Keeping Your Edge: The Benefits of Distributed Infrastructure and IoT

Ask any data center professional what the biggest trends are in the industry and their answer will certainly include two words: the edge. Behind the scenes of this massive push for edge computing is the Internet of Things, a network of devices and sensors spanning a multitude of items, including everything from cars to washing machines. In fact, forecasts currently note that in just five years the number of connected devices will rise to an astounding total of 25 billion with 50 billion installed or embedded sensors. Additionally, statistics show a predicted increase in edge computing market revenues from 1.47 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to 6.72 billion by the year 2022.

While individual definitions of the edge may differ depending on the source, the edge is generally recognized as a computing architecture where computation is performed on distributed device nodes, where the data is being generated, instead of in a centralized data center environment. It’s true that many of today’s software applications build the software layer either in major data centers or public clouds, however, they still need to control the path of the packet so it can be delivered as close to the consumer as possible. This is why some businesses may adopt a hybrid model. Why the widespread and fervent adoption of the edge, though?

Widespread adoption of the edge

In essence, the edge enables data, applications, information processing, and computing power to move out of denser urban data center hubs like Silicon Valley or Northern Virginia and into secondary and underserved tertiary markets. While popular data center sites aren’t going anywhere any time soon, and in fact are often critical players in hosting the service layer for IoT, developers are focusing efforts on remaining closer to the end user. This promotes a host of operational and service benefits. Some of the most notable benefits are a boost in network performance and a critical reduction in latency. Looking at the numbers and the benefits, IoT and the edge promise to be the biggest revolution in the topography and function of the data center industry in the decades to come.

Migrating to the edge

To help clients fully express the benefits of the edge and in turn allow the end-user to benefit from edge computing, MOD Mission Critical makes flexibility a priority, ensuring businesses have what they need wherever they are. As needs for colocation and cloud services grow from the edge trend, international Managed Service Provider (MSP) MOD takes a truly customer-centric approach with specialized, customized, boutique-level services to allow for flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness when provisioning any service a client may need.

When migrating to the edge, MOD knows that the needs of businesses will undoubtedly include a few things: high bandwidth connectivity, a private network fabric, software-defined networking, connectivity to cloud providers and local support.

Bandwidth

To start, edge computing workloads are notoriously demanding with intense throughput of data. As such, data centers need high-bandwidth, around 100Gbps, the likes of which often cannot be achieved on business premises. Enterprises will also need a private network fabric with global reach, allowing for private connectivity from every data center to multiple Internet Exchanges to provide a multitude of connectivity options to hundreds of providers to ease this bandwidth strain.

SD-WAN

Along the same lines, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) will be highly beneficial for the edge. With so many applications and devices operating at the edge, a centrally-managed network will prove necessary. Here, MOD’s network monitoring becomes highly valuable, helping businesses to have visibility across the entire network to fix bottlenecks and address bandwidth-related issues. All of this will enable access to services and capabilities at a speed that matches that of today’s digital world.

Connectivity

Cloud provider connectivity is the next necessity for multi-tenant data centers. As edge computing and cloud computing go hand-in-hand, having direct, private connections to all major cloud providers and support of both hybrid and multi-cloud configurations will allow businesses to accommodate the storage and processing needs at the edge.

Local Support

Finally, local support is key. While juggling all these balls in the air, it helps to have reliable professionals at your side every step of the way to procure and manage all your best-in-breed services. MOD’s full set of managed services, including dedicated and virtual hosting, managed colocation and managed hardware, reduce the pressure to find and develop your own networking experts.

Any major change to business operations is daunting, but MOD is here to help. MOD’s services take the laundry list of edge requirements and work to alleviate the burden, empowering businesses to leverage the edge with high-capacity, private and expertly managed connectivity with global reach to as many Internet Exchanges and providers as possible. MOD provides solutions that seamlessly operate at the levels of speed and agility that customers need, with Colo by the ‘U’ services ensuring that businesses can achieve flexible, scalable and cost-effective solutions for growing cloud and colocation demands. Additionally, customers employing MOD’s services can take full advantage of strategically located data centers throughout underserved markets in the U.S. and Canada and a growing list of points of presence (PoPs). Just give us a call or send us a message!