Available Soon
Sara Bouchenak, INSA Lyon, France, France
Beyond the Cloud: Extending Cloud Computing to the Extreme Edge for Autonomous, Trustworthy, and Real-Time AI
Rajiv Ranjan, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, United Kingdom
Available Soon
Sara Bouchenak
INSA Lyon, France
France
Brief Bio
Available Soon
Beyond the Cloud: Extending Cloud Computing to the Extreme Edge for Autonomous, Trustworthy, and Real-Time AI
Rajiv Ranjan
Newcastle University, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
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Brief Bio
Professor Rajiv Ranjan is an Australian-British computer scientist, of Indian origin, known for his research in Distributed Systems (Cloud Computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things). He is a University Chair Professor for the Internet of Things research in the School of Computing of Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He is also Director of the Centre of AI Safety at Newcastle University. He is an internationally established scientist in the area of Distributed Systems (having published about 350 scientific papers). He is a fellow of IEEE (2024), Academia Europaea (2022), and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (2023). He is also the Founding Director of the International Centre (UK-Australia) on the EV Security and National Edge Artificial Intelligence Hub, both funded by EPSRC. He has secured more than $68 Million AUD (£34 Million+ GBP) in the form of competitive research grants from both public and private agencies. He is an innovator with strong, sustained academic and industrial impact, and a globally recognized R&D leader with a proven track record. He serves on the editorial boards of top-quality international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Computers (2014-2016), IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing, ACM Transactions on the Internet of Things, The Computer (Oxford University), The Computing (Springer), and Future Generation Computer Systems. He led the Blue Skies section (department, 2014-2019) of IEEE Cloud Computing, where his principal role was to identify and write about the most important, cutting-edge research issues at the intersection of multiple, interdependent research disciplines within the distributed systems research area, including Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, and Edge Computing. He is one of the highly cited authors in computer science and software engineering worldwide (h-index=88+, g-index=330+, and 37500+ Google Scholar citations, h-index=67+ and 20500+ Scopus citations, and h-index=52+ and 12700+ Web of Science citations).
Abstract
Cloud computing has become the backbone of the digital world—but the future of intelligent systems now depends on pushing its capabilities far beyond the data centre and into the extreme edge. As AI-driven applications demand instantaneous responses, heightened transparency, and robust operational resilience, traditional cloud-centric models struggle to cope with real-time constraints, data locality, and dynamic environments. This keynote explores a bold new direction: extending cloud computing to the extreme edge to create a unified, adaptive, and trustworthy cloud–edge intelligence continuum.
We present emerging system architectures, service models, and distributed learning techniques that enable cloud platforms to operate as autonomous, self-optimising ecosystems, seamlessly coordinating with edge nodes, embedded devices, and mobile platforms. These innovations allow cloud services to adjust in real time to resource scarcity, network variability, cyber-security threats, and fluctuating workload demands—ensuring performance, safety, and service continuity in mission-critical settings.
Drawing on large-scale real-world testbeds from the UK National Edge AI Hub, the keynote showcases how cloud–edge deployments across smart cities, manufacturing plants, mobility networks, and environmental systems are reshaping what is possible. These deployments demonstrate how extending cloud capabilities to the extreme edge reduces latency, enhances reliability, strengthens data governance, and supports the creation of trustworthy, human-aligned intelligent services.
We highlight key challenges and opportunities for the CLOSER community: designing new distributed service architectures, developing real-time learning pipelines, integrating cloud-native technologies with edge-native constraints, and architecting systems that are explainable, secure, and resilient by design.
By pushing cloud computing to the extreme edge, we open a path toward fourth-generation intelligent systems—where cloud scale, edge responsiveness, and AI autonomy combine to deliver transformative impacts for industry, government, and society.