IoT, Edge Computing, and Digitalization in Healthcare

by Alyssa | Jun 28, 2021 | Case Study, Edge Computing, Insights, IoT

COVID-19 accelerated the digitization of healthcare, contributing to growing IoT adoption and exploding health data volumes. This digital transformation helps to improve efficiency and reduce costs, while opening new avenues for enhanced patient experience and well-being. Simultaneously, growing data privacy concerns, increasing costs, and heavier regulatory requirements are challenging the use of cloud computing to manage this data. A megashift to Edge Computing is addressing these challenges enabling a faster, safer and more reliable digital healthcare infrastructure.

The digital healthcare market 2020 and beyond, a high speed revolution

Prior to COVID, growth in digital health adoption stalled. [1] However, digitalization in the healthcare industry has sky-rocketed since the start of the pandemic. Reflecting this market turnaround, the third quarter of 2020 was a record year for investments in healthcare companies. [2] A trend that will continue in the next years, as analysts predict rapid growth across digital healthcare market sectors:

Drivers of growth and change in digital healthcare

Digital Healthcare Growth Driver 1: COVID

The COVID pandemic accelerated the digitization of healthcare, pushing doctors, patients – and their data – to the virtual world. [8] The year 2020 marks the tipping point for digital healthcare offerings. With healthcare providers and patients forced to use digital means, adoption barriers have been removed for good. Indeed, a recent study from Forrester indicates that 36% of adults found that the care they received virtually was just as effective as what they would have received in person, and over 30% of adults will seek virtual care again in the future. [9]

Over 30% of adults will seek
virtual care again in the future

Digital Healthcare Growth Driver 2: Growing Medical IoT Device Adoption

There will be a projected 55 billion IoT devices by 2025. [10] Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) are hardware devices designed to process, collect, and/or transmit health related data via a network. IoMT devices are projected to make up 30% of the entire IoT device market by 2025. [11] According to Gartner, 79% of healthcare providers are already using IoT in their processes, [12] i.e. remote health monitoring via wearables, ingestible sensors, [13] disinfection robots, [14] or closed-loop insulin delivery systems.15 IoMT devices increase safety and efficiency in healthcare, and future technical applications, like smart ambulances or augmented reality glasses that assist during surgery, are limitless.

IoMT devices are projected to make up
30% of the IoT device market by 2025

Digital Healthcare Growth Driver 3: The Explosion of Health Data

Growing IoMT adoption is subsequently driving a rapid increase in the amount of collected health data. According to an IDC study, healthcare data is growing exponentially projected 36% CAGR through 2025; health data is expected to eclipse data volumes from sectors like manufacturing, financial services, and media. [16] The increase in healthcare data opens up new opportunities to apply technology to improve healthcare like e.g. big data analysis, AI and ML. In fact, the healthcare analytics market is expected to reach $84.2 billion by 2027 with a 26% CAGR. [17]

Healthcare data will experience a
36% CAGR through 2025

Digital Healthcare Growth Driver 4: Technological innovations: Edge Computing, AI, and VR

Big health data sets are being used to revolutionize healthcare, bringing new insights into fields like oncology,18 and improving patient experience, care, and diagnosis: “Taken together, big data will facilitate healthcare by introducing prediction of epidemics (in relation to population health), providing early warnings of disease conditions, and helping in the discovery of novel biomarkers and intelligent therapeutic intervention strategies for an improved quality of life.” [19] In a November 2020 survey from Intel, 84% of healthcare providers shared that Artificial Intelligence deployments had occurred or were planned in their clinical workflow, an increase from 37% in 2018. This is unsurprising, as AI technologies are predicted to save the healthcare industry up to $150 billion per year, by answering “20 percent of
unmet clinical demand.” [20]

Augmented and Virtual Reality are also finding a place in healthcare settings. VR tools have been shown to reduce pain, [21] and are being used in therapy as a means to help patients overcome painful and traumatic experiences. Experts expect a realm of future AR applications in the operating room, assisting doctors during surgical procedures.

Current or planned AI deployments are at
84% in 2020, up from 37% in 2018

Digital Healthcare Growth Driver 5: Underlying Social Megatrends

The global population is growing; global life expectancy is rising. Accordingly, by 2030 the world needs more energy, more food, more water. Explosive population growth in some areas versus declines in others contributes to shifts in economic power, resource allocation, societal habits and norms. Many Western populations are aging rapidly. E.g. in America, the number of people 65+ is expected to nearly double to 72.1 million by 2034. Because the population is shrinking at the same time, elder care is a growing challenge and researchers are looking to robots to solve it. [22]

Health megatrends focus not only on the prevention of disease, but also on the perception of wellness, and new forms of living and working. Over the coming decade more resources will be spent on health and longevity, leading to artificially and technologically enhanced human capabilities. More lifestyle-related disorders and diseases are expected to emerge in the future. [22]

A focus on health and longevity will
lead to artificial & tech enhanced
human capabilities

The Challenges of Healthtech

Along with more data, more devices and more opportunity also comes more
responsibility and more costs for healthcare providers.

Data Volume and Availability With the growing number of digital healthcare
and medical devices, a dazzling volume of health data is created and collected across many different channels. It will be vital for the healthcare industry to reliably synchronize and combine data across devices and channels. [23] Due to the sheer volume, reliable collection and analysis of this data is a major challenge. After it’s been processed, data needs to be available on demand, i.e. in emergency situations that require reliable, fast, available data.

Reliability, Privacy, and Data Security are extremely important in health
technology; 70% of healthcare consumers are concerned about data privacy. [24] Data use is often governed by increasingly strict national regulation, i.e. HIPAA (USA) and / or GDPR (Europe). [25] With the number of cyber-attacks in the healthcare industry on the rise, [26] healthcare professionals must be even more diligent about the storage and processing of data. In addition, healthtech must be extremely well vetted; failures can cost lives – typical “banana products”, which ripen with the customers, are a no-go.

