What is edge computing and how does it connect the Balearic Islands?

PalmaWith the internet, the world became connected. The first email was sent in 1985, but the network did not reach homes on a massive scale until a decade later. Since then, a person from Manacor, where the infoManacor portal was born in 1999, can communicate with someone else in Wisconsin almost instantly. More than 30 years after the expansion of the internet, however, the challenge is no longer just to connect people from around the world, but also to ensure that data travels faster and is processed closer to where it is needed.

The Balearic Islands start from a favorable position to face this challenge. Fiber optic and 5G coverage exceeds 97% of the population, a level of penetration that, according to Jordi Giné, director of Large Accounts and public administrations of Telefónica in the eastern territory, places the Islands in a prominent position in the state and European contexts.

In this scenario, the installation in Palma of a Telefónica edge computing node, inaugurated in June, is framed. This technology consists of bringing data processing capacity closer to the place where it is generated or used, instead of necessarily sending it to distant data centers. "This allows data to be processed in the Balearic Islands and remain in the Balearic Islands," summarizes Giné.

Proximity has a main advantage: it reduces latency, that is, the time the information needs to travel back and forth between the user and the system that processes it. This speed is especially important for applications that need almost immediate responses and that can combine traditional computing with artificial intelligence.

The possibilities extend to diverse sectors, from video games to industry 4.0, machine learning, and connected vehicles, which can generate large amounts of information. In the case of cars, the data they produce can reach 25 gigabytes per hour. This technology can also facilitate the development of services based on artificial intelligence that need to process information quickly.

The Balearic node is part of the deployment of a Telefónica edge computing network that plans for 17 nodes in Spain, one of which is in Palma. The infrastructure makes available to companies and institutions a capacity for proximate computing, integrated into the communications network. Now, according to Giné, the challenge is for the productive fabric to take advantage of these possibilities and transform them into higher-value services and processes.

Measuring population movements

Data management opens up other possibilities. Giné highlights tools such as Smart Steps, a platform that allows for the analysis of population movements based on anonymized mobile phone connectivity data. This information can help administrations and companies study how the population moves, always with guarantees of security and confidentiality.

The platform combines technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to convert aggregated and anonymized mobile line data into useful information about the behavior patterns of groups of people. Thus, explains Giné, administrations could obtain estimates on how many digital nomads live in the Balearic Islands, for example.

Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity

According to Giné, document management in the Administration is one of the fields where artificial intelligence can streamline procedures that involve handling large volumes of documents and contribute to shortening processing times. In the private sector, the opportunities involve improving the efficiency of internal processes, knowing customers better, adapting service to them, and developing new services. These tools can also help management teams make decisions.

Digitalization, however, also entails risks. "As we digitize processes, we also open the door to new risks and attacks," warns Giné. For this reason, he argues that cybersecurity must be incorporated from the beginning in the development of technological solutions, instead of adding it later to correct possible vulnerabilities.

"It is not a matter of developing a technology first and, later, adding a security solution to correct the risks," he points out. "Cybersecurity must be integrated from the beginning into the technological proposals that we make available to clients," he concludes.