Intelligent Data Centres Issue 25 | Page 21

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Serverfarm expert discusses the pandemic-driven Edge

As a result of the pandemic , online user behaviour has transformed . Arun Shenoy , Senior Vice President , Sales and Marketing , Serverfarm , explains why Edge Computing investments are expected to see a massive ROI by helping to maintain productivity as the use of Edge data centres increases .

The COVID-19 pandemic has

been a catalyst for digitalisation coupled with a mass migration to remote working . In response to this new type of industrialisation , a new IT normal was established to maintain effective workflows and communication . In another related fundamental shift for the data economy , businesses experiencing a massive data influx on an unprecedented scale increasingly depend on Edge Computing .
Edge is now the necessary mechanism for new network uses such as video and collaboration tools , which we are all becoming so familiar with . Online shopping and learning , streaming , IoT , 5G and remote health are other key Edge Computing drivers . Gartner predicts that 75 % of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the traditional data centre or cloud by 2022 , which speaks to the powerful demand driving the Edge ecosystem . Yet , even as more industries become increasingly reliant on Edge Computing , it defies a single definition . ASHRAE described Edge as computing that is done near or at the source of the data .
Edge developments were already ramping up pre-COVID and as the world was jolted by the pandemic , this has accelerated . When it comes to Edge data centres , the Telecommunications Industry Association ( TIA ) said it will number more than seven million this year with infrastructure spending in excess of US $ 200 billion . Edge is a global industrial phenomenon impacting every economy from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe . The online activity explosion is in part due to remote working policies sanctioned by governments across the world in response to the global pandemic .
Boosting network performance with the Edge
Bandwidth and network performance requirements have grown as Edge data centres ’ data processing is both closer to the user and has greater distance to travel to core enterprise data centres and cloud platforms . High-speed networks are the most important function for video conferencing , data transfers and content streaming . Whether as a consumer or a hyperconnected remote worker , a five millisecond delay is considered too long .
In its paper on Edge standard developments , the TIA says : ‘ To handle increasing amounts of data and minimise latency , switching technology and applications have evolved to support high-speed transmission and data centre design has shifted to more efficient architecture that limits the number of www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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