Living on the edge

IoT and expansion at the edge of the network is changing how businesses manage their data. Edge data centres mean data can be managed where it’s created, and they’re helping organisations change and improve the way they work.

The data centre, the IT lifeline of any organisation, has seen huge transformation in recent years. Still relatively new platforms such as public and private cloud — or hybrid combinations of both — are replacing the traditional data centre model.

The promise that comes with these new platforms is that they’ll free up IT departments to focus on the business at hand rather than putting out fires or staying behind until 3 am on a Saturday morning completing upgrades.

This is great not just for the IT department, but also for the business as it looks to IT to enable and improve daily processes, not to mention prepare it for new innovations and technologies such as wearable devices and BYOD.

Moving out to the edge

These trends and the wider Internet of Things-driven era are propelling another major transformation away from the data centre at the edge of the network. More and more data is coming through the edge and this is changing the way businesses think about how they manage data across the organisation.

It’s all well and good for a company’s primary data centre to be fitted with best-of-breed technology, but what about its remote locations such as stores or branch offices? These locations, relying on a data centre, which could physically be hundreds of kilometres away, are potentially open to latency issues or, more importantly, loss of physical operation if the connection to the central data centre is lost.

One answer to this is the micro or ‘edge’ data centre, an increasingly popular solution for businesses. These are neat, plug-and-play, enclosed systems that fit into smaller spaces than traditional bricks and mortar centres, making them a great fit for remote locations and disaster recovery requirements.

The other challenge we are seeing is companies downsizing their in-house compute but still needing some level of it if only for networking and communications. What’s the best way to achieve this — build a new room, leave the space idle? Now companies in this position can also consider edge data centres.

Global research firm MarketsandMarkets predicts this market will be valued at US$6.3 billion by 2020 — near-30% annual rise from 2015.

Asia–Pacific is expected to be the second-highest regional market, pipped only by North America. As Australia has a reputation for being an early adopter of IT, it’s teed up to see huge investment in edge data centres in the coming years.

As well as for remote locations and companies downsizing their compute, we’re also seeing adoption among small and medium-sized companies.

Edge data centres have all the same components of a traditional centre — onboard cooling, networking and storage systems, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), security etc. They’re small and minimise energy consumption. It’s a logical step for a new SMB looking for a simple, modern way to handle IT.

Another key benefit of edge data centres is speed of deployment and mobility. As they typically come preconfigured, they can be deployed in a very short space of time and can be moved easily if needed.

Many household names in IT are now deploying these kinds of solutions. At Emerson, for example, we have the SmartCabinet, SmartRow and SmartAisle — edge data centres of different size to suit different organisations.

Managing data where it’s created

Market intelligence firm IDC said the amount of data being created is doubling every year, which will make 44 zettabytes or 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020.

Public and private cloud, as well as modernisation of traditional data centres, are going a long way towards managing this phenomenal expansion and keeping people and businesses connected — but the role of edge data centres is vital too, particularly as they’re being deployed right where data is expanding the most.

As IoT and other aspects of digital evolution continue to shape and change the business landscape, managing the edge might be the edge organisations need to stay ahead.

Image credit: ©lassedesignen/Dollar Photo Club