EDITOR’S QUESTION
will require increasing levels of compute at
the edge.
Of course, these processes need to
be secured, managed and automated.
VMware will help customers by providing
local intelligence and compute from the
data centre to the cloud to the edge.
So, to answer the question, a major factor
determining the location of data centres
depends on the requirement of the
connected device and the data it produces.
In the case of data produced by
autonomous cars, the location of the
RASHEED AL-OMARI,
PRINCIPAL BUSINESS
SOLUTIONS STRATEGIST
AT VMWARE
hen discussing the
location of data centres
we need to look at the
way data is used now
and how it will be used in
the future. The way data
is used and handled today is very different
from just a few years ago. Moreover, this is also changing definitions
of the term ‘data centre’. I like to say that
data centres are now actually ‘centres of
data’. We now have data on the cloud, on
the edge and on the last mile, so centres
of data are scattered everywhere. This is
the current requirement and this trend will
only grow.
With ever more connected devices
producing and using data, often
autonomously, there is a growing need
for data to be processed closer to its
source or at the edge and to move to
different locations based on requirement
and speed. As data becomes ever more important in
Smart City environments, data centres
also become more segmented and will
take on new roles.
W
All of this has an impact on
determining the location of different
types of data centres.
26
Issue 01
VMware is developing a framework
that extends the VMware hybrid and
multi-cloud environments to the edge.
Furthermore, as the world of edge
computing and IoT becomes more
distributed, billions of connected devices
WE NOW HAVE
DATA ON THE
CLOUD, ON THE
EDGE AND ON
THE LAST MILE,
SO CENTRES
OF DATA ARE
SCATTERED
EVERYWHERE.
micro data centre – which can process so
much data at source – will need to be in
the car itself.
That data centre may also need to
communicate with another data centre
on the edge – which would probably be
located in a nearby metropolitan area
close to wherever the car is driving.
At VMware we are moving into software
defined data centres, which provide the
intelligence required to move data where
it needs to go.
The intelligence will be self-driving and
this is something we are doing with our
self-driving data centres which save time
and money by automating the business
and operational intent in data centres.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com