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Zach Goldberg

Dr. Tabitha Clark

ENGW3302: Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions

October 18, 2021

Edge Computing Annotated Bibliography

Enderle, R. (2019). Is edge computing a good idea? Datamation.

https://www.datamation.com/data-center/is-edge-computing-a-good-idea/

Contrary to the growing interest and excitement surrounding edge computing, this brief

magazine article cautions against blindly following the trend. The author tries to persuade the

reader that the cons of edge computing will usually outweigh the pros, and that edge computing

should be limited to niche cases. Specifically, edge computing increases data bias and a system’s

vulnerability to security attacks (Enderle, 2019). Although edge computing does improve

bandwidth and reduce latency, such improvements are already being provided by new wireless

technologies such as 5G and Wi-Fi 6.

To persuade the reader to exercise caution with edge computing, the author draws from

personal experiences and creates analogies that the reader would understand. To back up his

claim about edge computing increasing data bias, the author recalls an incident he was involved

with at Amazon in which biased data led to some Amazon customers receiving packages late. In

addition to supporting his argument, this anecdote also supports the author’s credibility. The

author also compares the current excitement surrounding edge computing with the

overexcitement on the first iPad: “we concluded the PC was dead even though, again, years later,

the PC market looks pretty healthy, and the tablet market has almost ceased to be interesting”
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(Enderle, 2019). Through this analogy, readers will better connect to the author and his line of

reasoning.

The article targets readers in a software-related profession. Readers will not be experts in

edge computing but will likely be knowledgeable in several related technologies and practices,

such as cloud computing. This is evidenced in part by the author consistently using the “we”

pronoun throughout the piece. For instance, in referring to forcing a solution that does not fit the

problem, the author writes, “Yet, that is what we most seem to do. Maybe this time we should

think about not doing that where it doesn’t make sense” (Enderle, 2019). The author connects to

and includes the reader among those in a technical field who frequently make the mistake he

describes. The conversational language further augments the inclusivity effect. Despite the

informal tone, the author does employ a considerable amount of technical jargon and a few

sophisticated words, such as “topology”. Importantly, the author uses the acronym “IoT” without

neither explaining it nor spelling out what it stands for. This evidences the author assuming the

reader has a certain degree of relevant technical knowledge.

McCarthy, D. (2020). AWS at the edge: A cloud without boundaries [White Paper]. International

Data Corporation. https://d1.awsstatic.com/IoT/IDC-AWS-at-the-Edge-White-Paper.pdf

This white paper summarizes the need for edge computing and provides examples of its

current usage in various industries. According to the article, the benefits of edge computing

include decreasing latency, supporting devices with limited connectivity, and saving costs by

decreasing the data flowing to and from a central server (McCarthy, 2020). One current

application of edge computing is in disaster response. A company called Novetta uses edge

devices in temporary command centers, where internet connectivity is often unreliable, to be able
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to collect and analyze data in real-time. In logically structuring information and including vivid

visuals, the author aims to inform the reader about edge computing, as well as explain and justify

the increasing interest it is receiving.

The author makes several structural and literary choices that arrange the author’s ideas in

a concise and organized fashion. For instance, each section is clearly labelled. The author

includes an introductory “In this White Paper” section to outline the paper’s contents. In

explaining the emergence of edge computing, the author compares it with traditional cloud-based

architecture. To concisely inform, the author enumerates over the reasons cloud computing was

adopted in a bulleted list, and then does the same for cases where cloud computing alone is not

sufficient and must be combined with edge computing. Finally, the author provides infographics

and a diagram to succinctly convey the rapid growth of edge computing and illustrate how edge

computing architecturally relates to the cloud (in the Amazon Web Services ecosystem). The

colorful infographics with statistics in large font sizes amplify the excitement on edge

computing, and the diagram supports the author’s purpose of informing by providing a visual

reference to the information included in the paper.

The article targets a technical reader, and many aspects of the article reflect this. The

author maintains a formal, emotionless tone throughout the entire article. Moreover, the article

makes credibility a priority. For each case study of companies leveraging edge computing that

the author details, he includes several direct quotations from high-ranking employees. In doing

this, the author borrows credibility from experienced professionals in the companies he is

describing and proves to the reader the integral role edge computing plays in many businesses in

various industries. Given that this white paper is sponsored by Amazon Web Services, there is
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naturally a bias towards AWS’s edge computing solutions. All case studies described are

customers of AWS, when of course Amazon does not have a monopoly on edge computing.

Paulsen, J. (2019). Data at the edge: How to build the new IT architecture. Seagate Technology

LLC. https://blog.seagate.com/enterprises/data-at-the-edge-how-to-build-the-new-it-

architecture/

This blog post from Seagate summarizes the key takeaways from a comprehensive e-

book the company created on the bright prospects of edge computing called Data at the Edge. In

brief, edge computing will be combined with the cloud to increase response times and decrease

bandwidth (Paulsen, 2019). However, edge architectures must be durable and secure. By the end

of the article, the author hopes that the reader will see the potential of edge computing and read

the full Data at the Edge e-book to learn more.

