EDGE CENTRES
them in different climates , but also different environments - and Japan is obviously very seismic ,” Eaves explains . The units that Edge Centres has got going into Japan are specially modified with bases that allow for seismic disruption up to a 7.0 on the Earthquake Magnitude Scale . Eaves says they ’ re also looking at the Philippines and Vietnam for future projects , but admits that ongoing pandemic travel restrictions “ are slowing things down on that front .”
Expansion throughout APAC and beyond is likely on the cards for Edge Centres in the near future though as the modular data centre industry - and the edge itself - continues to evolve . “ Traditionally , when you build a data centre , there are two things that are absolute necessities . The first is power from local utilities and the second is a fibre connection to other facilities around you ,” says Eaves . “ Now , if you have a solar powered , off-grid edge data centre like us , you can remove the first dependency on utility power , and then by partnering with a satellite company , you can remove the need for fibre interconnection to a network . Suddenly , the two most critical requirements for your business are now almost the least consequential .”
Given the successful trials by satellite internet companies like Starlink and OneWeb over the past year , Eaves paints a picture of a world where the growth of the edge is no longer long , slow creep of fibre networks expand from central metro areas , but rather an “ internet for anyone and everyone ,” where “ if you look at not just rural Australia but locations all over the world - isolated communities in Africa or Southeast Asia , for example - suddenly you can put down a data centre - an internet pod - that can serve a community with content and capability just about anywhere .”
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