Creating A Greener Edge

Commissioned: The network edge is on its way to becoming the location where data is created faster than ever before, and where application innovation is arguably at its sharpest as organizations around the world look to acquire meaningful insight from information collected as close to real time as possible to speed up their decision making.

IDC predicts that edge computing will play a pivotal role in the deployment of AI applications for example, which isn’t surprising when you consider the vast volumes of data that AI-enabled workloads need to process. The research company recently highlighted common edge AI use cases which range from multi-access edge computing (MEC), to content delivery networks (CDNs) and virtualized networking functionality which will help drive global spending on edge compute close to $350 billion by 2027. Advanced analytics used by the retail industry to collect data and observe customer behavior are also increasingly deployed at the edge, as well as applications which process the information collected by large numbers of other IoT devices in verticals including manufacturing, utilities and transportation.

Data collected at the edge is also being used to guide their sustainability strategies as businesses try to optimize their energy consumption by measuring things like carbon emissions, water usage and waste generation. That trend has led Dell Technologies to develop its Data Confidence Fabric (DCF), a solution designed to ensure the trust and transparency of edge data along with the accuracy and reliability of the measuring reporting and validation process for carbon tracking use cases among others.

The idea is to help build a sustainable edge, where companies can purchase carbon credits and reduce their carbon footprints in confidence knowing that the data being collected and processed is verified and trustworthy, and that the servers and other devices operating in distributed edge locations are placed optimally to maximize performance and minimize energy needs. Those same edge technologies can help to streamline processes and workflows by using cloud native tools and services – including tools that leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation – to deploy, monitor and maintain the edge infrastructure itself.

You can watch a short video which summarizes Dell Technologies’ approach to helping organizations realise edge data’s full potential using its Data Confidence Fabric platform by clicking here.

Commissioned by Dell Technologies.