Osmotic Computing: A New Paradigm for Edge/Cloud Integration

Osmotic computing is a new paradigm to support the efficient execution of Internet of Things (IoT) services and applications at the network edge. This paradigm is founded on the need for a holistic distributed system abstraction enabling the deployment of lightweight microservices on resource-constrained IoT platforms at the network edge, coupled with more complex microservices running on large-scale datacenters. This paradigm is driven by the significant increase in resource capacity/capability at the network edge, along with support for data transfer protocols that enable such resources to interact more seamlessly with datacenter-based services. This installment of "Blue Skies" discusses osmotic computing features, challenges, and future directions.