April 29, 2021 Build the Future of Apps with Private Edge Webinar Recap and Q&A

Private Edge and The 5G Edge API: A parallel internet universe of connected private 5G Edge area networks to allow you to create 5G Edge services in minutes.

The community was recently treated to a dynamic webinar about Private Edge and The 5G Edge API with. Ganesh Sundaram, founder and CEO of Alef. Ganesh explained the philosophy of Private Edge (synonymous with 5G) as a whole new architecture around decentralization of the internet. Alef believes the creation of an open and collaborative, neutral host architecture platform is crucial to moving forward and has challenged themselves to find a cost-effective way to design this evolutionary disruption.

The webinar began with Ganesh explaining what Private Edge is and can be. He discussed the massive, exciting economic opportunity that comes with the 5G Edge, which will be impossible without a neutral host 5G Edge architecture. Among the many examples shown in the presentation, the sectors of retail, security management, personal assistance and healthcare were each called out as billion dollar opportunities in and of themselves. One incredibly interesting thing that the Private Edge platform offers is a marketplace in which enterprises will be able to take advantage of developers’ apps and build upon them. 

Ganesh addressed the common question of why everyone isn’t already building for the 5G Edge with a boldly honest answer: because it’s very complicated. He explained what is needed to move forward and how Alef is working towards simplification. Alef has abstracted out the complexities of the 5G Edge and provides a Platform-as-a-Service solution to enterprises. With the 5G Edge, we are moving from a network of hundreds of operators to millions of private operators, therefore a global compute and delivery network is needed. Right now Private Edge is ready for service in around fifty locations. By the end of 2021 they plan to have a few hundred and then into the thousands globally, with hundreds of partners. 

Ganesh’s colleague Ryan Schaenman gave a brief demonstration of Alef’s Private Edge developer portal (developer.alefedge.com). He went through how to create an account on the portal and where the features of the Private Edge platform reside. At the end of the webinar Adam discussed the upcoming learning challenges, skill builders and hackathons in partnership with Alef, Ganesh and his team. 

This webinar was packed with great information, insights and some pretty inspiring content. Ganesh, Ryan, Vijay and the whole Alef team are excited to work with the Topcoder community on this emerging architecture and have generously made their time available to answer questions and discuss ideas. To learn more about the 5G Edge, Alef’s role, and partnership with Topcoder go here.