“Digital transformation is a top priority for C-level executives as organizations look to automate operations, deliver rich customer experiences, and launch service-oriented business models. Open ecosystems that can accelerate new technology and product innovation are proving to be the preferred approach to achieving success.”
So wrote Dave McCarthy, a Vice President within IDC‘s worldwide infrastructure practice, where he leads a team of analysts covering shared (public) cloud, dedicated (private) cloud, and edge strategies, in a white paper published earlier this year, commissioned by ZEDEDA, a leader in orchestration for the distributed edge.
ZEDEDA firmly believes in the importance of open, vendor-neutral edge infrastructure to facilitate interoperability and choice, starting as close to the source of data generation in the physical world and based in part on the open-source EVE-OS foundation from the Linux Foundation’s LF Edge community.
Benefitting both technology suppliers and IT decision-makers, Dave’s insights delve into how hybrid cloud platforms provide the foundation for next-generation workloads, enabling organizations to innovate faster, automate operations, and achieve digital resiliency.
Digital Transformation (DX) is at the center of nearly every large enterprise’s strategy, especially in the industrial sector, which many see as behind the innovation curve, but with the greatest potential for generating massive cost savings and improved business outcomes (more yield, more profit, and most importantly, perhaps, improved safety).
Based on IDC’s DX research, nearly 70% of new data is generated at the edge via intelligent endpoints.
73% of organizations view edge solutions focused on the impact of digital technology and look across the value as a strategic investment; that research also revealed, forecasting by 2024, there will be an 800% increase in the supply chain and customer experience applications at the edge.
“Transformation is driving organizations to rethink their technology strategy, are providing the flexibility and security and that includes the incorporation of innovation accelerators such as the needed to increase the pace of innovation at the edge and create new business Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), 5G networks, and edge opportunities. Computing,” the white paper says in the introduction and requires a new product mindset that is based on the principles of continuous innovation.
“Edge is at the intersection of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) where the digital and physical worlds converge,” McCarthy said, and “After a decade of data center consolidation and migration to public cloud infrastructure, it is an acknowledgment that limitations exist in centralized computing architectures. There are several situations that require moving intelligence to where data resides rather than the other way around. ”
The most common motivator for edge solutions is attributed to latency, which represents a delay between an application request and the resulting response. “For real-time applications, milliseconds matter,” McCarthy explained, and “In an OT environment, excessive and especially unpredictable latency could mean an increase in defect rates or a safety issue. While 5G networks promise to dramatically reduce network latency, they address only one side of the equation. Fast response times between an endpoint and the network do not matter if the server running a critical application is a thousand miles away.”
“The key to edge success is investing in open-source technologies that promote open ecosystems that can accelerate innovation and allow organizations to capitalize on the network effect,” the white paper concludes. “Open, trusted infrastructure maximizes the potential to amplify the value of data and implement new business models, much like the internet has done for countless enterprises.”
Download the free white paper here to learn more.
