWS Local Zones across 10+ cities in the United States. These Wavelength Zones will look to provide single digit millisecond access to AWS Infrastructure, facilitating a plethora of edge use cases which rely on ultra-low latency such as VR, real-time analytics, and ultra-HD video streaming and gaming.
6. AmberFlux
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Analytics
Notable achievements in 2020: AmberFlux (developing a next generation computing platform for delivering AI at the edge) announced its Opus product range to help manufacturing and other industries in their rapid transition to Industry 4.0.
Ambitions for 2021: Developing an AI solution to run from edge servers at different PoPs to detect, analyse and infer anomalies from edge devices that could be due to locational parameters.
7. American Tower
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Real Estate
Notable achievements in 2020: Introduced new edge data centres to support new applications and emerging technologies (e.g. 5G, AI, IoT) requiring high bandwidth and low latency. It has 6 edge data centres, across various locations including Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Austin and Denver.
Ambitions for 2021: Will continue to expand its multitenant solutions, leveraging its nationwide footprint (including space, power and connectivity) to include edge data centre offerings; its portfolio of wireless communications sites will continue to provide locations for its customers to enable wireless connectivity and optimise network coverage and capacity.
8. Avesha
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, multi-cloud platform
Notable Achievements in 2020: Avesha (technology platform provider enabling application workload disaggregation across cloud, multi-cloud and edge) trialled its edge-based inferencing platform to detect polyps in the colon in partnership with Verizon and AWS. It also worked towards expanding the trial and POCs to more hospitals and ambulatory surgical centres, closing the year with a $6M seed funding.
Ambitions for 2021: Expanding its core technology to support vertical specific use cases. Its technology can be applied in smart manufacturing for AI detection of faults in assembly lines and shop floors, a use case Avesha will be exploring through partnerships and POCs in 2021. It will also launch its edge-based normalization platform for mobile gaming that enables fair play and levels the playing field for head-to-head and multiplayer game tournaments.
Figure 1: Avesha’s Application Intent Mesh serves customers of different industries
Source: Avesha
9. CanaryBit
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: CanaryBit, providers of products and services that focus on cloud security, developed a runtime implementation supporting “confidential computing” for edge deployments.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes to provide “breakthrough technology” to ensure the security of data in use on edge nodes, creating a high-security chain of trust from end users up to cloud providers.
10. ClearBlade
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/Software, PaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: ClearBlade (edge software provider for IoT applications) released its Edge Native Intelligent Asset Application, which allows operational users like mechanics and maintainers to connect IoT devices, define asset types and build alert systems based upon simple rules without any coding ability.
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to move to an “application first” approach to edge, and to revolutionize the rail, aerospace, and manufacturing verticals, with the potential to expand into even more. Its products give customers the ability to operationally solve business problems and simply inject edge computing where it belongs in their business.
11. CloudBackend
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Developed its Edge Database Platform-as-a-Service (Edge dbPaaS).
Ambitions for 2021: Building a “massively distributed service” for low latency worldwide coverage that will work across different regional clouds and multiple edge levels. It hopes to cost-efficiently solve use cases related to data and distributed data management, securely managing the identities of people and machines.
12. CloudOps
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: CloudOps (edge orchestration platform provider) developed a SaaS version of CloudMC to enable telcos to assemble, deliver and monetize their portfolio of edge-to-cloud services more easily; integrated leading edge SPs into CloudMC (including StackPath); worked with the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) to use the CloudMC platform to deliver a private edge deployment, enabling them to securely and ethically process an array of clinical, administrative, research and genotyping data to improve the delivery of healthcare services; and finally, was named one of the Financial Times’ Fastest Growing Companies in America.
Ambitions for 2021: Has several deployments in the pipeline within the telecoms space, with partnerships to roll-out MEC and various B2B edge services. It is looking to expand into Latin America and Europe, with trials already underway with a handful of SPs to offer B2B cloud services, as well as MEC pilots.
13. Cox Communications
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: Continued its expansion within the edge ecosystem by partnering with Juniper Networks to invest $216 million in Series B funding for Edge start-up Stackpath.
