# What is the IoT Edge?

> The Internet of Things (IoT) edge is the part of an IoT ecosystem where data is collected, processed, or acted upon close to connected devices and their physical environment.

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## Content

It can include computing within a device, local gateways, site controllers, brokers, or nearby servers that operate between field devices and centralized services.

Local processing can reduce latency, bandwidth use, and dependence on a distant service, and it can filter sensitive or high-volume data before transfer. Its design must account for constrained hardware, intermittent connectivity, physical exposure, remote management, and the safety consequences of local decisions.

### Key points

- **Place functions deliberately:** Locate sensing, filtering, analytics, storage, control, and security functions according to timing, capacity, privacy, connectivity, and failure needs.
- **Protect the local trust chain:** Identify devices and workloads, authenticate communications, protect credentials and updates, restrict management, validate software and configuration, and monitor locally meaningful behavior.
- **Plan degraded operation:** Define what continues without upstream connectivity, how queued data and commands are reconciled, which decisions require fresh information, and how recovery avoids unsafe actions.
- **Important limitation:** Edge placement does not make IoT inherently secure, private, resilient, or real-time. A compromised gateway, stale state, unsafe update, or poorly bounded control action can amplify harm.

### Related terms

[Internet of Things (IoT)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/internet-of-things/>) · [IoT security](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/iot-security/>) · [Edge computing](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/edge-computing/>) · [Network edge](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/network-edge/>) · [Cyber-physical system (CPS)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cyber-physical-system/>)

### Sources

[NIST SP 500-325, Fog Computing Conceptual Model](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/500/325/final) · [NIST IR 8259 Rev. 1, Foundational Cybersecurity Activities for IoT Product Manufacturers](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/ir/8259/r1/final) · [NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 3, Guide to Operational Technology Security](https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/82/r3/final)

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