IT Costs Medical devices contribute a large portion to healthcare budgets.
However as data volumes grow, data costs will also become a relevant cost
point. Sending all health data to the cloud to be stored and processed is not
only slow and insecure, it is also extremely costly. To curb mobile network and
cloud costs, much health data can be stored and processed at the edge, on
local devices, with only necessary data being synced to a cloud or central
server. By building resilient data architecture now, healthcare providers (e.g.
hospitals, clinics, research centers) can avoid future costs and headache.

Edge Computing is Integral to Data-driven Healthcare Ecosystems

With big data volumes, industries like healthcare need to seek out resilient information architectures to accommodate growing numbers of data and devices. To build resilient and secure digital infrastructure, healthcare providers will need to utilize both cloud computing and edge computing models, exploiting the strengths of both systems.

Cloud & Edge: What’s the Difference?

Cloud Computing information is sent to a centralized data center, to be stored, processed and sent back to the edge. This causes latency and higher risk of data breaches. Centralized data is useful for large scale data analysis and the distribution of data between i.e. hospitals and doctors’ offices.

Edge Computing Data is stored and processed on or near the device it was created on. Edge Computing works without an internet connection, and thus is reliable and robust in any scenario. It is ideal for time sensitive data (real time), and improved data privacy and security.

Edge Computing contributes to resilient and secure healthcare data systems

Transforming Healthcare with Edge Computing

Use Case: Secure and Up to Date Digital Record Keeping in Doctors Offices

For private doctors offices, embracing digitalization comes with different hurdles than larger healthcare providers. Often, offices do not keep a dedicated IT professional on staff, and must find digital solutions that serve their needs, while allowing them to comply with ever-increasing data regulations. As an industry used to legislative challenges, GPs know that sensitive patient data must be handled with care.

Solution providers serving private doctors offices are using edge databases to help keep patient data secure. An edge database allows private GPs to collect and store digital data locally. In newer practice setups, doctors use tablets, like iPads, throughout their practice to collect and track patient data, take notes and improve flexibility. This patient data should not be sent or stored in a central cloud server as this increases the risk of data breaches and opens up regulatory challenges. In a cloud-centered set up, the doctor also always needs to rely on a constant internet connection being available, making this also a matter of data availability

Accordingly, the patient data is stored locally, on the iPads, accessible only by the doctor treating the patient. Some of the data is synchronized to a local, in-office computer at the front desk for billing and administration. Other data is only synchronized for backup purposes and encrypted. Such a setup also allows synchronizing data between iPads, enabling doctors to share data in an instant.

Use Case: Connected Ambulances – Real Time Edge Data from Home to Hospital

Between an incidence location and the hospital, a lot can happen. What if everything that happened in the ambulance was reliably and securely tracked and shared with the hospital, seamlessly? Already there are trials underway using 5G technology to stream real time data to hospitals, [27] and allowing ambulance medics to access patient data while in transit. [28] Looking to the future, Edge Computing will enable digital healthcare applications to function in realtime and reliably anywhere and anytime, e.g. a moving ambulance, in the tunnel, or a remote area, enabling ambulance teams and doctors to give the best treatment instantly / on-site, while using available bandwidth and networks when available to seamlessly synchronize the relevant information to the relevant healthcare units, e.g. the next hospital. This will decrease friction, enhance operational processes, and improve time to treatment.

Digital Healthcare: Key Take-Aways

Digital healthcare is a fast-growing industry; more data and devices alongside new tech are empowering rapid advances. Finding ways to utilize growing healthcare data, while ensuring data privacy, security and availability are key challenges ahead for healthcare providers. The healthcare industry must find the right mix of technologies to manage this data, utilizing cloud for global data exchange and big data analytics, while embracing Edge Computing for it’s speed, security, and resilience.

Underutilized data plays a major role in health-tech innovation, [29] data is the lifeline of future healthcare offerings; however, there is still much work to be done to improve the collection, management and analysis of this data.

It’s all about data availability. Either in emergency situations, or simply to provide a smooth patient experience, data needs to be fast, reliable, and available: when you need it where you need it.

Edge computing alongside other developing technologies like 5G, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will empower a new and powerful digital healthcare ecosystem.

ObjectBox provides edge data software, to empower scalable and resilient digital innovation
on the edge in healthcare, automotive, and manufacturing. ObjectBox’ edge database and
data synchronization solution is 10x faster than any alternative, and empowers applications
that respond in real-time (low-latency), work offline without a connection to the cloud,
reduce energy needs, keep data secure, and lower mobile network and cloud costs.

Get in touch to learn more about ObjectBox' Edge Technology

Sources
1. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/leaders-make-recent-digital-health-gains-last
2. https://www.cbinsights.com/research-state-of-healthcare-q3-2020
3. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-artificial-intelligence-healthcare%C2%A0
4. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wearable-medical-devices-market
5. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/iot-healthcare.asp
6. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-mhealth-app-market
7. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/23/2037920/0/en/Global-Digital-Health-Market-was-Valued-at-USD-111-4-billion-in-2019-and-is-Expected-to-Reach-USD-510-4-billion-by-2025-Observing-a-CAGRof-29-0-during-2020-2025-VynZ-Research.html
8. https://www.sciencemag.org/features/2020/11/telemedicine-takes-center-stage-era-covid-19
9. https://go.forrester.com/blogs/will-virtual-care-stand-the-test-of-time-if-youre-asking-the-question-its-time-tocatch-up/
10. https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/foresight/topic/accelerating-technological-change-hyperconnectivity/hyperconnectivity-iot-digitalisation_en
11. https://mobidev.biz/blog/technology-trends-healthcare-digital-transformation
12. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3529427/how-iot-is-becoming-the-pulse-of-healthcare.html
https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3970072
13. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6391/915
14. http://emag.medicalexpo.com/disinfection-robots-against-covid-19/
15. https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/13/21020811/fda-closed-loop-insulin-system-software-diabetes-tandemcontrol-iq
16. https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/our-story/trends/files/idc-seagate-dataage-whitepaper.pdf
17. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-analytics-market-worth-84-2-billion-by-2027–growingat-a-cagr-of-26-from-2020–pre-and-post-covid-19-market-opportunity-analysis-and-industry-forecasts-bymeticulous-research-301117822.html
18. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41437-020-0303-2
19. June 2019, https://journalofbigdata.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40537-019-0217-0
20. https://www2.stardust-testing.com/en/the-digital-transformation-trends-and-challenges-in-healthcare
21. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/snowworld-melts-away-pain-burn-patients-using-virtual-reality-snowballs/
22. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/government-public-services/assets/five-megatrends-implications.pdf
23. https://www2.stardust-testing.com/en/the-digital-transformation-trends-and-challenges-in-healthcare
24. https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-133/Accenture-Digital-Health-Tech-Vision-2020.pdf#zoom=40
25. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=99b83b76-3f2f-4b23-a5c3-30ad576af369
26. https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/cyberattack-threat-to-health-care-providers-on-the-rise
https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/fbi-hhs-warn-increased-and-imminent-cyber-threat-hospitals
https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/11/13/health-care-cyberattacks-covid-19-paris-peace-forum/
27. https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business/5g-for-business/5g-customer-stories/connected-ambulance
28. https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/04/london-ambulance-access-patient-data/
29. https://news.crunchbase.com/news/for-health-tech-startups-data-is-their-lifeline-now-more-than-ever/

