FEATURE

a new era in connectivity and data sharing , and Edge data centres will have a crucial role to play in its full rollout . Gartner ’ s recent report highlights this as it predicts that by 2025 , Edge Computing will account for 75 % of enterprise-generated data . The first major impact of the introduction of 5G will be the movement of massive amounts of data through faster and virtualised networking , as well as wireless infrastructure . Data centres will be at the heart of enabling 5G in all applications for the foreseeable future , and 5G itself will both drive new Edge deployments and enable new Edge use cases .

There are a host of issues to be ironed out before 5G can achieve its full potential , though . The infrastructure of data centres must be strategised effectively to cope with the huge demand in data that 5G ’ s full rollout will bring ; new regulatory requirements will need to be negotiated , introduced and adhered to , and potential security vulnerabilities will also need to be addressed .

This is by no means unachievable and once 5G becomes a reality it will unleash the full capability of IoT , morphing the world into an environment that we would have never seen before . But before this becomes a reality , there are questions to be answered surrounding 5G ’ s arrival .

The security concerns surrounding 5G

5G will vastly increase the number of devices that can be connected to core networks – which increases the opportunities for cyberattacks . The increased number of connected devices hugely expands the volume of information that will be transmitted and shared between users and devices , making it difficult for businesses to process and maintain data securely .

One of the ways to address this data volume challenge is through decentralisation – bringing analytics as close as possible to the data centre where information is processed , easing the burden on businesses of having to move around large data sets . Moving data to the edge means internal IT teams can reduce the amount of data they have to store , which is crucial when addressing cybersecurity .

As more processing takes place at the edge , new analytical approaches and updates will be able to quickly be pushed and spread around the wider network once they ’ re optimised by a central analytics engine . As the threat landscape evolves , so too must an automated approach to security . By working in a more distributed way and utilising Edge data centres , organisations will be able to focus on stopping the next attack , rather than scrambling to recover from the last one .

Ultimately though , the government must take the lead on how cybersecurity will be delivered – not only for data centres to adhere to , but also for the peace of mind of both businesses and consumers . The government has a key role to play in establishing a framework that data centres and other IoT providers adhere to , to ensure accountability if and when an attack does occur – but also good practice to mitigate against such attacks .

Data centres will be replacing data at a fast rate as they keep pace with the increasing volume of information that is created , as more devices become connected . However , the more data that has to be updated or replaced , the greater the chance of suffering a leak . www . intelligentdatacentres . com Issue 21

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