EXPERT OPINION
THE EXPONENTIAL
GROWTH OF
DATA FROM
THE VARIOUS
APPLICATIONS AND
DEVICES WHICH
CAN BE FOUND
EVERYWHERE
IS FORCING US
TO RETHINK
TODAY’S NETWORK
STRUCTURES.
networks everywhere and will require
integrated cooling, sound insulation, UPS,
access control and remote monitoring.
Given the likely locations for their
deployment, they would have to be climate-
resistant, closed and shielded and designed
for maximum density and compactness.
Paradigm shift in network planning
The edge trend is leading to a paradigm
shift in the way we design, provide and
monitor networks as specific security,
connectivity and bandwidth requirements
will have to be taken into consideration.
Infrastructures will have to be designed
with the ability to spread computing
power on a wide scale and support
software defined WAN (SD-WAN). This
means that service providers will have to
adapt their business models.
The base stations of cellular phone
network providers will be particularly
suitable as sites for edge data centres.
Because with the introduction of 5G
technology, mobile communication
antennas will become locks for
enormous amounts of data. Hubs
or gateway exchanges of cable and
telecommunication networks are also
a possibility.
38
Issue 01
The exponential growth of data from the
various applications and devices which
can be found everywhere is forcing us
to rethink today’s network structures.
Weak subnetworks can slow down the
entire communication chain. Bottlenecks
in network interfaces, transmission and
computing capacities are to be avoided at
all levels to be able to guarantee a smooth
flow of data traffic.
Decentralised mini or micro data centres
can reliably connect IoT devices on short
links and can easily be scaled when local
IoT networks grow, thus serving as the
backbone for Smart City infrastructure.
They can replicate cloud services and
business-critical processes on site and
buffer bandwidth-intensive applications
such as mobile HD video. And, if cloud
connections falter or fail altogether, the
networks, servers, memories and devices
at the edge will continue to work.
Edge data centres can even form geo-
redundant groups if they are sufficiently
networked and thus promote the
security and availability of services in
extreme conditions.
By decentralising and preparing for this
paradigm shift in networking and data
centre deployment, service providers can
build the infrastructures upon which the
host of next-generation services for the
Smart City can be realised. ◊
www.intelligentdatacentres.com