Why database performance creates business value

by Vivien | Feb 20, 2021 | Edge Computing, Insights, IoT

“Why does database performance matter?” “What is the business value of database speed?” “Why should I care about the performance of a database?”

Why database performance matters in a nutshell

Make Faster Decisions

Database speed is the key to compute more data faster and make data-based decisions quickly. Faster decision-making drives business value.

Save Resources & Costs

Database speed translates into resource efficiency. Saving resources (like battery, CPU, memory) saves money and reduces waste.

Better UX & Response Rates

Database speed affects end user response rates significantly – smooth and fast user experiences keep people happy and more productive.

As a developer, it seems clear that database performance matters. At the very least, a fast database that gives you out-of-the-box speed saves time and nerves during development. Any piece of the tech stack that works super-fast makes a developer’s job easier. But there is more to it. Learn, why and how database performance impacts business value and get ideas on how to quantify this for your business case.

Data should be available when need where needed

We all dream of a future transformed by data. Cars that drive themselves to be repaired before a failure occurs. Fridges that are restocked while we are at work. Reducing resource waste to an absolute minimum. Building sustainable cities and communities.[1] It is truly amazing what is possible today…

Then reality hits: Before you can implement amazing solutions to make the world a better place for everyone, someone needs to solve the technical challenges, including hidden requirements. For example: you need the necessary data, and you need it available when needed where needed. This often isn’t that simple. Data persistence, database speed, and data synchronization are typical non-functional or “hidden” requirements. These are prerequisite technologies to allow the application to access, process and possibly depict the data required to answer a request (from another application or from a user), and thus enable the functionalities / features. All in all, this is a pretty fundamental requirement. And it pays off to build your app on top of a solid foundation. Because, if you built your application on a solid foundation, every feature you dream up, no matter when, and any next feature will be easier and faster to implement.

Functional and non-functional requirements – the hidden challenges of your IoT project

While you need data in any application, most often no one will write down where and how to handle it as a user story or requirement. As opposed to features, e.g. “being able to search for names in the address book”, data persistence, database speed, and often even data synchronization are “hidden requirements”. Data is just expected to be available where needed when needed. Whether the data you need really will be available when you need it, depends strongly on the database the application is using and and where this database runs. On top, the mechanisms you employ to exchange data between different devices (end devices, servers, ….) matter.

Hidden requirements are one of the major reasons why the Industry 4.0 dream is still in many respects a dream and not a reality – in Europe at least. Despite it being a topic for more than 10 years. [2]

Database performance

What is a database?

A database is a piece of software that allows the storage and systematic use of digital information. A database typically allows developers to store, access, search, update, query, and otherwise manipulate data in the database via a developer language or API. These types of operations are done within an application, in the background, typically hidden from end users. Most applications need a database as part of their technology stack.

What is database performance?

We like and therefore use the following definition from Craig Mullins (2002): “Database performance can be defined as the optimization of resource use to increase throughput and minimize contention, enabling the largest possible workload to be processed.” [3]

Why does it matter if the database runs on the edge or in the cloud?

An edge database holds data on the (end) devices, where the data is used – and typically additionally sends some parts of the data to a central place like an on-premise server or the cloud. As opposed to this, a server / cloud-based database holds all data on the server / in the cloud. Where the data sits, determines from where, when and how it can be accessed. If all data is on a central server or the cloud, the prerequisite to accessing this data is a working network connection.

Online

Offline

It follows that edge applications are based upon a distributed computing paradigm, allowing edge devices to be autonomous. On the other hand, cloud-based applications are based on the centralized computing paradigm, where one central instance is in charge, with all other devices being dependent upon this central instance. This significantly affects the response time of the application, the availability of the application, and last not least the bandwidth needed for the application, which also translates into cloud costs.

Location matters: while a fast database gives you fast response times, if the database sits in the cloud and needs to be called from edge devices, you need to factor in the duration it takes to request the data and get a response. And with any networking you cannot guarantee response times or ensure it is always available. While this is not the database performance itself, it highly affects application performance.

The impact of database performance on your business

Database performance matters. Whether your solution needs the speed, because of the necessity to re-act in (near) realtime, or to keep your users (customers, employees, …) happy, productive, buying, or just to save costs for stronger edge hardware and the cloud. “Considering that even a single moment of latency or downtime can cost companies thousands of dollars, the speed advantages of edge computing cannot be overlooked.” [4]

The necessity of database speed for mission-critical, security relevant, (near) real-time functionalities

If you need near real time functionalities, every piece in the tech stack matters, but the database has a particularly strong impact on the response rates of your application. Consider autonomous driving, healthcare and security applications, or IIoT solutions for production lines: Any application supporting such a scenario needs to respond reliably with speed. “This is not the same as a lag in loading your favorite cat pictures. A lag in a moving vehicle scenario is a matter of life and death.” [5]

Accordingly, if end devices like cars, smartphones, health trackers, machines on the factory floor are involved, a purely cloud-based application is not an option. Data needs to be stored and used on the devices directly. Thus, an edge database is necessary. Ideally, an extremely fast one.

