Thinking about the edge of anything evokes a level of anxiety that is equal parts exhilaration and apprehension. This feeling is no different for IT professionals who are tasked with deploying, operating, securing and managing IT resources outside the controlled — relatively safe — confines of the data center.
Today, Dell Technologies is expanding our portfolio of edge solutions with new offerings that help you overcome the apprehension of edge computing so you can spend all your time feeling the exhilaration – and the benefits. The newest offerings in our portfolio are designed to help you address the challenges of unbounded data at the edge.
Bring IT to the point of data creation
It wasn’t long ago that we were talking about the challenges of “big data.” Collecting, storing and analyzing vast amounts of data was truly a challenge. But that was back when data was “just” big. The challenge then was getting enough storage and processing power into the data center.
Fast-forward ten years and the challenge has expanded beyond the walls of the data center. Gartner predicts that “by 2022, as a result of digital business projects, 75% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside the traditional, centralized data center or cloud – an increase from the less than 10% generated today”[1]. But this data is not your traditional data, it is unbounded and time-sensitive. It streams from mobile phones and devices. Generating value from data requires harnessing it and generating insights at the point of data creation — quickly, cost-effectively and securely.
A new era of data creates new challenges for IT
It’s easy for end-users to think of data as intangible bits of information that magically appear at their fingertips the moment they’re needed. But IT knows better. Data of this size has mass. And when you combine big data with decentralized data creation and consumption, you trigger a whole new set of IT challenges.
Successful IT leaders are rethinking the placement of applications and infrastructure, moving them as close to the point of data creation as possible. Moving IT infrastructure outside the data center introduces several constraints that IT leaders need to address.
- Locational: Bandwidth and network connectivity is limited
- Environmental: Open to the elements or housed in dusty environments
- Dimensional: Needs to fit in tight spaces
- Electrical: Subject to less-than-ideal power and cooling conditions
- Operational: Far away from skilled IT staff
- Security: IT needs to control and monitor security outside the confines of the data center
Overcome edge constraints with new solutions from Dell Technologies
Dell is answering these challenges with new solutions designed to help you extract value at the point of data creation while managing constraints.
The new PowerEdge XE2420 supports edge operations and analytics in space-constrained, harsh environments. A low latency, short-depth system, the XE2420 has the flexibility to add up to four accelerators and 92TB of storage per server.
For the most extreme environments, the PowerEdge XR2 brings together rugged compute in a smaller footprint. Built from the ground up for harsh environments, the PowerEdge XR2 exceeds certifications in shock, vibration, dust, humidity, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) for military and maritime applications.
The new iDRAC9 with datacenter license, adds streaming telemetry to the PowerEdge portfolio. Now IT professionals can use AI to gain insights into the management of systems from the core to the edge. And because streaming delivers up to 10,000 times more efficiency than polling (1 vs 17,780 http requests) iDRAC9, customers can expect greater efficiency when gathering data in edge environments.
The new Dell Streaming Data Platform enables ingestion and analytics of real-time streaming data. With tiered storage, organizations can enjoy the ability to call back historical data for analysis alongside their real-time streaming data for endless knowledge and business intelligence.
Let Dell Technologies help you #FindYourEdge
While apprehension is a natural feeling when extending beyond the limits of your data center, Dell Technologies can help you replace that apprehension with exhilaration. Dell partners with our customers every step of the way, linking people, processes and technology to accelerate innovation and help you #FindYourEdge.
[1] Gartner. “Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2020”, October 2019.
