The volume of data travelling across the internet is increasing exponentially. Whether the data comes from media streaming services like Spotify or Netflix, eCommerce giants like Amazon or eBay, or social media behemoths like Facebook, there’s a lot more of it out there than before. Cisco estimates that global IP traffic will grow to 3.3 zettabytes by 2021. That’s a three-fold increase in internet traffic compared to 2017.
For businesses, data means business. You can use it to predict customer behaviour and preferences, observe new marketing trends, make informed decisions and much more. While data is not a know-all-tell-all crystal ball for your company, it’s pretty close.
The volume of web data isn’t the problem. The issue is the speed and efficiency of transmission. Getting large quantities of data to a cloud or data centre takes more time than you have. To cut a long story short, the internet wasn’t designed with data travelling times in mind. Also, remember that your business-critical data travels over the same network as the video of your kid’s first birthday. This all culminates in data latency, storage limitations, and security and compliance challenges.
So how do you access critical data by the quickest possible means and circumvent the challenges of snail-like transmission? Easy, you use edge computing to store the data you need closest to you. Edge computing data centres bring bandwidth-intensive content and voice-video delay-sensitive applications closer to the end-user. The objective of edge computing is simple: to place computing power and storage capabilities on the edge of the network. Simply put, this transforms cloud computing into a more distributed architecture so that disruptions are only limited to one point in a network.
Edge computing benefits many industries. For eCommerce and service vendors needing always-on-always-open functionality, edge computing prevents site outages and increases availability for optimal up-time. For factory floor operators staying connected to plant systems, to healthcare providers having access to life-saving data, edge computing is the answer to future technology.
You’ve decided it’s time that you move to the edge. Then contact your local IT managed services provider for IT business support and the best solution for your edge computing needs.
