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If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it, no matter how far away it is from a data center. Edge computing is key to measuring and managing.
Edge computing is exactly what it sounds like it is: computing devices at the edges of a network that collect and relay data to the network’s brain.
Edge devices can be sensors that track when people enter or leave a room, the temperature of a location, electricity generated by or used by other devices and even sound or silence. These data sources are processed and analyzed, assisting with real-time and over-time decision-making and operations tracking.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it, no matter how far away it is from a data center. Edge computing is key to measuring and managing.
Or, as the consultant McKinsey & Company put it in a recent report on IT trends:
“Technologies such as cloud and edge computing ... have shown steady increases in innovation and continue to have expanded use cases across industries. In fact, more than 400 edge use cases across various industries have been identified, and edge computing is projected to win double-digit growth globally over the next five years.”
While cloud computing puts data in data centers that are far away from where most business is conducted, edge computing spreads it out everywhere business is conducted.
Edge computing can improve operational and building management and drive sustainability by providing a constant stream of information on energy use and areas for efficiency and conservation. Edge devices and appliances can also serve as a gateway to cloud deployments or provide security. Small, localized data centers—also considered edge—can provide a boost in a hybrid on premise and cloud environment by delivering strategic computing power or data storage right at a business’ location.
Simply put, Edge computing is essential for digital transformation in business. For solution providers, examining Schneider Electric’s approach can be both instructive and a practical strategy for delivering digital transformation to customers.
That approach includes Smart UPS, which can ensure that edge devices continue operation smoothly, and EcoStruxure Micro Data Center Solutions, which provide energy-efficient data center management solutions for on-premise computing. Schneider Electric’s Technology Partner Program provides details on how solution providers can partner up and deliver edge computing, energy efficiency, data center and sustainability solutions, computing, energy efficiency, data center and sustainability solutions.
