So yes, today, January 3, 2015, while browsing the internet, I came across the concept of Fog Computing. And what exactly is Fog Computing? Is it just another marketing buzzword rather than a real concept?
Well, after digging a little deeper, I found more and more information, and it turns out that Fog Computing is defined as an extension of Cloud Computing, specifically designed to meet the needs of the Internet of Things (IoT). The goal is to make these systems more scalable and responsive. How? By enabling embedded devices to make decisions on their own, without having to rely on the cloud—whenever possible and when no additional information or involvement from another device is required.
Essentially, the IoT consists of two main components: Cloud Computing and hardware devices deployed in the real world, connected to the cloud. Fog Computing focuses on processing data between the hardware and the cloud. For example, imagine a door with an electronic lock and an RFID reader that controls access to a room. With Fog Computing, the door itself could decide whether to grant access without needing to contact the cloud for credential verification—saving data, battery life, and reducing latency.
Now, what would happen in a Cloud Computing setup? Would the system need to communicate with the cloud to verify access? And what if there’s no connection or the network is slow? In that case, you could end up waiting at the door for a long time or even being unable to enter, despite having the correct credentials.
So, is Fog Computing the same as Cloud Computing? The answer largely depends on how we define Cloud Computing. Nobody says that cloud computing can’t involve processing some data locally—after all, that’s the whole point of making devices increasingly “smart” and capable of computing certain information before sending it to the cloud.
Therefore, in conclusion—and this is just my personal opinion—Fog Computing is a very interesting concept, and it can certainly help clarify how certain devices operate. However, if we take a broad definition of Cloud Computing, Fog Computing could be considered just a subset of it.
Resources:
http://bitelia.com/2014/04/fog-computing
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac50/ac207/crc_new/university/RFP/rfp13078.html