Network Management, Network Security
Article | July 17, 2023
The promise of Open vRAN is to give back to mobile operators some form of control over their networks. The “open” refers to the opening of RAN interfaces. It is critical because it gives operators the possibility to buy the radio unit and the baseband unit from different vendors, rather than having to buy an integrated system, and therefore helps them diversify their suppliers and reduce their dependence on traditional vendors. The “v” refers to virtual. Virtualization is about disaggregating hardware and software and enabling the use of commercial off-the-shelf servers, instead of the usual purpose-built hardware, to run network functions in order to increase flexibility and reduce costs.
Across Asia-Pacific, the announcements and activities from operators including Airtel, Axiata, NTT Docomo, Rakuten Mobile, Smartfren and Telkomsel indicate a growing appetite for open and virtualized radio access networks. In countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, open RAN can for example help to address the challenges of remote connectivity and to deploy a network in places where it has been traditionally difficult to achieve a satisfactory return on investment.
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Enterprise Mobility
Article | June 15, 2023
If you are clued into IT, then most likely, you are aware of the latest trending technology, edge computing data centers.
Edge Computing ensures exceptional speed, with firm privacy and security compared to the conventional cloud methods, thus making edge data centers an imperative option for everyone.
The world is undoubtedly moving faster, thereby perpetually pushing the power of next-generation innovation.
Edge computing data center has emerged as a substitute to cloud computing, that keeps the data processing power at the “edge” of the network.
But, it also comes with a set of challenges to the network.
Edge computing devices that have processing functions are expensive and to operate the older version, additional equipment is required, which incurs extra expenditure.
Despite the challenges, edge computing has turned out to be the biggest technology investment.
So, let’s break it down here with comprehensive details to understand how this latest trending technology is all set to shape the future of the data center.
A Brief on Edge Computing
The word edge refers to the literal geographic distribution that brings computation and data storage nearer to the data sources.
It improves the response duration and saves bandwidth as it runs fewer processes in the cloud and shifts those processes to local destinations such as on a user’s computer, an edge server, or an IoT for that matter.
In a nutshell, edge computing is a topology that enables data to be analyzed, processed, and transferred at the edge of a network, It helps diminish the long-distance communication that takes place between a client and server.
A significant advantage of using edge computing lies in its high speed and better reliability. In addition, it offers improved security by distributing processing, storage, and applications across wide-ranging devices and data centers.
What’s more, it paves the way for a budget-friendly route to scalability as well as versatility, enabling organizations to expand their computing capabilities through an amalgamation of IoT devices and edge computing data centers.
Edge Data Centers and Their Usage!
There isn’t any specific explanation that would describe the idea of an edge data center, considering it isn’t one consistent style of the facility. It instead consists of smaller facilities that serve both edge computing and larger-scale cloud services.
Since they are located closer to the population, they could easily extend the edge of the network to deliver cloud computing resources and cached content to end-users. Typically, they connect to a larger central data center or multiple computer data centers seamlessly.
Latency has forever been a matter of concern for cloud data center managers. In recent times, it has emerged as a key obstacle due to big data, the Internet of Things, cloud and streaming services, and other technology trends.
Moreover, in today’s time and age, end-users and devices demand access to applications and services anytime and anywhere, which leaves no room for latency. Consequently, companies across the spectrum are establishing edge data centers to ensure cost-effective and high-functionality ways to provide customers with content and performance.
A great way to learn more about the data center would be to understand its usage. The following are some of the services that primarily rely on edge computing:
Internet of Things
Internet of Things tools essentially require low latency and reliable connections to the data center to function with high intensity. IoT devices add up a vast number of edge computing utilities; thus using edge computing makes it simple and effective.
Streaming Content
Streaming content is one of the most consumed form of infotainment. Users today want their video to get started with a single click that edge facilities help achieve.
Drones
While Drones are increasingly getting popular, their features are also massively advancing. For example, with edge computing, drones could be controlled even from far-flung locations without any hitch.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is one of the most thriving technologies that have taken over the world with its magnificent scalability, To make AI advantageous to the system, it should be able to access data, process it, and communicate with the end-users effectively and quickly which an edge data center allows.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality needs to get updates as quickly as possible to create an immersive world for the users. Though primarily associated with gaming, VR has also gained recognition for different paradigms such as communication, education, and several other significant uses.
