The rapid development of AI technology has put forward higher requirements for computing infrastructure, promoting the rapid development of intelligent computing data centers. At the same time, as part of the computing infrastructure, edge data centers have also entered an era of rapid development. According to the latest forecast from Global Market Insights, the market size of edge data centers is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2032.
So, what are the advantages of edge data centers compared to traditional data centers and new intelligent computing centers? Why do many enterprises need edge data centers? What are the specific industry applications of edge data centers? This article will be interpreted one by one.
1、 What is an edge data center?
Edge data center is a new type of infrastructure deployed on the edge side of the network, located between the user end and the centralized cloud data center, providing a miniaturized, distributed, and user friendly data center environment. Therefore, edge data centers can deploy data computing and storage on devices closer to data collection, enabling data computing (especially real-time data) to no longer rely on central locations that may be thousands of miles apart, solving latency issues that may affect application performance.
2、 Why do enterprises need edge data centers
We know that sensors, cameras, warehouse robots, and other devices deployed in different scenarios generate a large amount of data every day, and sometimes the data needs to be processed in real-time. For example, high-definition cameras used for quality inspection on factory assembly lines require real-time data processing to determine product quality. If these data are transmitted to a central site or cloud for processing, not only is the efficiency low, but the cost will also be relatively high.
The solution of deploying data centers at the edge can better reduce latency, provide support for on-site data processing, and obtain actionable information based on real-time analysis. For this reason, edge data centers are primarily driven by the Internet of Things (IoT). According to IDC data, more than 400 edge computing cases have been identified in various industries and fields.
It can be said that edge data centers have effectively solved the problems of real-time data analysis and cost efficiency for enterprises.
3、 What are the main characteristics of edge data centers?
The main technical features of edge data centers are as follows:
One is scale and deployment: The scale of edge data centers is relatively small, with a single unit size usually not exceeding 100 standard racks, and is mainly deployed in network edge areas near the user side, such as residential areas, highways, airports, and factories.
Secondly, functional positioning: Edge data centers mainly implement functions such as computing, storing, and forwarding edge data, supporting business applications with extremely low latency requirements.
The third is the technical composition: an edge data center can be composed of a micro data center that has the same technology as a typical data center, but occupies less space. Meanwhile, larger data centers are typically connected to edge data centers, providing more centralized processing capabilities for data.
Fourth, application scenarios: Edge data centers have wide applications in multiple fields, such as intelligent driving car services in the transportation sector and remote healthcare in the medical sector. In addition, it is widely used in almost all industries such as retail, healthcare, and finance, providing end-users with more computing, networking, and storage services.
4、 The difference between edge data centers and traditional data centers
Compared to traditional enterprise data centers, edge data centers have fundamental differences in the following aspects:
1) Hardware: Due to the fact that servers and storage devices in edge data centers are not necessarily deployed in controlled environments, there are higher requirements for hardware equipment. For example, in industries such as manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, energy, and agriculture, companies need reinforced servers that can handle extreme temperatures, dust, vibrations, and more.
2) Application: Due to the completely different applications in different industries, the methods used in building edge data centers are also completely different. Some edge data center applications are relatively simple, so the size of the data center is also quite small. In some complex application scenarios, higher performance data processing capabilities and higher capacity storage devices are required, so the scale of edge data centers is relatively large.
3) Protocol: Due to the fact that IoT devices located on the edge side have their own data messaging protocols (AMQP, MQTT, and CoAP) and network connectivity protocols (ZigBee and LoRaWan), edge data centers need to be matched with different edge devices during the construction process.
4) Gateway: As an intermediate part of a large enterprise IT infrastructure, edge data centers require specialized edge gateways to maintain smooth data movement without being affected by protocols.
5) Data management: The data management system of edge data centers is mainly used to determine which data is being processed on-site and which data should be transmitted to more powerful centralized systems for processing.
6) Security and data privacy: Various IoT sensors provide an entry point for hacker attacks. As edge data centers are mostly located on the device side, it is necessary to build a more comprehensive data security and privacy protection system to prevent hackers from using terminal devices for attacks.
5、 Application cases of edge data centers in different industries
Here are some leading data center use cases from major industries:
1) Manufacturing: By deploying a large number of sensors, factory administrators can use terminal data centers to quickly detect product quality issues in real-time, improving production efficiency. In addition, edge data centers can analyze data over a period of time to provide recommendations for predictive maintenance. Finally, edge data centers can achieve real-time quality assurance, optimize supply chains, and automate processes.
2) Medical: Remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, deployment of wearable devices for collecting medical information, medical imaging systems, and disease detection and prevention analysis through cameras are data intensive applications that require the deployment of data centers at the edge to ensure real-time and efficient data processing.
3) Retail: Deploying small edge data centers in the retail industry not only utilizes numerous cameras to detect theft, but also collects customer behavior data and analyzes it to better plan the placement of goods, enhancing the shopping experience for customers.
4) Energy: Edge data centers allow energy companies to remotely monitor equipment to detect issues, avoid interruptions, and improve system efficiency and reliability.
5) Transportation: By deploying edge data centers, real-time alerts can be provided to drivers and maintenance personnel, and predictive maintenance can be achieved.
6) Smart City: In the implementation of smart cities, edge data centers that collect camera data can provide real-time traffic management to prevent urban traffic congestion.
6、 The main trends of edge data centers
According to IDC's forecast, by 2025, there will be 41.6 billion IoT devices capable of generating nearly 80 ZB of data, accounting for almost half of the 175 ZB of data generated globally. Cisco Systems predicts that the number of IoT devices will reach 500 billion by 2030. These predictions indicate that the amount of data generated at the edge will exceed that of all other sources. Therefore, edge data centers will continue to grow in the future.
According to IDC data, 75% of enterprises indicate that they plan to increase their edge spending by an average of 37% over the next two years.
According to Global Market Insights, the rapid growth and increasing consumer demand in the IT and telecommunications industries will drive industry growth. In addition, as these infrastructures are deployed closer to the local area, it is expected that the amount of data generated in urban and remote areas will continue to increase, accelerating market demand and requiring effective management solutions to access and store data, thereby promoting adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises and other businesses.
It is not difficult to see that edge data centers, with their characteristics of small scale, flexible deployment, and clear functional positioning, will be widely used in multiple fields in the future, and will continue to develop and grow with the continuous progress of technology and the expansion of application scenarios.
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(Source: 51CTO)