Ambitions for 2021: Investing in edge capabilities and working with developers and engineers across the ecosystem to deliver low latency performance compute services. The firm is looking to expand the use of Cox Edge Services – its cloud agnostic, low-latency, high resiliency, scalable, secure and cost-effective compute and storage platform.
14. DartPoints
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Data centre
Notable achievements in 2020: DartPoints (provider of edge co-location and interconnection solutions) opened an edge co-location data centre in North Liberty, partnered with TMGcore with the aim of delivering high density, scalable edge co-location and data centre solutions, and received investment from Astra Capital Management. It also won a global award for its work in edge computing.
Ambitions for 2021: Expanding its edge interconnection colocation data centre facilities to markets that need improved connectivity.
15. DriveNets
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Software
Notable achievements in 2020: DriveNets (provider of cloud-native, software-based disaggregated routing software) had its first public reference with AT&T, and more than 20 engagements with Tier 1 operators and hyperscalers.
Ambitions for 2021: DriveNets Network Cloud will expand to the edge with its shared, cloud-like infrastructure combining edge computing and edge networking to run latency-sensitive, high scale compute or network-intensive services (“any service, anytime, anywhere”).
Figure 2: Drivenets’ view of the cost benefits of network disaggregation
Source: Drivenets
16. Edge Centres
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Data Centre
Notable achievements in 2020: Developed and implemented 4 completely off-grid data centres with supply via solar and battery banks.
Ambitions for 2021: Plans to roll out 10 facilities 2021 to further support the adoption of cloud computing in Australia.
17. EdgePresence
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Data Centre; Power/cooling
Notable achievements in 2020: Received a $30m strategic investment from DataBank (provider of colocation, connectivity and managed services) and partnered with Schneider Electric and Accu-Tech to deploy edge PoPs to drive digital business.
Ambitions for 2021: By joining forces with DataBank, EdgePresence hopes to act as a “force multiplier” for its edge data centre strategy, helping to bring data centres closer to the data pools being created by users, enabling next-generation, data-localization strategies and applications for 5G and IoT.
18. EDJX
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge aggregation and orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: EDJX (facilitating near-edge cloud solutions) raised new funding ($6.4M to date) and launched EdjBlock (pre-integrated edge infrastructure for rapid deployment and monetization of distributed CDN and edge services). It also launched EdjNet, the EDJX Edge Delivery Platform peer-to-peer (P2P) technology that enables the delivery of edge services closer to users and connected things. Finally, EDJX was noted by CRN as top in the list of 10 Coolest IoT Startups of 2020.
Ambitions for 2021: Several strategic partnerships will be announced, and EDJX will continue with global rapid expansion of edge PoPs, soon to be 1000s of locations while also developing the commercialization of EdjNet.
19. FeatherCloud
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Software
Notable achievements in 2020: Developed a full Alpha MVP, showing a reduction in delivery times as well as more than 90% savings on bandwidth and network traffic. Currently collaborating with Verizon, Nokia, SoftBank and more, leveraging their 5G innovation labs.
Ambitions for 2021: FeatherCloud’s Beta version will be completed by the end of 2021 followed by a commercial launch. Its main customers will be OTT players, such as Disney+, Hulu, etc, and it is hoping to provide a specialised CDN for 4G and 5G networks.
20. FogHorn Systems Inc
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration; IaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: Won the Global Edge Platform Award at the Global IoT Awards 2020, and was named one of 100 Tech Pioneers by the World Economic Forum. FogHorn’s edge-native AI solution delivers comprehensive data enrichment and real-time analytics on high volumes of data and is optimized for constrained compute footprints and limited connectivity.
Ambitions for 2021: Aiming to deliver its first 5G projects in EMEA and the US. Alongside this, the company is also releasing an Edge AI Energy Management solution for all types of buildings, while continuing to deliver edge Health & Safety projects at scale in both the US and EMEA.
21. GreenPi
Position in edge ecosystem: Integration & Services, Professional Services
Notable achievements in 2020: Developed an edge gateway product and worked to integrated that with both cellular and LoRa connectivity solutions.
Ambitions for 2021: Planning to optimise their devices for different industries to enable them to provide AI and insights to businesses.
