Some of the popular terms in Edge computing we get to hear — MEC Edge, MEC node, MEC App, MEC platform, MEC host, etc. When I first heard about Multi-Access Edge Computing, I was looking to figure out if each of these terms have a specific list of attributes. Why is it named Multi-Access and not something else? Why is it so popular today? Many consortia are working on Edge architectures, what is so unique about this one? If you are someone looking to know more about MEC, this article is for you.
The MEC initiative is an Industry Specification Group (ISG) within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), whose purpose is to create a standardized, open environment which allows for an efficient and seamless integration of applications from vendors, service providers, and third parties across multi-vendor Multi-access Edge Computing platforms. ETSI MEC provides set of standards, specifications and API definitions that help enable various edge service models across the different types of edge deployments. Figure 1 provides high level architecture.
Why is it named Multi-Access?
Due to the nature of Edge computing, multiple types of deployment scenarios are possible for Edge such as IoT or On Premise or Wireless Access, etc. (More info: 4 Types of Edge Computing —…
