Page 22 - EngineerIT September 2022

EDGE COMPUTING

Define and tackle your edge

By Tony Bartlett director Data Centre Compute Solutions at Dell Technologies South Africa

n ambulance speeds down organisations may wish to build remote
the highway to take a critically clinics to serve customers in rural areas.
Aill patient to the hospital. This requires the ability to process
Employees in a crowded retail store data close to the source to provide
help shoppers find just the right gift. clinicians with near real-time patient
An airplane cruises at more than 800 information while also complying with
km per hour and higher than 9000 healthcare guidelines. Edge computing
metres in the sky. A factory produces for healthcare could include analytics
equipment. systems capable of processing data
What do these scenarios have in from patient monitoring systems or
common? You may be thinking, “they solutions that consolidate, and transfer
have nothing in common.” However, insights used for population health
these scenarios each represent an tracking. These solutions deployed
important place where valuable at remote locations with limited IT
data is created and acted upon. This staff need to be compact and simple
data, harnessed the right way, can to deploy and operate, with intrinsic Tony Bartlett
create immediate, essential value and security, advanced automation and
positively impact not only business remote management capabilities.
outcomes, but critical health and safety Manufacturers can deploy sensors helping customers more quickly. With
outcomes, too. We call these places and video cameras to monitor the edge computing in a retail location,
where data can be acted upon near the overall effectiveness of equipment combined with AI, retailers can track
point of creation the “edge.” on the factory floor and the quality what inventory is paid for or ensure
of products coming off the assembly employees are in the part of the store
What is the edge? line. Edge computing takes the various where they are needed most.
The edge is everywhere and sources of data and analyses These edge scenarios are so
can be hard to define. As them to look at general different in design and outcome that
you can see from the Edge computing trends. Data insights lumping them under the common
examples above, scenarios are so different can be used to term “edge” seems like a misnomer.
your edge could in design and outcome that improve output The IT infrastructure footprint,
be just down the lumping them under the common quality and network, input sources, security,
hall from your term “edge” seems like a speed the system data storage, data protection, and
data centre or flying misnomer to make it as architectural considerations all will
around the world on a efficient as possible. A be driven by several factors. These
jumbo jet. Most definitions manufacturer could try to include the characteristics of the data
of edge computing agree that it refers transport their data to a data centre, that must be analysed at the edge,
to moving compute power closer to but it would require massive amounts how fast insights must be derived to
data sources, although the specifics can of time. With an edge strategy, the align to the desired business outcome
vary widely. data is analysed on the factory floor, and what portion of that data or
No matter what you call it or where providing the manufacturer better metadata will need to be sent back to
you put it, the right approach to edge data insights and accuracy so they can a centralised environment.
computing is specific to your industry make faster decisions and improve
and to your organisation. When the efficiencies. How to tackle your edge
right edge computing strategy is put in A retailer may aim to provide better The process of implementing and
place, it can transform your business shopping experiences by tracking how operating edge computing isn’t always
operations and outcomes. products are moved throughout a store straightforward either. Edge initiatives
For example, healthcare to manage inventory and supply, or often have unclear objectives, involve

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