Global edge datacenter market to reach $317 billion by 2026

The global data centre edge market will reach a valuation of $317 billion by 2026, according to a report by consultancy JLL, driven by technological advances such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The continuous growth of data and connected devices has driven the need for more storage, computing and networking resources close to the end points of use. This has created a need for edge computing and associated datacenters.

Implementing an IT strategy involving the installation of edge datacenters close to data consumers is an increasingly common practice in different corporate profiles.

What are they?

Edge datacenters are smaller datacenters, located closer to the edge of the network, designed to process and analyse data in real time, providing companies with faster decision-making and more efficient operations.

Among its main features are:

• Proximity to the data source
• Support for distributed data processing
• Data from IoT devices
• High-performance Internet connection
• Strategic location close to users and devices
• Support for any network protocol and connections

The market

The edge datacenter market is an ecosystem that includes IT and device vendors, chip manufacturers, telecommunications service providers, datacenter operators, cloud service providers and hyperscalers.

Although there are many types of edge datacenters, supporting varying capacities, they can be categorised into three main groups:

1 – On premises edge datacenters – which generally consist of micro datacenters with single server racks, deployed in the same location as the user. This type of datacenter is usually located in large companies such as financial institutions, manufacturing, retail, healthcare providers and local municipalities.

2 – Far Edge or Network Edge datacenters – these are small, containerised datacenter solutions, usually located at the base of a cell tower or in some other suitable location. They are often enlisted to support mobile phone towers, smart grid/smart city applications and will probably be found along motorways in the future for autonomous vehicles.

3 – Regional datacenters – these are the largest type of edge datacenters. They are smaller colocation hosts, Tier II and/or Tier III levels.

Implementation

The installation of edge datacenters requires planning that is no different from the steps taken to implement traditional datacenters. However, Edge strategies have a critical point that needs to be carefully designed: the networks that connect the edge sites to the corporation’s central datacenter. In this sense, it is important to ensure that the connectivity between them is secure and capable of handling the company’s specific data traffic and application requirements.

A successful implementation roadmap comprises the following steps:

1 – Assessment of the corporation’s needs

The first step is to identify the company’s needs and the use cases that will benefit from edge computing. Reducing latency is often essential for companies with critical applications, supporting IoT (Internet of Things) devices and improving operational efficiency.

2 – Identification of sites

Determine where the edge datacenters will be deployed. This could include locations close to customers, production centres, remote facilities or anywhere where low latency is critical.

3 – Hardware and infrastructure selection

Choose the right hardware and infrastructure for your edge datacenters, including servers, storage, cooling systems and redundant power solutions. Design them with scalability in mind. After all, as needs change, adding more processing capacity will be necessary.

4 – High-performance connectivity

It is important to ensure that edge datacenters have high-speed, redundant connectivity to communicate with the central datacenter and other edge locations.

5 – Implementing security and data protection

Implement robust security measures to protect edge datacenters from physical and cyber threats, including access control, security monitoring, encryption and intrusion protection measures.

6 – Choosing the right software platforms for managing edge datacenters.

7 – Implementation of applications and workloads

It is necessary to migrate the applications and workloads destined for edge sites, and to adjust and optimise these applications so that they work efficiently in edge environments.

8 – Integration with the central datacenter

This integration usually involves developing data synchronisation and traffic management policies.

9 – Carrying out tests to validate the Edge strategy

Before putting the entire infrastructure into operation, extensive commissioning tests and validations need to be carried out to ensure that the edge datacenters meet performance and security requirements. Also check that the integration between the Edge sites has been carried out correctly and that everything is working as it should.

10 – Monitoring and maintenance

Try to implement monitoring systems to track the performance of edge datacenters and guarantee the continuous availability of the entire edge strategy. Also adopt a preventive maintenance plan to ensure that the systems are working properly both at the edge sites and in the corporation’s central datacenter.

If possible, ensure that the assets of all datacenters are monitored 24 hours a day in a NOC (Network Operations Centre). This will greatly increase the degree of security and reliability of the operation. Asset monitoring can be done in your own NOC or outsourced.