The in-house data center is dying. Gartner estimates that, by 2025, 8 out of 10 enterprise-owned data centers will be repositioned.
The reasons are clear: maintaining a data center is very expensive and resource heavy. You need a dedicated maintenance team, and finding skilled networking engineers is a tall order these days.
Still, this doesn’t mean that enterprises and small to midsize enterprises (SMEs) no longer need the benefits associated with in-house data centers: continuous access to their data and fast delivery of digital content.
Cloud computing can’t help with these goals for all organizations. This is why hybrid data storage architectures are in greater demand than ever. Cloud applications have their use cases, but colocation services and small data centers located close to your HQ—and, more importantly, close to your clients—give you the speed and agility your clients demand.
Enter edge computing, the puzzle piece that takes your performance to a whole new level.
Why Do You Need Edge Computing?
Latency is a major problem in the era of connected devices. IDC estimates that by 2025, there will be 55.9 billion gadgets generating 79 zettabytes of data. One zettabyte is 1 byte with 21 0’s after it. That one TB (terabyte) storage you have? A zettabyte is 1 billion of those. So…a lot of data.
Currently, there are 14.7 billion Machine to Machine (M2M) connections worldwide. These connections typically demand a latency lower than 20 milliseconds. To meet these demands, you can’t push data through a distant cloud, often located halfway around the globe.
You need these processes to take place locally, at the “edge” of your company’s network. This is edge computing.
Edge computing typically refers to a network of smaller data centers that handle critical data locally. Traditionally, data is processed by transmitting it raw to a central hub or a data center that has to analyze and process it. Both these processes are highly time- and resource-consuming.
Edge computing eliminates this “trip” and processes the data as close to its original location as possible. You can still use cloud computing to handle non-critical data transfers and operations that don’t have stringent latency demands.
But when you need data transfers that are both secure and fast, edge computing is the better alternative.
Aside from reliability and security, edge data centers also come with enhanced network reliability. By using distributed traffic loads, no individual data center gets pushed past its maximum capacity.
This means that, even if an edge data center fails (which rarely happens), you can redistribute the traffic to other data centers that are part of your network. A multi-data-center strategy helps you eliminate the single point of failure risk.
Better yet, if you work with a Tier 3 data center like Heartland Technology, you have a third-party guarantee of spectacular uptimes.
In turn, this means that, even in the case of a natural disaster, you will have access to your data and, depending on the type of disaster, you may be one of the few companies in the Midwest that can still access your data and distribute digital content with no interruptions.
The only question that remains is how you can achieve all that without a massive investment in infrastructure.
The short answer: colocation can save the day.
How Colocation Supports Edge Computing
Picture this: you’re opening a new branch two states away from your HQ. Your in-house data center can’t deliver digital content to the new location at an acceptable speed. Building a new data center takes time and a huge budget. Cloud services are often unreliable, full of hidden costs, and rarely located where you need them (if you even know the location).
Right off the bat, you reduce your costs by avoiding capital expenses like real estate, networking, cooling, maintenance team, and more. Plus, your time-to-market gets shortened to a few days instead of a few months.
With colocation, you can reap all the benefits of edge computing with a minimal investment. Choose a data center near your newest branch (or your HQ) and you’ll be able to deliver digital content quickly and securely.
Heartland Technology’s data center is located in Jesup, Iowa, close to major metros in the heartland, which makes it an ideal option if you want to deliver digital content in the Midwest. If you’re looking for a way to store your data securely, close to your business, and deliver content extra-quickly, we can assist you.
We work with enterprises in Iowa and the Midwest to help them reap the benefits of edge computing without building a costly data center of their own.
Not sure if edge computing or colocation are right for you? We get it! There is no one-size-fits-all in network infrastructure. Request a virtual tour of our facility and a free consultation call with our experts. We’d be happy to help you figure out the right data storage strategy for your business.