IT technology solutions that are deployed outside a traditional enterprise data center are often referred to as edge solutions. “Edge” is a networking term that is used to represent the connections where end-user equipment first links to a communications system. Cell phones, tablets, and portable laptops are some of the most common edge devices. Commercial and industrial applications in stores and plants, which are the furthest away from the corporate data centers and high-speed data networks, are also called edge applications. The term “edge architectures” describes how we design solutions for many uses cases including retail in-store systems. The following figure shows the edge architecture for a retail store:

Figure 2.              Edge node components