How Edge Computing Enhances Health IT Infrastructure

Healthcare organizations are adding more digital tools and trying to process growing amounts of data more quickly to meet enterprise demands. Many organizations have looked to the cloud for the best solution for democratizing data access and moving data around more quickly. While the cloud offers a number of advantages in these areas, it may not be sufficient for collecting, storing, and analyzing the huge volume of data produced by connected medical devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). Edge computing, also known as fog computing, is a promising strategy to help organizations distribute their network and data so information can be used and shared quickly and securely. “Organizations that have embarked on a digital business journey have realized that a more decentralized approach is required to address digital business infrastructure requirements,” says Santhosh Rao, principal research analyst at Gartner. “As the volume and velocity of data increases, so too does the inefficiency of streaming all this information to a cloud or data center for processing.”