22. Guavus
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Analytics & APIs
Notable achievements in 2020: Launched new Guavus-IQ AI-based analytics portfolio – which leverages SQLstream edge analytics technology in providing CSPs insight on their service and network operations. Also launched Guavus-IQ on AWS, e.g. in Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics.
Ambitions for 2021: New AI-based analytics products and use cases leveraging Guavus’ edge streaming analytics technology. These products/use cases will span 5G analytics; operations; subscriber and customer experience analytics; IoT/device management analytics; and others that will help accelerate the adoption of edge computing and analytics.
Figure 3: Guavus analytics solution can be deployed at the edge to reduce data transport
Source: Guavus
23. Hivecell
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Edge-as-a-service company Hivecell launched Hivecell ONE with Kubernetes and became GA in Q1, with Kafka support added in Q3. Hivecell has announced partnerships with Rancher, Confluent, AWS, Microsoft and Vapor IO, with customers deploying in healthcare, manufacturing, oil & gas, shipping, construction, military and telecommunications. It was named as one of 45 start-ups to watch by Business Insider.
Ambitions for 2021: Hivecell Z (x86 version of Hivecell’s hardware) will become GA in Q1, enabling KVM, VMware and other x86 frameworks for edge computing. Hivecell with also be introducing a ruggedised and LTE/5G version in H2 and will be making multiple partnership announcements throughout the year.
24. HGC
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, Interconnect
Notable achievements in 2020: Joined forces with Dell Technologies, SmarTone and VMware to unlock the power of 5G for high-bandwidth, low latency applications in Hong Kong; received the award of Best OTT Partnership; became the first operator in HK to receive the “major milestone” certifications for ISO standards and SCA STAR Level 2 certification for its cloud services; signed a MOU with Sri Lanka Telecom to accelerate SDN alliance interoperability and another with aarma to grow SDN alliance collaboration; amongst a number of other milestones.
Ambitions for 2021: Several developments and launches including: HGC Eyeball-as-a-Service, HGC Gaming-as-a-Service, HGC Edge Network Solution CDN & Content Platform; SaaS-based OTT Platform & Cybersecurity, amongst others.
25. HPE
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: Announced Edge Orchestrator, a SaaS-based offering that enables telcos to deploy innovative new edge computing services to customers via IT infrastructure located at the edge of telco networks or on customer premises. This facilitates the driving of new revenue streams, exploring advanced use cases such as AI-powered video analytics, industrial automation and VR retail services.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes to build on its successes in 2021, further developing edge use cases in tandem with their trusted partners.
26. IBM
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/Software, PaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: During THINK 2020, announced the launch of its Edge Application Manager, an intelligent and flexible platform that provides autonomous management for edge computing. IBM also engaged in several partnerships with firms such as Samsung, Wipro and Intel, as well as a partnership with Clearblade within the IoT/Edge space.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes to build stronger internal and external collaborations, and double down its time investment on industry-specific use cases within the Hybrid Cloud, AI and Edge spaces for the benefit of their customers. In addition, IBM is looking to corner the edge–to-cloud marketplace, as well as extending its edge offering to include MEC capabilities.
27. Intel
Position in edge ecosystem: Hardware, Processor; Edge cloud infrastructure, IaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Optimised its edge product portfolio with optimisations such as Elkhart Lake, Intel Movidius (Edge AI) and processors for 5G. It’s also creating toolkits (e.g. OpenNESS) to simplify the orchestration of edge platforms and hardware to meet use case needs. Intel Smart Edge is already deploying edge computing infrastructure for Private LTE (and applications) for enterprises in multiple sectors (e.g. industrial, retail, transport, venues and health) and has 242 IoT market-ready solutions, 7 OT platforms and growing.
Ambitions for 2021: Will be continuing its work to develop technology for the edge ecosystem. Smart Edge will be adding to its ISV ecosystem (recruiting, onboarding, marketing and co-selling solutions), enhancing IoT capabilities (e.g. edge insights in industrial, time sensitive networking) and increasing the number of commercial deployments.
