ELI5: What is the difference between edge computing and cloud computing

Cloud computing is like having one big computer far away that does everything, while edge computing is like having lots of smaller computers closer to you that do some of the work.

Imagine you want to watch a video.

• Cloud computing is like driving all the way to a big video store downtown (the cloud data center) to get the video, then driving back home to watch it. It takes a long time to get the video because the store is far away.

• Edge computing is like having a small video kiosk right in your neighborhood (an edge server). You can quickly get the video from the kiosk because it's close by.

• With cloud computing, the streetlight has to send information about whether it's dark to the big computer downtown. The big computer then tells the streetlight to turn on. This takes time, and if the internet is down, the streetlight won't work.

• With edge computing, the streetlight has a little computer inside it. This computer can decide all on its own when to turn on based on how dark it is, without needing to ask the big computer downtown. It's faster and more reliable.