Principles and Patterns for Distributed Application Architecture

Chapter 1. Cloud Infrastructure Is Not Enough

Organizations build business-critical applications in the cloud and at the edge for a reason, and many are starting to see the benefits of building systems that blend the two, seeing them as not two discrete “things” but as a continuum of capabilities (see “Tackling the Inherent Constraints of the Edge”). The cloud and the edge provide different and complementary capabilities, opportunities, and benefits:

Cloud computing

Provides scalable, on-demand resources over the internet, allowing organizations to reduce infrastructure costs, improve flexibility, and enhance collaboration. By hosting applications and data in centralized data centers, cloud computing enables automatic updates, disaster recovery, and global accessibility. Additionally, it offers powerful analytics and machine learning capabilities by aggregating large data volumes in a centralized location, which can be valuable for business insights and automation.

Edge computing

Brings computation and data storage closer to the location where they’re needed, reducing latency, improving response times for time-sensitive applications, and improving resilience. This approach is beneficial for mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications that require real-time processing, as it minimizes the data transferred to centralized servers, reducing bandwidth costs and network congestion. Edge computing also enhances privacy and security by allowing local data processing, ...