Let’s begin with the big picture. For digital cities, there are compelling reasons for moving data analytics to the Edge, when the data is generated and captured, rather than sending everything to analytics engines in corporate and cloud data centers. In many cases, applications require that data analysis takes place in near real time, as the data is generated. There simply isn’t time to send data to a distant data center for analysis. In other cases, it doesn’t make sense to pay the costs of transmitting data over a network and storing it in the cloud when it might be needed for immediate purposes.

Considerations like these build the case for analyzing many types of data at the Edge, where the sensors, cameras or other devices are located and where intelligent systems can take immediate actions based on the results of data analytics. And there’s good news on this front. Digital cities around the world are catching the Edge and IoT wave. One study found that 83 percent of smart cities and government agencies are actively using or exploring IoT.