As fog computing starts to play a bigger role in networking strategies, the importance of virtualization to the distributed cloud will become increasingly apparent.

Denise Culver, Online Research Director

January 3, 2017

2 Min Read
Fog Computing: The Virtualization Angle

Regardless of whether you're one for resolutions, fog computing/networking is shaping up to be an industry trend to watch in 2017.

Consider these recent Light Reading articles:

As the fog sector develops, virtualization will be key to its success. Fog is necessary to connect the cloud to things: The cloud has issues with latency, mobility, bandwidth and security. At the same time, not everything can be run from the edge with intelligent endpoints because of space, energy and security.

Fog brings the compute, communication and decision making closer to where data originates to speed process times and lower costs. Virtualization works throughout to add additional agility, and, as seen in the products featured below, it will be key in the development of IoT products.

A few technology suppliers are now looking to establish themselves as early leaders in virtualized fog computing.

  • Flowthings.io, with an edge and cloud platform by the same name for Internet of Things solutions, deploys edge processing for real-time orchestration between sensors, databases and other edge services. It automates real-time actions at the edge, while controlling data flows to the cloud and other endpoints.

    • FogHorn Lightning from FogHorn Systems is software for Industrial IoT (IIoT) that enables edge processing, analytics and applications to be hosted as close as possible to the control systems and physical sensors.

    • Vortex Fog from PrismTech enables secure forwarding of data between fog subsystems with edge node applications that communicate with each other on LANs and other nodes and subsystems that are connected over WANs.

      Some 1,500 companies are now listed in Virtuapedia, making it the telecom industry's most comprehensive resource for all things related to virtualization. More than 10,000 network professionals are now registered with Virtuapedia, giving them access not only to vendor and product information but also to the latest industry news and research from Heavy Reading. (See Virtuapedia Community Hits 10,000.)

      To get your company listed in Virtuapedia, go to the Get Listed tab on the site. To join the growing ranks of the virtualization community and get access to executive summaries of Heavy Reading’s research, go to the Register Now tab.

      — Denise Culver, Director of Online Research, Heavy Reading

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About the Author(s)

Denise Culver

Online Research Director

Denise manages Heavy Reading's Thought Leadership Council, which uses a focus group approach to glean insights from CSPs on topics ranging from automation, IoT, 5G, B/OSS transformation, SD-WAN and emerging technologies. Additionally, Denise covers the test and measurement industry as an analyst, focusing on how T&M vendors are addressing telco transformation, as well as the impact that technologies such as IoT are having on service provider networks. Denise also continues to oversee development of Light Reading's Pedia projects, including Virtuapedia and Testapedia. Previously, she was a Contributing Analyst with Heavy Reading for seven years, covering a wide range of areas, including mobile, IP transformation and T&M. Her career in technology journalism began in 1996, and she is a past winner of the American Business Media Association's Jesse Neal Award for editorial achievement. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University.

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