As digital workloads continue to evolve and new innovations emerge, the demand for real-time processing increases. Traditional computing, despite its power, struggles to meet the low-latency requirements needed for real-time applications. This necessitates low-latency network connections for compute workloads.

What is latency and why should your business be concerned?

Latency is the term used to identify the time it takes for data to be transmitted across the network. A longer lag time (delay) shows a network to have a higher latency compared to one where the response time is faster. While an increase of a few milliseconds might seem negligible, the delay can be a roadblock in your journey to increasing business efficiencies with much faster, real-time applications and services – even if you have invested in new network circuits to boost bandwidth and throughput capacity.

There are various contributing factors to network latency but perhaps the most common ones are the physical distance between servers and devices and the types of networks involved. Data has to travel long distances, which inherently increases latency. This delay can be particularly problematic for applications that require instantaneous responses. The more network routers and switches encountered (network hops) along the journey between endpoints will also add to overall network latency.

The bottom line: If latency is on the high side it can interfere with the user experience, productivity and customer satisfaction levels you are striving to achieve.

Here are a few examples where latency has an impact on performance:        

  • Media Streaming & Delivery: High latency causes buffering, interrupting the user experience.
  • Gaming/VR: Low latency is crucial for responsive gameplay, and immersive experiences and real-time interactions
  • Video Conferencing: High latency leads to synchronisation issues, making conversations disjointed.
  • VoIP: Latency introduces delays or distortions in internet voice communication.
  • High-Frequency Trading: Latency delays transactions, reducing volume and accuracy. Slight delays can result in missed opportunities or financial losses while faster response times can determine profitability in a trade
  • Real-Time Auctions: Latency creates lags in processing bids, affecting efficiency and can mean the difference between winning and losing
  • Security and Safety Device Monitoring: Latency can lead to delayed responses in critical systems.
  • AI/ML Systems: Latency affects the performance and efficiency of real-time decision-making.

Edge Computing is fast-becoming the ideal infrastructure solution for real-time, latency-sensitive workloads

A major benefit of Edge Computing is that it addresses latency by processing data closer to where it is generated, reducing the physical distance and network hops. Faster response times improve decision-making through faster data analysis. The decentralised approach also distributes computation across multiple devices for maximum performance and resilience. This can be easily scaled by adding more edge devices.

Key Advantages of Edge Computing:

  • Moves processing closer to the source of data generation or consumption. By minimising the distance data needs to travel, edge computing significantly reduces latency.
  • Improved performance & User Experience: Reduces load times and points of failure, enhancing end-user engagement.
  • Bandwidth Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness: Optimises bandwidth usage and reduces data transfer costs.
  • Enhanced Security: Limits exposure of sensitive data, reducing the risk of breaches.
  • Scalability and Flexibility: Allows for adaptable resource allocation.
  • Infrastructure Cost Efficiency: Reduces the need for large-scale data centers
  • Improved Reliability: Distributed processing enhances system reliability, reducing the impact of device failures.

Edge data centers like nLighten’s are essential to the latency-busting solution

They are strategically located in geographic regions, close to dense business and industrial areas. In our case, within easy reach of the major European business and industrial centers. This means enterprise businesses, systems integrators, content distribution providers (CDNs), cloud and network service providers can move data faster to customers and users to boost experience and unlock the full potential of time-sensitive applications. They can also reduce network data transit costs by shrinking the physical network transmission distances involved.