Examples of use cases with a need for database speed

Anything running on a car really needs to be highly ressource efficient and fast. Ressources on the car are highly limited and database speed translates into ressource-efficency. Autonomous driving capabilities are a special case requiring significant compute power to run the algorithms in real-time within the control unit of the car. As can be easily deducted from first-hand driving experience, during this kind of constant information processing and instantaneous decision making, every fraction of a millisecond counts. Information processing speed and reliability (guaranteed QoS parameters) is of the essence for driver assistance and autonomous driving.

Moving to a purely monetary example, let’s consider roadside tolling. In roadside tolling, the edge devices on the side of the road need to process the information from a moving vehicle in order to identify the car, bill according to usage, and detect violators. Ideally, it even informs the car owner of the result. As the car is constantly moving and can be going fast, all of this needs to happen in a very short amount of time. A super fast database lookup on the edge is key to avoid money loss and deliver good customer service.

For a final example, let us look at an Industrial IoT (IIoT) application: Additive manufacturing. 3D printers use layering techniques with a variety of materials to quickly create custom designed parts. During the layering process, the controller needs to quickly and efficiently incorporate small changes in the environment (e.g. an increase in temperature) to ensure quality and accuracy of the part. Faster and more precise manufacturing is currently limited by the I/O throughput. With a fast database, the I/O throughput is higher, allowing for more complex and finite production.

In short: A superfast database is not a nice to-have, it is a must-have. The database speed a database brings out-of-the-box is critical for such an application.

The impact of database speed on Sales, Conversions, Retention (or at least, nerves)

There is a reason Google forces companies to optimize their websites and mobile applications for performance: There is a wealth of research and evidence that suggests response rates of websites and mobile applications impact user behavior significantly.[6] Even more, there are several studies providing evidence that response rates impact actual buying behavior. [7] While there is less research on other digital applications like e.g. a desktop app or workplace software, some studies have shown that needing to work with slow applications decreases employee satisfaction and productivity. [8]

The impact of database speed on battery, CPU, hardware and related resources

Another hidden requirement typically is resource-efficiency with regards to CPU, RAM, Disc space and battery / electricity. For any application running in the cloud, these requirements are balanced in the backend as the cloud scales vertically. It “only” adds to cloud costs (and is a waste of energy – not to mention all the infrastructure / hardware enabling that waste).

On the edge, you typically work with restricted devices, meaning you can only use the devices’ resources, which can be pretty limited. Therefore, inefficient applications can push a device to its limits, leading to e.g. slow response rates, crashes, and battery drain. Security is a very necessary cross-the-stack functionality that often impacts performance. While data that stays on the edge is challenging to hack, edge data needs to be protected just like data in the cloud.

How database performance impacts the business value of your IoT application

All applications on one device share the available hardware capabilities; resource allocation is managed by the operating system. Accordingly, the more resources an application or the database uses, the less resources are available for other uses. The faster a database executes its operations, the less CPU it uses, the less battery / electricity, and typically also memory. In practice that means there are more resources available on the device to run e.g. Edge AI or Edge ML applications.

From a business value perspective that means:

You can save on hardware costs (CPU, RAM, Disc, Memory, …): either do more on existing / chosen hardware, upgrade hardware later or choose smaller and thus less expensive hardware.
You can save on energy and cloud costs: The more efficient, the less electricity, the less cloud costs. This can add up tremendously as projects scale.
You can add more features, deliver more functionalities, make your application more secure within a given environment.
You can deliver a smooth, fast user experience, enabling applications that deliver in near-realtime.
In sum, it clearly impacts the cost structure and value you can deliver.

Database performance impacts business value, directly and indirectly

As projects scale in size and scope, hidden requirements like database performance often become clear. At scale, small issues like delayed data, or data volumes, become big headaches. Ideally, these sorts of requirements would be at the heart of the design stage of any project – and budgeted for at the beginning. The choice of database clearly has a huge impact on the business success of IoT applications.

[1] See https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/effect-technology-sustainability-sdgs-internet-things-iot/ for IoT impact on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
[2] https://restart-project.eu/much-know-industry-4-0/
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiGidSA6trnAhVQY8AKHTpSDUIQFjAMegQICBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mdpi.com%2F2076-3387%2F9%2F3%2F71%2Fpdf&usg=AOvVaw3cx44OOMfNzJ_BJlCG8Gfj
[3] Database Administration: The Complete Guide to Practices and Procedures By Craig Mullins 2002
[4] https://www.vxchnge.com/blog/the-5-best-benefits-of-edge-computing
[5] https://www.zdnet.com/article/why-autonomous-vehicles-will-rely-on-edge-computing-and-not-the-cloud/
[6] https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/why-performance-matters https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-154/insights-inspiration/research-data/need-mobile-speed-how-mobile-latency-impacts-publisher-revenue/
https://www.machmetrics.com/speed-blog/how-does-page-load-time-affect-your-site-revenue
https://datadome.co/bot-management-protection/website-performance-how-to-increase-your-business-by-blocking-bots/
[7] https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/performance/why-performance-matters
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-154/insights-inspiration/research-data/need-mobile-speed-how-mobile-latency-impacts-publisher-revenue/
https://www.machmetrics.com/speed-blog/how-does-page-load-time-affect-your-site-revenue
https://datadome.co/bot-management-protection/website-performance-how-to-increase-your-business-by-blocking-bots/
[8] https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/1233
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01449290500196963

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Why Edge Computing is More Relevant in 2021 Than Ever

by Vivien | Jan 14, 2021 | Edge Computing, Insights, IoT

The world has been forced to digitize more quickly and to a greater extent in 2020 and 2021. COVID has created the need to remodel how work, socializing, production, entertainment, and supply chains function. Despite decades of digitization efforts, with the pandemic upon us, digitization challenges have become transparent. Many companies and countries realize now, they have fallen behind. And those that have not yet digitized were hit hardest by the pandemic. [1] With people leaning heavily on online digital solutions, internet infrastructure is at its capacity limit. [2] Accordingly, users are seeing broadband speeds drop by as much as half. [3] In Europe, governments even requested to reduce the quality of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Youtube and other streaming services to improve network speed. [4]

These challenges demonstrate the growing need for an alternative to cloud computing. Cloud computing is an inherently centralized computing paradigm. Edge Computing is a decentralized topology that is based on keeping data local, at the ‘edge’ of the network, as close to the source as possible. Edge Computing is ideal for applications that are data-intensive, have high latency-requirements, or need to work offline, independant from a cloud connection. Using data on the edge, directly on or near the source of the data, not only increases the efficiency and speed of data use, but it reduces unecessary network burden and data traffic waste.