Figure 4: Intel Smart Edge is developing solutions for real-time advertising and marketing
Source: Intel
28. Iceotope
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Power and Cooling
Notable achievements in 2020: Iceotope partnered with Lenovo to take HPC to the edge. It was also named Sunday Times BGF 10 Green Tech to Watch UK Companies.
Ambitions for 2021: Believes that 2021 will be the year of the sustainable data centre and will focus on how to deliver this with new partnership and customer announcements.
29. Kubermatic
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Multi-cloud platform
Notable Achievements in 2020: Kubermatic (self-funded cloud/edge software start-up) grew to 60 employees worldwide, open sourced the Kubernetes Platform that automates Kubernetes operations across all infrastructures including IoT and edge environments, and was selected as one of the 10 Hottest Kubernetes Start-ups of 2020 as well as being selected by the 5G Innovation Lab to drive early adoption and innovation of 5G technology. Kubermatic has worked to build a federated and distributed ML platform with major pharma companies including Novartis and Merck.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes to launch an open-source solution to automate edge operations in a cloud native way, while establishing thought leadership in cloud native edge computing with its podcast and active press work. It also hopes to continue its active engagement in the CNCF, LF Edge and LF Networking to bridge the worlds while continuing to meaningfully contribute to the 5G Innovation Lab.
30. Latent AI
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/Software, Software application
Notable Achievements in 2020: Latent AI (platform provider for training/deployment of edge AI neural networks) launched its Latent AI Efficient Inference Platform (LEIP) SDK 1.0, which enables deep learning training and inference, and was validated through customer evaluations and POC. Latent AI also won the 2020 Start-up of the Year award from IoT World and was chosen as a finalist to compete in the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield.
Ambitions for 2021: Moving towards commercial licenses for its customer pipeline and adding new capabilities to the LEIP SDK that will enable Latent AI to scale across the edge continuum.
Figure 5: Latent AI’s platform helps develops use AI at the edge
Source: Latent AI
31. Litmus
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, IoT Platform; Edge cloud infrastructure, Operating system
Notable achievements in 2020: Added key partners, including Microsoft and Google, and was named in the top 5 for Industrial IoT Platforms in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant.
Ambitions for 2021: Its modern edge platform already has an industry-leading number of drivers to allow customers to instantly connect to any edge device or system in minutes. Will launch a digital twins feature this year, plus more instant analytics and pre-built applications to make it easier for customers to gain valuable insights from the edge to improve operations.
32. Mutable
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: Mutable (which has a software solution designed for multi-data-centre server management and orchestration) raised $1.5 million in seed funding and has built a marketplace for expanding the edge ecosystem through two deployments in US cable companies. It is a member of various industry initiatives such as the 5G Open Innovation Lab, The Kinetic Edge Alliance, and the Rural Cloud Initiative.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes to reduce the lead time of onboarding new operators and align messages with operator objectives to make the decision a “no-brainer”. With some operators already on board, plus 2 years or more of relationship building with many others, Mutable hopes to make the marketplace ecosystem a reality.
33. Napptive
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Founded in Q4 of 2020, aiming to help define, deploy and maintain cloud native applications. During this period the project was selected to participate on the 2021 Open Future accelerator program by Telefonica.
Ambitions for 2021: The MVP of the solution launched in January 2021. Napptive will pursue its first round of investor funding and release the first version of its product stack this year.
34. Nebeskie Labs
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, IoT Platform; Integration & Services, Systems Integration
Notable achievements in 2020: Was awarded “Most Innovative Energy Saving Product” at the National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2020 by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Ambitions for 2021: Working on moving the complete data analysis and report generation to the edge to further reduce cloud costs and make our solution much more affordable. This will reduce the adoption barrier amongst the medium and small–scale enterprises.
Figure 6: Nebeskie Labs encrypts and stores energy management information for a building or factory at the edge
Source: Nebeskie Labs
35. NetFoundry
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, Interconnect
Notable achievements in 2020: Advanced its zero-trust networking platform by unifying their ZTNA and SASE capabilities in a single integrated platform and pre-integrating its NaaS global internet overlay fabric with 100+ data centres and cloud providers such as a Microsoft and Google Cloud.
