Edge Computing Ecosystem (Introduction)

Please note that you will only find the sample version of the Ecosystem Tool on this page.

Subscribers of the Edge Insights Service can access the complete Edge Ecosystem Tool, which includes over 250 companies across the value chain, plus deep-dives and analysis on specific vendors and application providers.

Submit your edge company and use case

What is the edge computing ecosystem tool?

Many of our clients have been asking us who are going to the be their partners, suppliers and competitors in the edge computing ecosystem. In reality, this will depend on which part of the value chain a particular organisation chooses to play in, as well as “which edge” we are talking about: network/multi-access edge, on-premises/enterprise edge, etc.

To help answer this question, we have created an interactive tool that maps out where different companies are positioned across the ecosystem.

Please note that this is a sample version.  To access the full Edge Ecosystem Tool, feel free to email us directly: tilly.gilbert@stlpartners.com 

What is different in the full version of the tool?

The full version of the tool is part of STL Partners newly launched Edge Insights Service. Alongside in-depth research reports and a detailed edge computing use case directory, subscribers can access the full ecosystem tool, now hosted in Tableau.

The tool is updated daily with latest edge computing news, and new companies are added to the tool on a fortnightly basis. There are now more than 250 companies in the tool. The full tool also includes deep-dives of companies in more detail, so subscribers have access to:

  • Mapping of specific product and service catalogue to their place within the edge value chain
  • Information on recent partnerships, mergers and acquisitions which are impacting their edge strategy
  • Links to further resources on the company including analysis by STL Partners and resources directly from the company’s website

Companies that we have recently added deep-dives on include: 

What is the edge computing value chain?

We have defined the following framework for the edge computing value chain

  • Facility: The physical site that includes the land/location for the edge data centre (e.g. area around mobile operator’s cell tower), the data centre itself, power and cooling to support it and additional services to maintain and operate the site.
  • Hardware: This includes the hardware inside the data centre (racks, servers, processors and the maintenance and operators for these) as well as end-devices.
  • Network: Connectivity infrastructure to and from the edge site, as well as traffic routing controls and types of networks to optimise the delivery of content (e.g. CDN).
  • Edge Cloud Infrastructure:Virtual infrastructure supporting the edge workloads and applications, from the operating system, the virtualisation layer (which may be container-based), and the platforms for developers to access and manage the storage and compute infrastructure.
  • Application/Software: Applications that run on edge computing infrastructure, including network functions, and the application-specific tools that support these, for example analytics capabilities or APIs and platform-as-a-service products.
  • Integration & Services: Services that provide support to the customer employing and integrating edge computing at any stage of the value chain – including design and engineering services to create platforms for edge computing applications, or more traditional integration into existing (enterprise) systems.
  • Open Source & Forums: Communities that seek to accelerate edge computing – either by creating forums for discussion across stakeholders and industry partners or open platforms to enable developers to build technology.

Who are the biggest players in the edge computing market?

The edge computing ecosystem is still nascent and one of the challenges is that there are players from different ecosystems coming together: the service providers from the networks, cloud and data centre providers, traditional enterprise IT and industrial applications and systems.

The hyperscalers have a strong established presence in the cloud already and have already made some movements towards the edge via new products and services such as Azure Stack, AWS Outposts and their IoT offerings. We argue that the edge cloud cannot be standalone and will be an extension of the cloud on a distributed cloud continuum, therefore established cloud providers will undoubtedly be important in this ecosystem.

However, the edge is not homogenous and different use cases may have specific requirements which will be served by others – whether they are industry-specific, or more localised offerings. Plus, there are new capabilities that will be required, for example orchestrating workloads across different clouds, optimising networks for this distributed architecture and developing applications that benefit from edge computing.

Read more about Edge Compute

Overview

About edge compute and edge cloud

An overview of edge computing and edge cloud to highlight the key questions being asked by the wider ecosystem and telecoms operators who are exploring the opportunity

Read more

Research

Turning vision into practice

Our Telco edge computing: Turning vision into practice research gives an overview of the telco opportunity and seeks to address the key challenges for operators pursuing edge

Read more

Webinar

Edge business models and how to execute them

A joint webinar with MobiledgeX and STL Partners exploring edge cloud business models and the value proposition for application developers in augmented reality

Read more