Edge computing startup mimik Technology Inc. is collaborating with IBM Corp. to create edge-based computing resources that it says will help to accelerate automation and digital transformation in healthcare, manufacturing, retail and other industries.

In its pitch announced today, mimik said the growth of trends such as the “internet of things” and 5G has resulted in the emergence of billions of connected devices and applications that are located at the edge of the network. But these devices and apps all rely on computing resources located in centralized data centers, and they’re becoming a strain on bandwidth and harder to manage as a result.

But mimik said today its partnership with IBM can help to solve this problem. The company has created a hybrid edgeCloud platform that works by transforming devices such as smartphones and PCs into “cloud servers” that can operate at the edge of the network.

The edgeCloud platform taps into these devices enables them to communicate with each other in small local clusters, regardless of the operating system and network they run on. This makes it possible to use their combined computing resources to power applications at the edge of the network.

That’s important because it means that the data produced by those apps can be processed closer to its source, instead of being sent across long routes to centralized data centers or clouds. The advantage of processing data closer to the network edge is that it can be analyzed faster, which means organizations can make decisions based on that analysis in real time using technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Mimik said it intends to integrate its edgeCloud platform with IBM’s Edge Application Manager, which provides autonomous management capabilities for edge computing devices. The idea is that IBM Edge Application Manager can can be used to manage the local clusters of devices that mimik creates. It can also link those clusters to others in different geographic locations, creating what mimik calls “hyperconnected super clusters” that will be able to communicate and share information faster.

Evaristus Mainsah, IBM’s general manager of Cloud Pak and Edge Ecosystem, said he welcomed mimik’s entrance into the company’s edge ecosystem.

“Together we plan to build and deploy clustered edge applications that can run on iOS, Android and other mobile devices as an integral extension of the enterprise hybrid cloud platform, unlocking natural scalability and speed in a cost effective, open and secured way,” Mainsah said.

Image: mimik