Ambitions for 2021: Next step will be to take networking off separate island, and integrating networking into overall identity, policy and application security constructs. This will allow networking to be programmable and agile, like the cloud, to create zero trust, performant, edge-to-cloud networks.
36. NGD Systems
Position in edge ecosystem: Hardware, Processor
Notable achievements in 2020: Released the entire portfolio of computational storage drives (NVME SSD) to the edge market to production and, specifically, achieved customer production in the autonomous space.
Ambitions for 2021: Will look to add new customers and product releases around the edge, including additional support of AWS Greengrass and MSFT Azure IoT Edge Solutions.
37. NodeWeaver
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration and Virtualisation & containers
Notable achievements in 2020: Won significant share versus perceived market leaders in 2020 thanks to several significant go-to-market partnerships with leading technology companies. The edge cloud platform also completed multiple real-world proofs of concept which will move into production in 2021.
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to progress PoCs with market partners to demonstrate proof of value related to real customers and use cases and expand their go-to-market with partners.
38. OptDyn
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Multi-cloud platform
Notable Achievements in 2020: OptDyn (provider of decentralised multi-cloud infrastructure and P2P multi-access edge clouds), focused on optimizing its Subutai platform. As a pioneer of P2P Multi-Access Edge Clouds, it invested considerable effort educating and advising organizations and government agencies on deploying decentralized, defence-grade-secured multi-edge cloud infrastructure across communities, regions, and nations using Subutai’s intelligent pervasive edge computing solutions.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes its Subutai P2P Edge Clouds product will accelerate adoption of edge and help build the fabric of a decentralized infrastructure. Forthcoming multi-function Subutai Blockchain Router will bring hardware-accelerated, rapid AI/IoT orchestration with routers swarming and working together on the edge. Also preparing new protected virtual workplace access products to assist home workers, allowing them to connect to employers’ systems securely from the edge, while using Subutai to augment their experience.
39. Opticoms
Position in edge ecosystem: Integration & services, Systems integration
Notable achievements in 2020: Acquisition of BNetzA private spectrum and engagements to build their own technology ecosystem.
Ambitions for 2021: 5G Innovation Lab in Munich will look to foster innovation towards delivering more customised and cost–effective connectivity solutions for vertical industries. Will focus on Open RAN technologies.
40. Pathtronic
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, IaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: Powering the AI revolution using the industry’s first patented Industry 4.0 software-defined trusted, safe and secure AI for everything at scale at the edge cloud. In 2020 it has demonstrated its technology for various use cases including Covid-19, Cyber Security, Autonomous Vehicles, and 5G Mobile. Alongside this, it has filed 16 national and international patents and engaged key customers and partners to build future successes.
Ambitions for 2021: As an early-stage venture, Pathronic hopes to further increase adoption of its technology across a broad spectrum of areas and use cases including 5G/6G, Autonomous Vehicles, Healthcare, Industrial IoT & Robotics, Financials, and Cyber & Physical Security, through engagement with government and private entities.
41. Proximity Data Centres
Position in edge ecosystem: Facility, Data centre and Real estate
Notable achievements in 2020: Raised £80M of funding to support its rollout of strategic regional data centres, which will help it invest in secure tier 3 data centres in strategic positions in the UK offering low latency services to the country’s population. Six edge data centres were already acquired during 2020.
Ambitions for 2021: Will grow to 20 sites in 2021 to service 95% of the UK population, providing secure colocation and low latency connectivity for the edge computing community. In addition, connectivity solutions will be introduced for edge computing applications requiring hybrid, private and public cloud services.
42. Red Hat
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Virtualization and containers
Notable Achievements in 2020: Red Hat’s edge portfolio has advanced significantly in 2020 as it added capabilities required by customers and partners to meet the challenges of shifting more and more computing outside of the cloud and data centre to the edge. Alongside product announcements such as improvements to Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Advanced Cluster, it also produced a solution blueprint that brings the Red Hat portfolio and ecosystem together – from services to the infrastructure to help simplify the creation of edge stacks.