Coronavirus accelerates the need to digitize

It was clear even before the outbreak that internet infrastructure was struggling to keep up with growing data volumes. However, the pandemic has made broadband limitations more apparent to everyday users.

Projections estimate that by 2025 there will be 20 million IoT devices [5] and 1.7MB of data created per second per person. It is slow, expensive, and wasteful to send all of this data to the cloud for storage and processing. This practice overburdens bandwidth and data center infrastructure. It makes projects expensive and unsustainable. Working with the data, locally, on the edge, where it was produced and is used, is more efficient than sending everything to the cloud and back. It brings reduced latency, reduced cloud usage and costs, independence from a network connection, more secure data and heightened data privacy – and even reduces CO2. Indeed, prior to the pandemic, edge computing was on the strategic roadmap for over 50% of mobility decision makers. [6]

As the world begins to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, digitization efforts will no doubt increase. We will see intelligent systems implemented across industries and value chains, accelerating innovation and alongside: data volumes and subsequent strain on network bandwidth. Edge computing is a key technology to ensure that this digitalization is both scalable and sustainable.

Edge Computing takes the ‘edge’ off bandwidth strain

What is Edge Computing?

With edge computing, data is stored and used on devices at the “edge” of the network – away from centralized cloud servers. Computing on the edge means that data is stored and used locally, on the device, e.g. a smart phone or IoT device. Edge computing delivers faster decision making, local and offline data processing, as well as reduced data transfer to the cloud (e.g. filtered, computed, extra- or interpolated data), which saves both bandwidth and cloud storage costs.

The Edge complements the Cloud

Although some might set cloud and edge in competition, the reality is that edge computing and cloud computing are both useful and relevant technologies. Both have different strengths and ideal use cases. Together they can provide the best of both worlds: decentralized local storage and processing, making efficient use of hardware on the edge and central storing and processing of some data, enabling additional centralized insights, data backups (redundancy), and remote access. To combine the best of both worlds, relevant and useful data must be synchronized between the edge and cloud in a smart and efficient way.

Edge computing is an ideal technology to reduce the strain on data centers, so those functions that need cloud connection have adequate bandwidth; while those use cases that benefit from reduced latency and offline functionality are optimized on the edge.

The Edge: interface between the Physical and the Digital World

Edge devices handle the interface between the physical world and the cloud, enabling a whole set of new use cases. “Data-driven experiences are rich, immersive and immediate. But they’re also delay-intolerant data hogs”. [8] And therefore need to happen locally, on the edge. We may see edge computing enabling new forms of remote engagement [9], particularly in a post-corona environment.

Edge devices can be anything from a thermostat or small sensor to a fridge or mobile phone or car – and they are part of our direct physical world and use data from their local environment to enable new use cases. Think self-stocking fridges, self-driving cars, drone-delivered pizzas. In the same way, Edge Computing is the key to the first real world search engine. I am waiting for it every day: “Hey Google, where are my keys?” Within a location like a house, the concepts and technologies to enable such a real-world search engine are all clear and available – it is just a matter of time and ongoing digitization. The basis will need to be a fast and sustainable edge infrastructure.

Sustainability on the Edge

Centralized data centers consume a lot of energy, produce a lot of carbon emissions and cause significant electronic waste. [10] While data centers are seeing a positive trend towards using green data centers, an even more sustainable approach is to cut unnecessary cloud traffic, central computation and storage as much as possible by shifting computation to the edge. Edge Computing strategies that harness the power of already deployed available hardware (like e.g. smartphones, machines, desktops, gateways) make the solution even more sustainable.

Intelligent Edge: AI and Edge advance hand in hand

The growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Edge will go hand in hand. As more and more data is generated at the edge of the network, there will be a greater demand for intelligent data processing and structured optimization to reduce raw data loads going to the cloud. [11] Edge AI will have the power to work with data on local devices, keeping data streams more useful and usable. In the near future, Machine Learning applications will have the ability to learn and create unique, localized, decentralized insights on the edge – based on local inputs.

“With Edge AI, personalization features that we want from the app can be achieved on device. Transferring data over networks and into cloud-based servers allows for latency. At each endpoint, there are security risks involved in the data transfer”. [12] Which is part of the reason why the Edge AI Software market is forecasted to reach 1.12 trillion dollars volume by 2023. The development of AI accelerators, which improve model inferencing on the edge, namely from NVIDIA, Intel and Google are helping to make AI on the edge more viable. [13] A fast edge database is a necessary base technology to enable more AI on the edge.

Edge Computing – an answer to Data Privacy concerns and a need for Resilience

As data collection grows in both breadth and depth, there is a stronger need for data privacy and security. Edge computing is one way to tackle this challenge: keeping data where it is produced, locally, makes data ownership clear and data less likely to be attacked and compromised. If compromised, the data compromised is clearly defined, making notification and subsequent actions manageable. ObjectBox, in its core and as an edge technology, is designed to keep data private, on those devices it was created on, and only share select data as needed.

The more our private and working lives as well as the larger economy depend on digitalization, the more important it is that systems, underlying computing paradigms as well as networks have strong resilience and security. In computer networking, resilience is the ability to “provide and maintain an acceptable level of service in the face of faults and challenges to normal operation.” [14]

ing initEdge Computing shifts computer workloads – the collection, processing, and storage of data – from central locations (like the cloud) to the edge of the networks to many individual devices such as cell phones. Accordingly, any strain is distributed to many devices. Therefore, the risk of a total breakdown is reduced: If one device does not work anymore, the rest is still working. Depending on the setup, the individual devices could even compensate for devices that have a problem.

