Data and digital services have transformed nearly every industry in just a few short decades. But this massive shift has come at a cost: ballooning data processing centers that struggle to keep pace with today’s data deluge. As an IT leader, you’re constantly under pressure to support more users and applications while keeping infrastructure expenses under control.
That’s where edge computing comes in. By distributing computing power and data storage closer to where they’re needed, Edge enables you to offload processing and storage demands from the core data center.
Let’s dive into exactly how Edge can declutter your data center.
1. Perform Processing Where Data Originates
One of the biggest advantages of edge computing is that it allows processing to happen at the source of data generation. Instead of ferrying massive volumes of raw sensor data or user inputs back to a centralized data processing center for analysis, edge devices like IoT gateways can analyze and filter the information locally. This reduces the load on network bandwidth between the edge and core. With Edge, you’re able to perform initial processing steps like analytics and AI/ML inferences locally before transmitting only the meaningful insights.
2. Offload Storage of Infrequently Accessed Data
Your core data center is optimized for frequently accessed data that enables core applications and business functions. But what about the long tail of infrequently accessed historical or archived data? With Edge, this cold data doesn’t need to consume precious storage resources at your centralized location. You can cache it out at the network edge on decentralized storage devices until it is needed. This frees up capacity in your data processing center for more mission-critical uses.
- Your core data storage is optimized for frequently accessed active data like current customer records, real-time sensor readings, or files needed by applications on a daily basis. However, not all of your organization’s data remains active forever.
- As digital services evolve, legacy systems retire, and projects conclude, certain data becomes static archives that are rarely, if ever, accessed. This could include historical financial records, product design documents, completed research studies, or old configuration backups.
- Maintaining petabytes of these “cold” archives consumes massive amounts of expensive primary storage resources in your centralized data processing center that could be put to better use. However, you still need to retain this data for regulatory compliance, audits, eDiscovery or future reference.
- With edge computing, you can cache infrequently accessed archives out to decentralized object storage devices located throughout your local network edge. These edge storage nodes provide durable, secure storage at a fraction of the cost of data processing center storage arrays.
- Common examples of edge storage include purpose-built storage appliances, virtual tape libraries (VTL), cloud storage gateways, or even direct-attached drives and storage servers. They provide the capacity to hold archives without occupying precious data processing center real estate.
- When needed, any piece of archived data can be quickly retrieved from edge storage through your high-speed network. Users and applications will have fast access even though the physical location of the data has moved.
- Edge storage also reduces the need for complex data center storage technologies solely designed for random I/O access patterns. Simpler object storage at the network edge suffices for archives accessed sequentially or not at all for long periods.
With Edge, you gain the flexibility to automatically migrate data between storage tiers based on defined policies. This ensures your core data processing center remains optimized over time for the highest-priority use cases as your storage demands evolve.
3. Distribute Content Delivery to Reduce Backhaul Traffic
Delivering large files, videos, games or other bandwidth-intensive content to users places enormous strain on network backhaul. With Edge, you can cache popular content at distributed points of presence to reduce the distance it needs to travel. Users get faster access from nearby edge nodes rather than routing all the way back to your centralized data processing center. This significantly decreases traffic loads on expensive network backbones.
4. Offload Non-Mission Critical Workloads
Not all workloads require the high performance and low latency of core data center infrastructure. With Edge, you can push less time-sensitive batch jobs, non-critical analytics, simulations and more out to distributed edge resources. This frees up your centralized data processing center to focus solely on hosting mission-critical applications and services. The edge handles best-effort workloads that don’t directly impact the business.
5. Optimize for Low Latency Use Cases
Some applications simply can’t tolerate the latency of routing traffic to a distant data processing center and back. Edge computing allows you to place computing resources within milliseconds of end users for use cases like autonomous vehicles, telemedicine, industrial automation and more. With Edge, you can support applications that demand single-digit millisecond responses that are too time-sensitive for the network core.
6. Reduce Network Backbone Congestion
All that traffic routing between edge devices and your centralized data processing center contributes to congestion on expensive private and public network backbones. Edge redistributes this load across distributed infrastructure, reducing the strain on interconnection points. This ensures your core network bandwidth is free for critical communications, rather than ferrying every last byte of data.
7. Improved Disaster Recovery with Distributed Infrastructure
Centralized data centers represent a major risk if disaster strikes. But Edge distributes your infrastructure footprint across a wider geography. In the event that one edge site goes down, others can continue to operate. And you’re less reliant on a single data processing center location. Edge improves resilience against localized outages or natural disasters that could take your core systems offline.
8. Gain Flexibility for Hybrid Deployments
With edge computing, you’re not constrained to an either/or choice between centralized and decentralized infrastructure. Edge enables a flexible hybrid model. You can run applications optimally placed at the edge while retaining core services and data in your data processing center. This gives you the best of both worlds: flexibility, performance and capex/opex efficiencies.
Conclusion
As this blog outlined, edge computing delivers compelling benefits that reduce strain on centralized data centers. By pushing processing, storage and services closer to endpoints, Edge declutters your core infrastructure while improving performance, resilience and flexibility. Does Edge make sense for your organization? Evaluate your specific workloads and use cases to determine where this technology can provide the most value. With Edge, you gain powerful tools to manage infrastructure costs now and as data volumes continue to escalate.