Ambitions for 2021: Will continue to work with its customers to understand their use cases, specifically around: hardware footprint size, serverless application architectures, and automated zero-touch provisioning of edge platforms with parallel provisioning to meet high frequency rollout demands. Will also continue to collaborate with partner ecosystem to deliver solutions e.g. combining GPU support with OpenShift for the use of AI/ML intelligent applications at the edge, and working with Intel in the GTM for the oil and gas industry and developing an automotive operating system.
43. robin.io
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration
Notable achievements in 2020: Selected by Rakuten Mobile for orchestration and life cycle management of the 5G stack from RAN to edge, to core to OSS/BSS. Using Robin, Rakuten deployed the first fully containerised 5G Network in production October 2020.
Ambitions for 2021: Becoming a container platform in the open RAN space, sitting between the resources and the 5G edge applications. Will do this by building technologies to deploy, monitor, heal and life cycle management of high throughput low latency network applications like VNF/CNF and Packet Core in cloud-native infrastructure possible.
Figure 7: robin.io‘s edge platform accelerates RAN-as-a-serice
Source: robin.io
44. Roost
Position in edge ecosystem: Integration & Services, Design & engineering
Notable achievements in 2020: Roost, which has more than 35 years in IT and provides integration from device to core with its team of certified engineers and professionals, developed a group of new edge computing offers last year, including the integration of IoT with third-party edge devices (e.g. cameras and sensors). For example, its project “Muralha Digital” with Curitiba City Hall, the Paraná State Government, and ICI (smart cities institute) saw the integration of >1.7 thousand cameras and edge devices in a fully integrated operation centre to provide data to municipal guards.
Ambitions for 2021: R&D team (Roost Labs) is developing new solutions for IoT, 5G, and other technologies related to edge computing, focusing on 4 domains: smart cities, secure operations, “connected things” and “hyper-converged edge”.
45. Scurid
Position in edge ecosystem: Integration & Services, Professional Services
Notable achievements in 2020: Completed work on MVP of products and gained membership to the Industrial Internet Consortium.
Ambitions for 2021: Aiming to provide a solution for its users to solve complex identity security and data integrity problems in a decentralised and cost effective manner for IIoT Edge devices. It is planning to make its technology stack generally available by Q2 21 for developers working on creating software running on IIoT edge devices.
46. Section
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/Software, PaaS
Notable Achievements in 2020: Section (provider of Edge-as-a-service) launched several new products, including their patent-pending Adaptive Edge Engine technology and their Node.js Edge Hosting solution, which paves the way for full application hosting at the edge. Alongside this, Section released a traffic visualization console that provides next-gen observability tooling for DevOps teams to understand how their edge is performing in real-time, and Section’s service also proved to be 7.04x faster than cloud at the 95th percentile in tests, while maintaining the same spend level.
Source: Section
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to develop a working solution for distributed databases at the edge, helping to solve one of the fundamental challenges that has impeded edge adoption to date. It is also considering an expansion of the edge infrastructure network and supporting more edge application hosting beyond its Node.js product.
47. Smart Mobile Labs AG
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: Became the largest provider of 5G connectivity to university campuses in Germany. Its vision is to become the world’s most successful company for the transmission of content in real-time. Various applications for sporting and entertainment events, public safety and the automotive industry will – thanks to Smart Mobile Labs’ technology – look vastly different in the future.
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to adapt and expand its 5G connectivity to campuses in order to incorporate a larger number of edge use cases into its offering. The aim is to establish over 20 separate 5G campus networks in operation looking for edge applications.
48. STL – Sterlite Technologies Limited
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Multi-cloud platform
Notable achievements in 2020: Developed programmable software stack on a micro-services architecture which is disaggregated and cloud native. It helps in building virtual networks with open interfaces by abstracting software from hardware layer. It drastically reduces time to market for new digital services, sets the ball rolling for edge computing by disaggregating broadband networks and re-architecting central offices.
Ambitions for 2021: Will focus on developing a multi-access edge computing converged platform for wireless and wireline networks along with multi-access edge applications.