Since Seagate’s comprehensive e-book on edge computing already exists, the author is

not interested in effectively reproducing it by going into great detail. Instead, the author tactically

focuses on the report’s key findings and amassing credibility such that the reader will see the

value in reading the report for more information. For instance, halfway through the article, the

author enumerates over the key findings of the report in a bulleted list in a bright green box.

Moreover, the author repeatedly directly quotes senior employees at Seagate involved in both the

production of the e-book and the company’s own implementation of edge computing. The author

devotes an entire section of the article to having one of these senior employees describe how

edge computing in Seagate’s factories has crucially improved efficiency. This proves to the

reader that Seagate has the credibility to give a larger report on edge computing.
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In terms of language, the blog post reads relatively informally. However, it does use a

certain degree of technical jargon without explaining it, such as “the Internet of Things”.

Notably, when discussing edge computing’s role in the future, the author uses a straightforward,

confidant tone. For instance, the author writes, “The cloud will extend; It’s not cloud versus

edge; it’s cloud with edge”. In a way, this confident tone adds to credibility, as using qualifying

words such as “likely” will portray the author (or who the author is quoting) as less of an expert.

Given the key focus on appealing to ethos, this blog undoubtedly targets a technical reader.

Sittón-Candanedo, I. & Corchado, J. M. (2019). An edge computing tutorial. Oriental Journal of

Computer Science and Technology, 12(2), 34-38.

http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/ojcst12.02.02

This scholarly article gives a concise overview of edge computing to readers that are not

familiar with the term. Unlike most of the other articles, this one offers a formal definition for

edge computing: “a distributed open platform at the network edge, close to the things or data

sources, integrating the capabilities of networks, storage, and applications” (Sittón-Candanedo et.

al, 2019, p. 35). In brief, edge computing has been necessitated by the growth of IoT devices that

constantly generate real-time data and require real-time responses.

The authors aim to give a broad overview of edge computing that a technical reader

unfamiliar with the term but knowledgeable on related concepts would appreciate. They

primarily achieve this by aggregating and summarizing higher-level sources, which are

documented in a references section. As examples, the authors borrow a definition for edge

computing from a technical report from the Edge Computing Consortium and heavily break

down an expert-level paper called A Survey on the Edge Computing for the Internet of Things.
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The authors construct a table based on information from the expert-level paper that succinctly

compares the advantages and disadvantages of edge computing with those of cloud computing

(Sittón-Candanedo et. al, 2019, p. 35). Moreover, also based on that expert-level paper, the

authors include a diagram of edge architecture (Sittón-Candanedo et. al, 2019, p. 36). Then, in a

bulleted list, they proceed to explain each component of the diagram. This well-organized

combination of visual and textual information allows the technical reader to better understand

edge computing fundamentally, as well as its relationship to cloud computing.

Xiao, Y., Jia, Y., Liu, C., Cheng, X., Yu, J., & Lv, W. (2019). Edge computing security: State of

the art and challenges. Proceedings of the IEEE, 107(8), 1608-1631.

https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2019.2918437

As mentioned by proponents of it, edge computing does have additional security

concerns that traditional cloud computing does not. This scholarly survey article addresses those

security concerns by analyzing four attacks that edge computing is particularly vulnerable to.

Before doing so, however, the article first explains why edge computing is fundamentally more

vulnerable to security threats than cloud computing, and then outlines edge architecture. The

authors seek to inform the reader about what attacks on edge computing systems to anticipate

and how to defend against them through extensive summary of existing knowledge and research.

In addition, the authors invite the reader to conduct future research into the topic, as they note

that much more is still needed (Xiao et al., 2019).

The article’s purpose to inform is reflected by its structure and integration of existing

research. To coherently organize the information presented in this extensive 24-page paper, the

authors divide the article into several sections, many including subsections as well. Moreover, at
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the end of the introduction, the authors explain this organization and what kind of information

each section contains (Xiao et al., 2019). The article’s reference page of nearly 200 sources

denotes the extent to which current research on edge computing’s security vulnerabilities is

brought together for the purpose of summarizing and informing. When describing how to defend

against such vulnerabilities, the authors offer multiple general strategies with momentum in the

academic discourse. For each approach, the authors integrate several works of research, each

contributing unique perspectives. The authors’ purpose to enact manifests itself at the end of the

article, when the authors propose further research. They do not simply explain the problem and

claim it requires more research; instead, they outline an idea and pass it on to the reader to

further explore.

The article contains virtually all the characteristics of a scholarly paper targeted at expert

readers. This includes a long length and extensive reference page. The reference page is followed

by biographical information for each of the authors. Included in the biographies, credentials such

as having published many articles in top international journals and being Program Director for

National Science Foundation would undoubtedly impress experts in computer science.

In terms of language and content, the authors use an emotionless, formal tone, typical for

scholarly articles. Moreover, the authors employ a relatively sophisticated vocabulary, with

words such as “topology” and “taxonomize”, and a plethora of technical jargon that would

exclude a layman. For instance, the term “k-anonymity” would likely only be recognized by

someone who studied cybersecurity. Although a technical reader might find a lot of the content

interesting and practical, the authors do also delve into theoretical discussions. The theoretical

proofs and formal models would likely repel the technical reader but engage the expert. Thus, the

paper effectively and singly targets other academic scholars.