The same applies to security risks: Even if data from one device is compromised, all other data sets are still safe; the loss is thus very limited and clear. Overall, as a complement to the cloud, edge computing provides improved strength and security in local networks around the world. These local infrastructures can relieve the pressure on the existing complex dependencies, and in turn make the wider system more resilient and flexible. With Edge Computing crisis response can therefore in all likelihood be faster, better informed, and more effective. [15]

Why Corona-Tracking-Apps need to work on the edge

There was initially quite some debate about taking a centralized versus decentralized approach to Corona-Tracking-Apps. [16] Many people were worried about their data. Edge Computing – storing most parts of the data locally, on the user’s device – is a great way to avoid unnecessary data sharing and keep data ownership clear. At the same time, data is by and large much more secure and less likely to be attacked and hacked, as the data to be gained is very reduced. An intelligent syncing mechanism like ObjectBox Sync ensures that the data which needs to be shared, is shared in a selective, transparent and secure way.

The next few years will see big cultural changes in both our personal and professional lives – a portion of those changes will be driven by increased digitalization. Edge computing is an important paradigm to ensure these changes are sustainable, scalable, and secure. Ultimately, we have the chance to rise from this crisis with new insights, new innovation, and a more sustainable future.

Discover Edge Use Cases

1. https://www.netzoekonom.de/2020/04/11/die-oekonomie-nach-corona-digitalisierung-und-automatisierung-in-hoechstgeschwindigkeit/
2. https://www.cnet.com/news/coronavirus-has-made-peak-internet-usage-into-the-new-normal/
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/business/coronavirus-internet-traffic-speed.html
4. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/27/21195358/streaming-netflix-disney-hbo-now-youtube-twitch-amazon-prime-video-coronavirus-broadband-network
5. https://www.gartner.com/imagesrv/books/iot/iotEbook_digital.pdf
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2019/12/02/predictions-2020-edge-computing-makes-the-leap/#1aba50104201
7. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/what-edge-computing-means-for-infrastructure-and-operations-leaders/
8. https://www.iotworldtoday.com/2020/03/19/ai-at-the-edge-still-mostly-consumer-not-enterprise-market/
9. https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/high-tech/edge-processing-remote-viewership
10. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12053-019-09833-8
11. https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/04/16/edge-ai-is-the-future-intel-and-udacity-are-teaming-up-to-train-developers/#232c8fab68f2
12. https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/04/16/edge-ai-is-the-future-intel-and-udacity-are-teaming-up-to-train-developers/#232c8fab68f2
13. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janakirammsv/2019/07/15/how-ai-accelerators-are-changing-the-face-of-edge-computing/#2c1304ce674f
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resilience_(network)
15. https://www.coindesk.com/how-edge-computing-can-make-us-more-resilient-in-a-crisis
16. https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/13/what-privacy-preserving-coronavirus-tracing-apps-need-to-succeed/

Digital Healthcare – Market, projections, and trends

by Vivien | Dec 6, 2020 | Edge Computing, Insights, IoT

If you work in the healthcare industry, you are likely familiar with some uses of IoT devices. According to Gartner (2020), 79% of healthcare providers are already successfully employing IoT solutions.[1] However, this is just the beginning. While before COVID-19, the growth of digital health adoption had stalled [2], the market is picking up speed again. Indeed, Q3 2020 was a record year for investments in healthcare companies [3] and the market expects rising investments in healthtech for next years [4]. Today, underutilized data plays a major role in healthtech innovation [17] and the growing importance of healthcare data for future offerings is evident [5]. Take a look how analyts from Gartner to Accenture and Forrester expect the market to grow:

The digital healthcare market 2020 and beyond

digital-healthcare-market-trends-2020-edge-iot

Analysts expect Artificial Intelligence in healthcare to reach $6.6 billion by 2021 (with a 40% CAGR). [6]
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) market is expected to cross $136 billion by 2021. [11]
Analysts expect the healthcare wearable market to have a market volume of $27 billion by 2023 (with a 27.9% CAGR). [7]
The IoT industry is projected to be worth $6.2 trillion by 2025 and around 30% of that market (or about $167 billion) will come from healthcare. [8]
Analysts expect the global Medical Health Apps market to grow to $236 billion by 2026, reflecting a shift towards value based care. [9]
The projected global digital health market is estimated to reach $510.4 billion by 2026 (with a 29% CAGR). [10]

The Healthcare industry has been struggling with shrinking payments and cost optimizations for years. [18] Fueled by the need to adopt in light of the COVID pandemic, digital technologies bring extensive changes quickly to this struggling industry now. Data is moving to the center of this changing ecosystem and harbors both risks and opportunities in a new dimension. [21] The basic architecture and infrastructure to have the data reliably, securely and quickly available where they are needed will be decisive for the success or failure of digital healthcare solutions. [17] [21]

We recommend keeping an eye on the following five trends

The 5 biggest digital healthcare trends to watch

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Accenture estimates that AI applications can help save up to $150 billion annually for the US healthcare economy by 2026. [6] Therefore, it is no wonder that the healthcare sector is expected to be among the top five industries investing in AI in the next couple of years. [19] The top three greatest near-term value AI applications in healthcare are: 1. robot-assisted surgery ($40 billion), 2. virtual nursing assistants ($20 billion), and 3. administrative workflow assistance ($18 billion).