49. Swim
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/Software, Analytics & APIs
Notable Achievements in 2020: Swim (edge software platform enabling AI/ML) launched Swim Continuum 4.0, a platform that processes and analyzes streaming and historical data while handling data persistence outside of the performance path. The platform delivers always-on, contextual insights to augment human decision-making and enables automated responses to specific alert conditions in real-time. Alongside this, Swim was named a Winner of International Space Pitch Day for ROSA – a platform to alert operators of threats to satellites from space weather, intercepts, overflights and more.
Ambitions for 2021: Will continue to expand into emerging and fast-growing markets such as 5G and IoT, while building upon their existing partnerships with leading Fortune 100 companies to improve their real-time edge data analytics and visualization capabilities.
50. Taubyte
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Taubyte (“NoOps” computing platform for IoT) joined the selective 5G Open Innovation Lab founded by T-Mobile Intel and NASA, was accepted to Capital Factory (a start-up accelerator) and won the CW TI Best Application of Edge Technology Award (sponsors of which include PWC and Qualcomm).
Ambitions for 2021: Will be conducting a beta launch of its Smart Computing Platform which turns edge infrastructure into a composable platform for developers to easily build edge-native applications.
51. Telco Systems
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Operating System
Notable Achievements in 2020: Telco Systems (provider of intelligent network solutions for SPs) produced a uCPE PoC with NFVTime (platform that integrates virtualized multi-vendor services) demonstrating an orchestrated mix of container and VM-based network functions running on the same platform. With the platform, SPs can package tailored SD-WAN and Firewall solutions to meet diverse enterprise customer needs, with scalable MANO designed to effectively support large scale deployments.
Ambitions for 2021: Hopes for full integration of container-based applications together with VNFs, in a single service chain. This would allow implementation of any type of service or application to a single-box communication device. Looking to implement NFVTime platform on Raspberry Pi and Nano Pi based devices, for home-office and IOT applications, as well as the expansion of switching and routing functionality, performance monitoring, and SLA management natively within the OS and management system.
Figure 8: NFVTime allows CSPs to immediately deploy scalable, customised VNF services
Source: Telco Systems
52. Vapor IO
Position in edge ecosystem: Network, Interconnect
Notable Achievements in 2020: Vapor IO (edge co-location, exchange and network service platform provider) announced a unique aggregate Series C funding of $90 million from private equity firms Berkshire Partners and Crown Castle, which helped solidify partnerships that utilize Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge as the backbone of a functioning edge computing ecosystem.
Ambitions for 2021: Plans to be first-to-market with a comprehensive package of edge colocation, interconnection and networking services to support the next generation of applications, (e.g. IoT, driverless cars, autonomous robots, AR and smart city). Construction of the Kinetic Edge platform is proceeding in 36 US cities, and will offer Kinetic Edge coverage that reaches ~80% of US population. ims to be the first company to deliver real-time telemetry feeds from all of its OT and network systems, to be consumed by software developers using an open API (Synse). This will allow real-time and predictive orchestration of workloads and network functions based on actual conditions on the platform.
53. Veea
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration; Hardware, Server; Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: VeeaHub Smart Edge Nodes create a meshed edge network at Wi-Fi APs and routers. In 2020, they launched an Edge Security solution vTPN and IoT ToolKit, and were running multiple POCs around the globe. In addition, Veea became an Azure Certified IoT partner.
Ambitions for 2021: Will launch its Next Gen VeeaHub device, additional IoT cloud platform API integration and support, additional integrations with IoT devices (LoRaWAN, ZigBee, BlueTooth, Wi-Fi), and more edge services and applications.
54. Viso.ai
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Analytics and APIs and Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: Viso.ai have built a platform to integrate the building process of visual AI applications, the deployment to edge devices and the management of the business data generated from these applications. This has led to them being accepted into the Intel IoT Builder Program.
Ambitions for 2021: Planning to move the viso.ai platform to production for the general public.
55. VMware
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Multi-cloud platform
Notable Achievements in 2020: Assisted in the creation of the Dell-SKT-VMware-Intel ONEBOX solution, a single multi-edge compute product for private 5G that helps enterprises use private mobility and edge computing to develop new services where data is created. Alongside this, VMWare also launched a Converged Edge Platform with WWT as the Systems Integrator and MobiledgeX as the MEC Platform provider and announced a validated Media CDN solution in collaboration with Intel and Varnish software.
