What is the Function of an Edge Network?
Edge networks function to provide an interface to local or regional resources and compute services. This reduces latency between the end user and the service being used for faster response times and user experience.
Often Edge Networks are used in real-time processing of data since the time it takes takes to transmit the data to the compute is lower due to the locality of the processing.
These networks typically reside within a data center or the customer provided equipment (CPE) -- as in a factory or office setting.
Firewalls, routers or VPNs are used to secure traffic between the user and the services provided on the edge. Services may be private or public depending on the application requirements.
Private networks often are deployed using tunneling that forms a zero-trust software-defined-network WAN between services and users.