The Internet of Things is a network of smart machines and technologies that can collect and analyze data to improve decision-making and performance. Often, analytics take place through cloud computing, whereby data points are transmitted to remote servers. But this approach takes time and requires costly broadband resources. Enter edge computing.

Through edge computing, data processing and analytics take place near or at the point where the data is actually being collected. The result? Less latency, less broadband demand, and lower costs. Here’s how edge computing makes a difference in law enforcement, entertainment, and manufacturing.

Improving Road Safety

Though many may imagine servers as rows of tall, boxy machines, in recent years servers have gone mobile, enabling edge computing on the road. Vehicle servers are a boon to law enforcement officers, who can avoid spending precious time on tasks such as manually keying in a license plate number to check suspicious vehicles. Police cruisers equipped with servers such as NEXCOM’s MVS series of vehicle servers powered by Intel® Core and Intel Atom processors can quickly decode images of cars taken by a cruiser’s rooftop camera, identify license plates, and determine whether they’re listed in a database of vehicles of interest to law enforcement. Read On: