Edge-computing use cases come in a range of shapes and sizes. Localizing data for analytics, internet of things edge devices and mobile computing are a few examples. They require different approaches, which can make perfecting a one-size edge-compute recipe tricky. Could the edge perhaps meet its versatile, multilane match in 5G networking?

“When you’re in IoT, there’s a tremendous amount of fragmentation,” said Rose Schooler (pictured), corporate vice president of global data center sales at Intel Corp. “The [input/output] fragmentation, the protocol fragmentation, is pretty pervasive.”

Establishing standards for those protocols is challenging This has led to a proliferation of “snowflake” edge and IoT implementations that didn’t have legs in go-to-market or large-scale production, according to Schooler.

“We had people that were very excited about the number of proof of concepts they were doing,” she said. But when the number of POCs has reached 150 or 200, and none are generating revenue, is that something to celebrate? 

Schooler spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu) and Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Cisco Live event in San Diego, California. They discussed 5G’s IoT potential and Intel’s collaborative efforts to “solutionize” edge computing (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

5G’s multilane answer to fragmentation

Impediments on data flow and volleying data to and from compute are major edge and IoT challenges. Different use cases require different solutions to those problems, which can result in a proliferation of one-off POCs.

“There are some interesting concepts around how do you use 5G because of the variability and the bandwidth and the different lanes and protocols and SLAs that exist in that multilane highway,” Schooler said. “I think it presents some interesting technology options to master that fragmentation.” 

To address the snowflake problem, Intel has tapped it’s ecosystem of partners to build production-ready, scalable edge solutions. It is looking at 5G networking as one key ingredient versatile enough to fit in a large number of use cases.

“We found that really pulling together ‘solutioning’ with our ecosystem partners [including Cisco Systems Inc.], we’ve been able to create solutions that we co-market and co-sell that allow for scale. We put a program in place, and we’re starting to see some really interesting results from that perspective,” Schooler concluded. 

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Cisco Live 2019 event. (* Disclosure: Intel Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Intel nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE