Fog Networking: An Overview on Research Opportunities

The past 15 years have seen the rise of the Cloud, along with rapid increase in Internet backbone traffic and more sophisticated cellular core networks. There are three different types of Clouds: (1) data center, (2) backbone IP network and (3) cellular core network, responsible for computation, storage, communication and network management. Now the functions of these three types of Clouds are descending to be among or near the end users, i.e., to the edge of networks, as Fog. This article presents an overview on research opportunities of Fog networking: an architecture that users one or a collaborative multitude of end-user clients or near-user edge devices to carry out a substantial amount of storage, communication and management. Architecture allocates functionalities, while engineering artifacts that may use a Fog architecture include 5G, home/personal networking, and the Internet of Things.