Worldwide Edge Taxonomy, 2026

This IDC Taxonomy provides a detailed description of IDC's segmentation of the hardware, software, and services that are foundational and necessary resources to digital business and operations at the edge. Edge resources span many locations and are offered through many deployment models, including company-owned and service provider owned and operated. This document provides IDC's definitions of the market segments for edge to help technology providers understand how IDC views the highly distributed and diverse edge ecosystem. "The edge infrastructure ecosystem is evolving rapidly as organizations seek to streamline their journey to highly distributed compute resources. Established providers are evolving their offerings and emerging providers are challenging traditional markets to meet the growing need for secure and resilient edge platforms." - Research Director Jennifer Cooke, Edge AI Strategies, IDC.