Dallas-based StackPath, which says it has the world’s first secure edge platform, is launching StackPath Edge Computing Containers and Virtual Machines, allowing customers to deploy their own workloads on any of the company’s 45 edge locations globally.

Edge computing allows data produced by IoT devices to be processed closer to where it was created rather than sending it over long distances to data centers or clouds. It allows organizations to analyze critical data in near real-time, an important factor for workloads requiring near-immediate response time such as security technology, media delivery, IoT, ad tech, and finance applications, StackPath said.

StackPath platform offers less latency over public clouds

The new edge platform allows users to upload images of workloads, choose the size of the container or VM, and select which StackPath edge nodes where the workload is deployed in as fast as 60 seconds. It also complements StackPath EdgeEngine, a serverless computing service which allows developers to run code in the cloud without a server, VM or container.

The proximity of the geographically diverse points of presence, known as PoPs, offers less latency—the time delay before a transfer of data begins after an instruction for its transfer—over centralized public clouds, the company said.

Edge computing is a new space, and most people in it have been making it up as they go along, according to Data Center Knowledge.

READ NEXT A (Dallas) Founders story

StackPath—a 3-year-old startup co-founded by Lance Crosby—makes a telling case study, writes Yevgeniy Sverdlik. Crosby’s last company, SoftLayer, sold in 2013 to IBM for $2 billion.

Lance Crosby, Founder and CEO, Stackpath

The value in edge computing is that while the internet continues to expand, from the end user perspective it hasn’t “grown closer and closer,” said Crosby.

With edge computing, secure applications can move and process data back and forth without security requests or urgent data “hopping around the world,” he said.

Crosby said StackPath computing is about processing data faster and safer right at the edge.

“The edge is not a replacement of cloud. It’s the evolution. With 5G on the rise and IoT growing massively, leveraging the power of the edge is crucial for practically any internet-centric business,” Crosby said in a statement. “You don’t need to move all of your operations to the edge, but part of almost any application can be run at the edge to reduce overall traffic costs, increase visibility and control, and improve end-user experiences.”

“As we collaborated with our customers during development, it’s been amazing to hear their ideas for using edge containers and VMs,” said Ben Gabler, StackPath Chief Product Officer, in a statement. “Some will deploy at the edge virtual appliances that they can then sell to their own customer base. Others are creating new, even more dynamic ways to personalize the content that they deliver to their end users. A financial institution is even exploring how it can enhance their high-frequency practices. The use cases are endless.”

A StackPath website blog post by David Mytton, vice president of product engineering, further details the edge PoP locations and service processes.