Edge Computing and Data Centers – The Future!
A dedicated 5G Provider
Edge Computing is underway, building mammoth telecommunications capabilities into data center growth trends. These facilities could change the dynamics of 5G providers for enterprise brands and emerge as the dedicated 5G providers for organizations.
Support sustainable business goals
Edge data centers are being looked to as a periphery that can help build more efficient solutions to enable the sector’s sustainability. Edge computing is specifically designed to keep applications and data closer to devices and their users. Therefore, there is little doubt over the impact that edge computing will have on sustainable business goals.
Making way for Robot Security Guards
Evolution in AI and IoT has drastically changed the human staffing needs inside the data centers and made way for Robots. Currently, Robots have been deployed in some of the hyper-scale data centers for specific tasks. Whether it is the automated inspection, faulty disc locating, or disc charging, with Robots at the helm of affairs, everything can be completed seamlessly.
Many data center and robotics professionals are predicting that the next couple of years will be big leaps when it comes to placing more robotics in the data center environment.
Bill Kleyman - now Switch EVP of digital solutions - wrote in 2013.
How Does One Choose a Location For a Data Center?
Data centers are a critical part of any business enterprise operations. Hence, decisions regarding its locations cannot be relegated to an arbitrary choice.
In the past, companies used to set up their edge data centers closer to their offices to maintain the proximity. However, that is swiftly changing now as the equipment administration and monitoring can be achieved remotely.
With the data center industry transforming, performance is no longer the sole consideration.
To create a defining success of the data centers, companies are now looking for different sites for their data centers, primarily focusing on factors like economic, political, social, and geographical.
The current scenario highlights the significance of considering Energy efficiency, business continuity plan, and resource optimization. With so much at stake, the edge data centers should be effortlessly accessible.
Conclusion
Edge computing and data center growth has garnered a lot of interest among the users over the past few years. It will continue to thrive for many more years to come as it meets the eye of the global tech demands and the current and future needs of the users worldwide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of edge computing?
One of the top benefits of edge computing is its quick response time and low latency period across all devices. It also simplifies the bandwidth and creates less risk in corporate security.
What are the drawbacks of edge computing?
A significant drawback of edge computing is the need of a huge storage capacity. The security challenge is also relatively high due to the massive amount of data stored in it. Moreover, the expensive cost factor is also a disadvantage of it.
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Wireless, 5G
Article | May 18, 2023
The second quarter of 2020 was the strongest second quarter the data center market has ever recorded. Server shipments in what is seasonally a weak period exceeded 3.4 million units. Despite this record baseline, first data points on 2Q21 indicate server shipments exceeded 3.4 million units yet again.
Demand for data center compute continues to be strong and we believe 2Q21 would have been even stronger had it not been for semiconductor supply shortages. We saw strong indication that shortages in CPU substrate materials and other components impacted server supply in 2Q21. This seems to have impacted Intel in particular with AMD gaining share in the quarter.
AMD set their own record, for the first time crossing the 15% server market share threshold. It looks like demand from hyperscale cloud service providers, and Google in particular, has been a big contributing factor for AMD’s strong performance. The historic best AMD performance in the data center server market was in 2006 when 14% of the servers shipped were configured with an AMD CPU. 2Q21 indeed proves that the EPYC roadmap is highly competitive.
In 2Q21, servers with arm-based CPUs again made up a
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Article | May 26, 2021
If we’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s how much our progress hinges on the ability to share and collaborate around data.During the pandemic, we watched as scientists from around the world raced to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time. A process that typically takes 10 to 15 years took less than a year—due in part to global collaboration and data sharing.
As we transition to the post-COVID-19 era, the “need for speed has never been greater,” says McKinsey. The organizations that will thrive in this new economy will facilitate collaboration, empower individuals and teams, and build impactful partnerships. That success requires shifting from the traditional “don’t share data unless” mindset to a data-sharing mindset grounded in a solid foundation of technology, data-driven culture, and processes.
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