Right Place, Right Time, Right Size: Edge Solutions Take Shape

Phillip Marangella, Chief Marketing Officer, EdgeConneX

Agility and flexibility – executives around the world go to great lengths to bring these qualities to their businesses, particularly as it relates to their digital transformation initiatives. However, companies can only be as nimble as their computing infrastructures will allow. Consequently, those shifting the boundaries of the Internet through Edge computing need solutions that can take shape quickly and go wherever they demand.

Here’s the challenge these companies often face – choosing from among the already established product and service portfolios of data center providers. Here, finding the right pre-existing location with the right power, space, cooling and connectivity options can be a rigid process and ultimately elusive. This goes against the need for agile, flexible solutions that are totally customized for unique operations.

EdgeConneX Build-to-Order Edge solutions offer rapid data center deployment capabilities that help enable organizations to grow and adjust quickly to internal changes or external market forces without missing a beat.

Innovation and Technological Change Driving BTO Solutions

The exponential growth in Over-the-Top (OTT) content and the mainstreaming of cloud computing drove the first and second waves of demand for edge infrastructure. However, the next waves will see a range of Edge form factors proliferate globally to serve such advanced technologies including 5G networks, Artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and a host of industrial and consumer IoT applications. In fact, by 2022, Gartner predicts that roughly 75% of data will need analysis and action at the Edge.

As the lowest latency point of demarcation between service delivery and consumption, and by processing data away from the cloud and closer to the source, the Edge increases both the scalability and security of IoT-based applications. It’s not surprising, then, that it is fast becoming the de rigueur environment for applications that require ultra-low latency data transport.

Edge solutions are also quite diverse with an incredible range. Here are just a few examples:

• Hyperlocal micro-edge data centers of 10kW to 1MW that will serve the IoT, autonomous vehicles, and smart city applications and systems
• Cable landing stations that serve as gateways for the submarine cables interconnecting with the terrestrial networks that deliver the massive volumes of data around the world
• Local reach wholesale data centers of 1MW to 10MW that support content and network providers, hybrid IT and gaming
• Greenfield builds of 10 to 100-plus MW facilities designed for hyperscale deployments such as large cloud, social, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and mobile companies

The key takeaway here is that the Edge will change in size and location relative to the service being delivered and the devices being used. Because the size, location, latency and economic prerequisites vary significantly for each service provider and service offering, it is the customer that defines the optimal edge solution relative to the business outcome the customer wants to achieve. At EdgeConneX, we designate data center solutions that are fully customized to meet the customer’s specifications as “Build-to-Order.”

In essence, the objective of the Build-to-Order data center solution is to work with customers to design and deliver the Edge — rapidly, purpose-built and uncompromising in whatever shape it needs to be — and in any city, region, country or continent they may require as their business growth demands.

Buenos Aires or Warsaw, Portland or Dublin

Whether it’s a matter of extending the Internet’s edge with data centers in South America or Eastern Europe, constructing a 40 MW facility in a rapidly emerging tech hub such as Dublin, Ireland, or a 2 MW facility in the Northwest to support a thriving cloud ecosystem in a Tier 2 market like Portland, a customer-focused edge data center provider’s approach is the same: delivering space, power and connectivity where, when and how customers need them. A Build-to-Order data center solution at this level of collaboration in the digital ecosystem represents a paradigm shift away from business-as-usual design-build engagements. Multidimensional in nature, Build-to-Order data center solutions can be start-from-scratch greenfield projects, or brownfield retrofits of an existing building.

A proven track record of supporting leading service providers comes by virtue of repeatable processes that ensure consistency and speed-to-market. This is especially important for hyperscalers, including cloud and SaaS providers, as they launch new products and services or expand their businesses into new or existing markets. While telcos, cable and wireless service providers might need to target existing ecosystems to facilitate local peering and accelerate growth, a large enterprise might require on-ramp connectivity to major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

Our Build-to-Order solutions also feature a scalable, carrier-neutral platform that delivers services from the network’s Edge, high-density power solutions to support the latest in high-performance computing, and global operational capabilities. Moreover, with a recent Intel®survey finding that 59% of IT directors are managing more than five remote locations and 19 percent are managing 50-plus, the availability of a self-service management applications such as EdgeOS, which offers visibility into every aspect of data center operations across all edge facilities from a single pane of glass, has never been more mission-critical.

In essence, the objective of the Build-to-Order data center solution is to work with customers to design and deliver the Edge — rapidly, purpose-built and uncompromising in whatever shape it needs to be — and in any city, region, country or continent they may require as their business growth demands.

Phillip Marangella is Chief Marketing Officer at EdgeConneX.