From Cloud Computing to Fog Computing: Platforms for the Internet of Things (IoT)

This article describes how in recent years, Cloud Computing has emerged as a fundamental computing paradigm that has significantly changed the approach of enterprisesaswellasenduserstowardsimplementationofInternettechnology.The keycharacteristicssuchason-demandresourceprovision,scalability,rapidelasticity, higherflexibility,andsignificantcostsavingshaveinfluencedenterprisesofallsizesin thewideandsuccessfuladoptionofCloudComputing.Despitenumerousadvantages, CloudComputinghasitsfairshareofdownsidesaswell.Oneofthosemajorconcerns islatencyissueswhichhasrelevancetotheInternetofThings(IoT).Anewcomputing paradigmhasbeenproposedbyCiscoinearly2014andtermed‘FogComputing’.Fog ComputingotherwiseknownasEdgeComputingistheintegrationofCloudComputing andIoT.BeinglocatedincloseproximitytotheIoTdevices,theFogassistswithlatency requirementsofIoTrelatedapplications.Italsomeetsthedataprocessingneedsof IoTdeviceswhichareresourceconstrainedbybringingcomputation,communication, controlandstorageclosertotheendusers.Cloudscontinuetooffersupportfordata analytics.One can thinkof the IoT-Fog-Cloud as beingpart of a continuum.This articlesurveysthecurrentliteratureonFogComputingandprovidesadiscussionon thebackground,detailsandarchitectureofFogComputing,aswellastheapplication areasofFogComputing.Thearticleconcludeswithsomerecommendationsin the areasoffutureresearch. KeywoRdS Cloud Computing, Fog Computing, Internet of Things (IoT), Latency International Journal of Fog Computing Volume 1 • Issue 1 • January-June 2018