On April 29, 2022, it was announced that Google acquired MobiledgeX, an edge computing company launched by Deutsche Telekom in early 2018, and plans to open source MobiledgeX’s code and integrate it into the Google Cloud platform. Google’s interest in acquiring MobiledgeX was likely due to the MobiledgeX’s strong history, including system deployments in Japan, Europe, and Canada through partnerships with telecommunication companies and  MobiledgeX’s involvement in the Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association’s (GSMA) development of multi-access edge computing (MEC) platforms including the Bridge Alliance Federated Edge Hub (FEH) and the MobiledgeX Edge-Cloud platform. What contributed the most to Google’s acquisition of MobiledgeX is MobiledgeX’s patent activity in the Edge Computing Patent Forecast® sector, and in this case it is not the quantity of patent assets MobiledgeX has produced but rather the quality of the patent assets.

In terms of numbers, MobiledgeX has produced six (6) patent assets in the edge computing sector with all of them being assigned to Deutsche Telekom, which is not so impressive compared to Intel and Cisco but impressive when you consider Google only has four (4) patent assets in the sector. In terms of quality MobiledgeX has produced some very strong patent assets relating to communications and non-blockchain platforms in the edge computing sector which is a key factor in this acquisition. This acquisition was a critical step in Google’s quest to overtake IBM’s Red Hat as the leader in network cloud computing in the edge computing sector. Considering that the race for top dog in network cloud computing services for edge computing is very time sensitive, Patent Forecast® predicts that IBM/Red Hat will enter a partnership with VMware to retain its position and further produce patent assets in the edge computing sector.