Edge Computing for IoT – Edge computing is a key priority for enterprises deploying IoT, with 62% of organizations adopting edge architectures and 42% prioritizing edge processing as their top technology investment, according to Omdia’s latest research.
The survey of 570 IoT decision-makers across ten countries shows that edge computing is moving beyond experimentation:
- 78% of edge IoT deployments have progressed beyond pilot stage.
- 53% have achieved moderate-to-extensive scale across business units or enterprise-wide.
- 87% of respondents with edge deployments say these meet or exceed expectations.
Together, these findings suggest that edge computing is progressing to production-scale infrastructure capable of delivering measurable business value.
“As more enterprises seek to incorporate AI and machine learning (ML) into their deployments, they are considering how to adapt their architectures to support processing at the edge,” said John Canali, Principal Analyst, IoT, Omdia. “Improved security, lower data transmission costs, and lower latency are encouraging this shift. Our survey shows that 78% of edge deployments have moved beyond the pilot stage, including 36% at moderator scale and 17% at extensive scale.”
Security and integration challenges hinder wider deployment
Despite strong adoption and positive deployment outcomes, enterprises face several challenges in scaling edge deployments across their organizations. Security tops the list at 31%, followed by integration complexity. Integration with operational technology (OT) and business processes present a challenge for 29% of respondents, while 28% struggle with legacy IT system integration.
What are the biggest challenges to IoT adoption in your organization?
Source: Omdia
Lack of budget is cited by 21% of respondents, suggesting that technical challenges, instead of financial resources, are a more common barrier to scale edge deployments. The findings highlights an opportunity for technology providers and service partners to help enterprises expand their deployments by addressing security across multi sites and integrating edge solutions with existing systems and technologies from multiple vendors.
