As we move from 5G to 6G, edge computing is one of the concepts that needs
revisiting. Its core idea is still intriguing: instead of sending all data and
tasks from an end user's device to the cloud, possibly covering thousands of
kilometers and introducing delays that are just owed to limited propagation
speed, edge servers deployed in close proximity to the user, e.g., at some 5G
gNB, serve as proxy for the cloud. Yet this promising idea is hampered by the
limited availability of such edge servers. In this paper, we discuss a way
forward, namely the virtual edge computing (V-Edge) concept. V-Edge bridges the
gap between cloud, edge, and fog by virtualizing all available resources
including the end users' devices and making these resources widely available
using well-defined interfaces. V-Edge also acts as an enabler for novel
microservices as well as cooperative computing solutions. We introduce the
general V-Edge architecture and we characterize some of the key research
challenges to overcome, in order to enable wide-spread and even more powerful
edge services