THE EDGE
urrently sitting at the peak of
Gartner’s hype cycle alongside
other hot technology trends
such as IoT and Machine
Learning, edge computing is attracting
significant interest from businesses across
a range of sectors.
C
According to Futurum Research’s
‘Edge Computing Index: From Edge to
Enterprise’, nearly three quarters (72%) of
organisations have already implemented
an edge computing strategy, or are in the
process of doing so, and 93% of those that
aren’t intend to invest in the technology
over the next year.
The popularity of edge computing is hardly
surprising given the increasing demand
for a better customer experience and for
improved latency as networks continue to
grow and become more widely distributed.
Indeed, meeting this demand has a direct
effect on an organisation’s bottom line.
Amazon, for example, found that every
100ms of latency cost the company 1% in
sales, while Google saw traffic fall by 20%
for every 0.5 of a second in search page
generation time.
maximum experience. It’s important too
to bear in mind the impact that relevant
regional data privacy regulations will have
on an organisation and to ensure that each
site is compliant.
There are several factors to bear in mind
with regard to the physical building,
such as whether there is sufficient
square footage for the number of racks
and cabinets required and whether the
space will allow for future expansion.
The building’s existing infrastructure will
require scrutiny; if it’s not found to be fit
for purpose, the entire building may need
to be retrofitted.
Power supply
The idea of power planning for a data
centre may appear obvious but edge
data centres have very specific needs.
Power redundancy, for instance, will
tend to be a given for traditional data
centres. However, at the edge it can
often be too expensive or even, in some
cases, unavailable.
Ideally, power should enter a facility via
a number of different points. Providers
BUILDING AN
EDGE DATA
CENTRE IS NOT
AN EXERCISE TO
BE UNDERTAKEN
LIGHTLY,
HOWEVER,
AND REQUIRES
SIGNIFICANT
PLANNING AND
PREPARATION.
should therefore consider whether
that facility could be serviced by more
than the utility grid. At the same time,
though, it’s important to plan for the
worst. Should a power outage occur,
back-up generators should be able
to support the data centre for at least
48 hours.
Power consumption
Building an edge data centre is not
an exercise to be undertaken lightly,
however, and requires significant
planning and preparation.
Location, location, location While heating, ventilation and air-
conditioning (HVAC) are essential to the
smooth running of a data centre, they
are also one of the biggest consumers of
power; half of all a data centre’s power
is currently used on HVAC. It’s important
therefore that service providers find a
way of ensuring greater efficiency and
cost-effectiveness.
When it comes to geographical area and
the site’s physical characteristics, location
is everything. It’s worth considering,
for example, whether the data centre is
located close enough to a customer to
ensure it delivers minimal latency and Free-cooling or hot-aisle/cold-aisle
designs, for example, are simple, cost-
effective means of controlling the
temperature within a facility, while
temperature sensors on racks are an
efficient means of monitoring it.
Here are five points we’d suggest service
providers ought to consider before moving
to the edge.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
Olivier Alquier, Head of Enterprise,
Europe, at CommScope
Issue 05
69