Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the sources of data. Edge Computing is expected to improve response times and save bandwidth. Edge Computing is an architecture rather than a specific technology. Edge Computing is a topology- and location-sensitive form of distributed computing.

The origins of edge computing lie in content distributed networks that were created in the late 1990s to serve web and video content from edge servers that were deployed close to users. In the early 2000s, these networks evolved to host applications and application components at the edge servers,resulting in the first commercial edge computing services that hosted applications such as dealer locators, shopping carts, real-time data aggregators, and ad insertion engines.

Internet of things (IoT) is an example of edge computing. A common misconception is that edge and IoT are synonymous.