Big Data / Analytics

The goal of big data analytic solutions is to improve the quality of patient care and the overall healthcare ecosystem. The global healthcare Big Data Analytics market is predicted to reach $39 billion by 2025. [12] The main areas of growth are medical data generation in the form of Electronic Health Records (EHR), biometric data, sensors data.

internet-of-medical-things-digital-healthtech

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

IoMT is expected to grow to $508.8 billion by 2027. [13] According to Gartner, 79% of healthcare providers are already using IoT in their processes. [27] During COVID, IoMT devices have been used to increase safety and efficiency in healthcare, i.e. providing and automating clinical assistance and treatment to the infected patient, to lessen the burden of specialists. Future applications, like augmented reality glasses that assist during surgery, are leading to a focus more on IoMT-centric investments. [14]

Telehealth / Telemedicine

Telecommunications technology enables doctors to diagnose and treat patients remotely. Consumer adoption of telehealth has skyrocketed in 2020 and McKinsey believes that up to $250 billion of current US healthcare spend could potentially be virtualized. [25] Also, many patients view telehealth offerings more favorable and – having made good experiences – are planning to continue using telehealth in the future. [26] Not astonishingly, telemedicine stocks also grow rapidly. [14]

Edge Computing

Edge computing is a technological megashift happening in computing. [23] Instead of pushing data to the cloud to be computed, processing is done locally, on ‘the edge’. [15] Edge Computing is one of the key technologies to make healthcare more connected, secure, and efficient. [22] Indeed, the digital healthcare ecosystem of the future depends on an infrastructure layer that makes health data accessible when needed where needed (data liquidity). [21] Accordingly, IDC expects the worldwide edge computing market to reach $250.6 billion in 2024 with a (12.5% CAGR) [24] with healthcare identified as one of the leading industries that will adopt edge computing. [16]

The healthcare market is in the middle of a fast digital transformation process. Drivers such as COVID, growing IoT adoption in healthcare, and underlying social mega-trends are pushing digital healthcare growth to new heights. Therefore, the digital healthcare industry faces many challenges, both technical and regulatory. At the same time the healthcare market is offered a wealth of opportunities.

Read the full report

References

[1] https://www.computerworld.com/article/3529427/how-iot-is-becoming-the-pulse-of-healthcare.html / https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3970072
[2] https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/health/leaders-make-recent-digital-health-gains-last
[3] https://sifted.eu/articles/europes-healthtech-industry-2020/
[4] https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/emea/health-tech-investments-will-continue-rise-2020-according-silicon-valley-bank
[5] https://news.crunchbase.com/news/for-health-tech-startups-data-is-their-lifeline-now-more-than-ever/
[6] https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-artificial-intelligence-healthcare%C2%A0
[7] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wearable-medical-devices-market
[8] https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/iot-healthcare.asp
[9] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-mhealth-app-market
[10] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/05/23/2037920/0/en/Global-Digital-Health-Market-was-Valued-at-USD-111-4-billion-in-2019-and-is-Expected-to-Reach-USD-510-4-billion-by-2025-Observing-a-CAGR-of-29-0-during-2020-2025-VynZ-Research.html
[11] https://www2.stardust-testing.com/en/the-digital-transformation-trends-and-challenges-in-healthcare
[12] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/healthcare-analytics-market-size-to-reach-usd-40-781-billion-by-2025–cagr-of-23-55—valuates-reports-301041851.html#:~:text=Healthcare%20Big%20Data%20Analytics%20Market,13.6%25%20during%202019%2D2025
[13] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/11/25/2133473/0/en/Global-Digital-Health-Market-Report-2020-Market-is-Expected-to-Witness-a-37-1-Spike-in-Growth-in-2021-and-will-Continue-to-Grow-and-Reach-US-508-8-Billion-by-2027.html
[14] https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/iomt-meets-new-healthcare-needs%3A-3-medtech-trends-to-watch-2020-11-27
[15] https://go.forrester.com/blogs/predictions-2021-technology-diversity-drives-iot-growth/
[16] https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/state-of-the-edge-forecasts-edge-computing-infrastructure-marketworth-700-billion-by-2028-300969120.html
[17] https://news.crunchbase.com/news/for-health-tech-startups-data-is-their-lifeline-now-more-than-ever/
[18] https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-05-21-gartner-says-50-percent-of-us-healthcare-providers-will-invest-in-rpa-in-the-next-three-years
[19] https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46794720
[20] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/the-great-acceleration-in-healthcare-six-trends-to-heed
[21] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/the-next-wave-of-healthcare-innovation-the-evolution-of-ecosystems
[22] https://www.cbinsights.com/research/internet-of-medical-things-5g-edge-computing-changing-healthcare/
[23] https://siliconangle.com/2020/12/08/future-state-edge-computing/
[24] https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS46878020
[25] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/telehealth-a-quarter-trillion-dollar-post-covid-19-reality
[26] https://go.forrester.com/blogs/will-virtual-care-stand-the-test-of-time-if-youre-asking-the-question-its-time-to-catch-up/
[27] https://www.computerworld.com/article/3529427/how-iot-is-becoming-the-pulse-of-healthcare.html

ObjectBox Recognized as a Sustainable Profitable Tech Solution by the Solar Impulse Foundation

by Alyssa | Nov 30, 2020 | About us, Insights, IoT

ObjectBox is proud to be officially recognized as a sustainable and efficient solution by the Solar Impulse Foundation. Although we have self-identified as a #sustainabletech company since our induction, we’re proud to be recognized as an “efficient, clean and profitable solutions with a positive impact on environment and quality of life,” after taking part in an in-depth technical and business evaluation with the team at the Solar Impulse Foundation.

Empowering tech innovation

This label recognizes that ObjectBox empowers innovation with a highly efficient and sustainable technology. The Solar Impulse Efficient Label identifies sustainable tech solutions from around the world to help companies choose their tech stack responsibly.

solar-impulse-foundation-label-sustainable-software-for-the-edge

UN Sustainable Development Goals

All Solar Impulse awardees contribute to one or several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; ObjectBox received the globally recognized label for supporting three of the Solar Impulse focused initiatives:

Affordable and Clean Energy: ObjectBox
Clean Water and Sanitation
Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure : ObjectBox
Sustainable Cities and Communities: ObjectBox
Responsible Consumption and Production

How is ObjectBox sustainable?

ObjectBox enables scalable and sustainable digitalization with a high performance edge database solution and synchronization solution. The ObjectBox database empowers local data storage, while ObjectBox Sync reduces unnecessary data traffic. ObjectBox is therefore ideally suited for efficient, useful, and sustainable Edge Computing.

Comparing the transmission of the same data sets, ObjectBox saves 20-60% on transmission data volume. By combining delta syncing with efficient compression based on standard and proprietary edge compression methods to keep data small, ObjectBox can reduce device energy consumption and thus CO2 emissions for data transmissions.

