Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 52 | Page 53

EDGAR LAURESTA , CHANNEL ACCOUNT MANAGER , VAD TECHNOLOGIES

Q & A

EDITOR ’ S

EDGAR LAURESTA , CHANNEL ACCOUNT MANAGER , VAD TECHNOLOGIES

Edge Computing is growing fast worldwide and in the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) region . From a channel perspective , there are still some steps to make . As Edge Computing became a hot market segment two to three years ago , most channel partners kept selling what they have been selling into the datacentre as well . As a result , implementation and on-going management did not change

Channel partners can benefit from the growing number of opportunities at the Edge to complement their IT infrastructure solutions .
either . Solutions like VMware and Hyper-V , originally designed for the data centre ,
are experienced as too difficult to install and complex to manage due to the lack of knowledgeable IT resources on the Edge . So , as the market grows , there are still many challenges to overcome .
More and more data is generated at the Edge . This requires other , easier to manage IT infrastructure on the factory floor , in hotels , on a ship or at any other location where mission critical data runs outside the core data centre . AI and AR pickup fast on the Edge and latency is simply not allowing these and many other applications to run in the cloud . Solutions specifically designed for the Edge overcome the complexity and cost of traditional IT infrastructure solutions . The Edge is a landscape with new players like Scale Computing which specifically designed solutions for the Edge . Adopting these new solutions brings new opportunities for channel partners .
With an estimated US $ 176 billion market in 2022 according to IDC , Edge Computing is double the size of compute and storage spend by service providers . Channel partners can benefit from the growing number of opportunities at the Edge to complement their IT infrastructure solutions .
Edge Computing means running applications local and to collect and analyse data where it is generated . If implemented in a high available setup , costly unplanned system downtime at the Edge is minimised . The advantages of Edge Computing should be pitched as easier to install and manage if in combination with the right infrastructure platforms , low TCO , high available , minimising unplanned downtime risk , no dependency on an Internet connection and high speed . Understanding the requirement differences of the Edge versus the data centre and based on these differences offer a solution set that is fit to serve the needs for this market segment . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 53