INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE POWERED BY THE DCA
Maintaining the Edge . . .
The definition of ‘Edge’ is still widely debated but one
thing is clear, as a concept it is only likely to grow.
But what does this mean for those responsible for
managing and maintaining such facilities? Mark Acton
– Critical Support Director, Future-tech SCi Ltd and a
member of the DCA Advisory Board, tells us about the
evolution of Edge, the challenges it has created and
how organisations can drive operational efficiencies.
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What is the Edge?
Despite much discussion about Edge,
the concept should really be considered
a deployment strategy rather than a
new technology as some are inclined to
suggest. As a concept Edge is not new
and has been around for multiple decides.
Consider Akamai’s Content Distribution
Network (CDN), which was being built in
the late 1990s and is a clear example of an
Edge deployment in all but name.
In reality, ‘Edge’ is something of a
marketing term used to describe a
strategy using technology that is not
necessarily new. It is also evident that
‘Edge’ means very different things to
different people and organisations,
depending upon their business
requirements and technology base.
Equipment deployments ranging from
20 Watts (a so-called nano data centre),
to over five MW have been described as
‘Edge’ sites.
It could be argued that the term ‘Edge
data centre’ does not really relate to
a new phenomenon, but is rather a
collective name for several different
types of data centres which serve a
number of different purposes, none
of which are new, rather that these
have been relatively unrecognised or
‘unclassified’, to date. These are likely
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to be relatively small remote sites
which might include responses to
increasing data sovereignty requirements,
expectations for reductions in latency and
proximal workload processing.
Others would argue that the ‘Edge’ is
entirely new and relates to very specific and
separate elements within the ‘cloud’, which
offer new functions and features, particularly
in relation to IoT and mobile services. Either
way there is a clear perception that Edge
sites are different to the more traditional
‘core’ data centre and therefore need to be
maintained and managed in a different way.
This will vary depending on the technology
deployed and an organisation’s business
objectives and requirements.
A better and more explanatory term
for Edge might be ‘proximal processing
and storage’, with the intention being to
place services closer to the end user for a
variety of reasons which might include one
of more of the following: application and
network latency, network transmission
costs, data sovereignty requirements, data
protection requirements, advantageous
taxation regimes and more widespread
data gathering.
The growth of the Edge
One driving factor is the fact that
customers have become accustomed to
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