As our digital world grows, we all need to do what we can to structure these digital environments in an efficient and sustainable way. ObjectBox helps reduce digital waste. Digital waste unnecessarily burdens bandwidth infrastructure and fills cloud servers, forcing the expansion of cloud farms and in turn, contributing to the pollution of the environment. Therefore, we are excited to be part of the 1000solutions program.

Dr. Vivien Dollinger

CEO and Co-founder, ObjectBox

What does it mean to get a Solar Impulse Label?

The Solar Impulse Label: a label focused on both the environment and profitability

The first label to assess the economic profitability of products or processes that protect the environment. The Solar Impulse Efficient Solution Label is attributed following a strict selection process performed by external independent experts. By ensuring high standards of sustainability and profitability, this internationally recognized label is considered as a credible marker of quality for solution seekers in business and governments, facilitating their sourcing of solutions to reach environmental commitments.

About the Solar Impulse Foundation

The Solar Impulse Foundation aims to identify clean, efficient and profitable solutions in order to accelerate their implementation and the transition to a sustainable economy. Thanks to the awarding of a label with high standards of sustainability and profitability, the Foundation can support political and economic decision-makers in their efforts to achieve their environmental targets and encourage them to adopt more ambitious energy regulations, necessary for implementation at large-scale of these solutions on the market. A way to take the success of the first round-the-world solar flight further.

Interesting in finding out how ObjectBox can make your edge computing project more sustainable?

Get in Touch with our Team

What are Time Series Database Use Cases?

by Alyssa | Oct 20, 2020 | Edge Computing, Insights, IoT, Time Series

What do self-driving cars, smart homes, autonomous stock/crypto trading algorithms, or energy sensor systems have in common? These applications are all based on a form of data that measures how things change over time. It’s called time-series data and it plays a very important role in our lives today.

Accordingly, time-series databases also became a hot topic.

What is a time-series database?

A time-series database (TSDB) can be defined simply as a database optimized for storing and using time-stamped or time-series data. You don’t need to use a TSDB to work with time-series data. Any relational or NoSQL database or a key-value-store will do, e.g. MongoDB or redis. However, when dealing with time-series data (e.g. temperature, air pressure or car velocity data), a TSDB makes your life as a developer a hell of a lot easier.

Indeed, the two main reasons why TSDBs is the fastest-growing category of databases, are usability and scalability. A purpose-built time-series database typically includes common functions of time-series data analysis, which is convenient when working with time-series data. Because time-series data typically continually produces new data entries, data grows pretty quickly, and with high-frequency data or many time-series data sources, data ingestion quickly becomes a challenge. Time-series databases are optimized to scale well for time-series data with time being a common denominator and outperform any other database without specific time-series optimizations. This is why more and more people are adopting time-series databases and using them for a variety of use cases.

What are time-series database use cases?

Monitoring sensor data

One of the use cases is the monitoring of sensor data for safety measurements, predictive maintenance, or assistance functions. E.g. a car stores and uses all kinds of sensor data like tyre pressure, surrounding temperature and humidity for driver assistance and maintenance support. An aircraft monitors gravity and aerodynamic principles to reassure pilots that everything is alright – or to alert them that something has gone wrong. In fact, a Boeing creates on average half a terabyte of data per flight, most of which is time-series data. [1]

Tracking assets

Tracking assets is ideal for a time-series database as you constantly want to monitor where assets are, e.g. the cars of a fleet or any goods you might be stocking or shipping. These applications typically include unique vehicle or asset IDs, GPS coordinates, and additional metadata per timestamp. Apart from keeping track of the assets in realtime, you also can use the data for logistics and optimize e.g. your stocking and delivery processes.

Analyzing and predicting shopping behavior

Or, many e-commerce systems store all information of an item from product inventory, logistics data and any available environmental data to transaction amount, all items of the shopping cart purchased, to payment data, order information etc. In this case, a TSDB will be used to collect these large amounts of data and analyze them quickly to determine e.g. what to recommend to customers to buy next or optimize the inventory or predict future shopping behavior.

What are the most popular time series databases?

Well, here is our list of popular / established time series databases to use in 2020 to get you started:

InfluxDB: an open-source time series database, written in Go and optimized for high-availability storage and retrieval of time series data for operations monitoring, application metrics, IoT sensor data, and real-time analytics
KairosDB: a fast distributed scalable time series database written on top of Cassandra.
Kdb+: is a column-based relational time series database with a focus on applications in the financial sector.
Objectbox TS: superfast object persistence with time-series data on the edge. Collect, store, and query time-series data on the edge and sync selective data to / from a central location on-premise or in the cloud as needed.
TimescaleDB: an open-source database designed to make SQL scalable for time-series data. It is engineered up from PostgreSQL and packaged as a PostgreSQL extension with full SQL support.

For an overview of time-series databases currently available for productive use, see DB Engines. The database of databases is also a good resource if you are deeply interested in the database landscape; it is more extensive, but it includes any DB available independent of the level of support or if it is still maintained, also hobby projects.

What do you do when you have more than just time-series data?

Typically, a time-series database is not well suited to model non-time-based data. Therefore, many companies choose to implement two databases. This increases overhead, disk space, and is especially impractical when you deal with edge devices.

Time Series + Object-Oriented Data Persistence

Storing and processing both time series data and objects, developers can collect complex datasets and combine them with time-series data. Combining these data types gives a more complete understanding and context to the data – not just what happens over time, but also other factors that affect the results.

The best option is a robust object-oriented database solution that lets you model your data as it reflects the factual use case / the real world in objects and on-top is optimized for time series data. You can model your world in objects and combine this with the power of time-series data to identify patterns in your data. If this is indeed a database optimized for restricted devices and Edge Computing, you can even use this data in real-time and on the device. By combining time series data with more complex data types, an object time-series edge database can empower new use cases on the edge based on a fast and easy all-in-one data persistence solution.

Still have questions? Feel free to contact us here!

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[1] Time Series Management Systems: A Survey Søren Kejser Jensen, Torben Bach Pedersen, Senior Member, IEEE, Christian Thomsen

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