Cloudlets: at the leading edge of cloud-mobile convergence

Since the dawn of mobile computing two decades ago, the unique constraints of mobility have shaped the software architectures of systems. We now stand at the threshold of the next major transformation in computing: one in which the rich sensing and interaction capabilities of mobile devices are seamlessly fused with compute-intensive and data-intensive processing in the cloud. This heralds a new genre of software that augments human perception and cognition in a mobile context. A major obstacle to realizing this vision is the large and variable end-to-end WAN latency between mobile device and cloud, and the possibility of WAN disruptions. Cloudlets have emerged as an architectural solution to this problem. A cloudlet represents the middle tier of a 3-tier hierarchy: mobile device -- cloudlet -- cloud, and can be viewed as a "data center in a box" whose goal is to "bring the cloud closer". A cloudlet-based hardware/software ecosystem inspires futuristic visions such as cognitive assistance for attention-challenged mobile users, scalable crowd-sourcing of first-person video, and ubiquitous mobile access to one's legacy world. Realizing these visions will require many technical challenges to be overcome. It will also require us to rethink a wide range of issues in areas such as privacy, software licensing, and business models.