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to deepen its channel partnership with Dell by allowing Dell Technologies partners to transact VMware licensing deals directly. In addition to this, VMWare hopes to continue its constant product updates to realise further value for their customers and partners.
56. Vodafone
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge cloud infrastructure, Edge aggregation & orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: Through its partnership with AWS, Vodafone has rolled out MEC at the edge of its 5G network. This has facilitated pilot programs to explore use case viability, including real time video streaming for emergency services, security applications and general mapping functions.
Ambitions for 2021: Looking to continue to grow its partnerships with both AWS and Microsoft and continue its 5G roll-out program to expand the potential for enterprises to make use of its edge computing solutions.
57. VoerEir
Position in edge ecosystem: Integration & services; Professional services
Notable Achievements in 2020: VoerEir (provider of test automation and physical/virtual network benchmarking software) was named as part of Intel’s Winner’s Circle for its contribution to the acceleration of 5G and virtual network transformation and working closely with Intel and its Intel Network Builders ecosystem. Its Touchstone product was named one of 5 Top Network Function Virtualization (NFV) Solutions Impacting The Telecom Sector.
Ambitions for 2021: Hoping to continue the success of its Kontour project, which will be key for edge cloud adoption by providing Edge KPI definitions and is also anticipating a growth in partnerships within the nascent edge cloud sector.
58. Volta Networks
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, Software application
Notable achievements in 2020: Volta won the 2020 Light Reading Leading Lights Award for Most Innovative Telco Cloud Product Strategy. It also announced support for Telecom Infra Project’s (TIP) Disaggregated Open Routers Initiative and full support for TIP’s Disaggregated Cell Site Gateway (DCSG) specification.
Ambitions for 2021: Volta Elastic Virtual Routing Engine (VERVE) is currently in active trials with several operators e.g. NTT. VERVE, when implemented in Open RAN, can reduce operating expenses by lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 90% vs. legacy routers; it separates the control and data planes and leverages the benefits of the cloud and white box switches built on Ethernet switching silicon (ASIC) to achieve cost savings and increases scale with the ability to scale up to 255 virtual routers per white box switch. It is the only routing solution that can support multiple virtual routers on an ASIC-based switch.
59. XENIRO
Position in edge ecosystem: Application/software, PaaS
Notable achievements in 2020: XENIRO’s open source software SnapScale (distributed ledger technology) was tested, trialed and deployed on China Mobile (Sigma MEC Platform) Huawei (Edgegallery MEC Platform) China Unicom (StarlingX MEC Platform) and their own platform (Hyzen MEC Platform). They have taken part in joint trails of 5G and MEC embedded blockchain solutions with mobile operators in China in three industries – Industrial manufacturing, Commercial Drones and Healthcare.
Ambitions for 2021: Will work with two industries and MNOs to launch the first MEC embedded blockchain for enterprises (with private 5G & private MEC). It is also architecting applications for Healthcare (MRI combining AI) and Manufacturing (Equipment-As-A-Service model).
Figure 9: XENIRO combines edge computing and blockchain technologies e.g. to deliver a smart grid solution
60. ZEDEDA
Position in edge ecosystem: Edge Cloud Infrastructure, Edge Aggregation and Orchestration
Notable Achievements in 2020: ZEDEDA (cloud-based orchestration) closed six-digit deals in manufacturing, oil and gas, and energy use cases, as well as closing an A+ funding round led by major industry players. It also launched an open ecosystem at the first annual ZEDEDA Transform event with speakers including leading industry analysts and influencers and partners. It was also named in Top 10 Edge computing start-ups by CRN.
Ambitions for 2021: Plans to bridge its distributed edge foundation to the Kubernetes paradigm to help secure and scale Kubernetes deployments outside of the data centre and finalise embedding its orchestration solution in offers from several solution OEMs. ZEDEDA will also continue to build relationships with telco/network operators to extend offerings to the distributed edge and build out its open ecosystem to enable solutions for customers, including deepening integrations with cloud scalers.
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