COVID-19 Drives Datacenter Deployment Management and Monitoring at the Edge
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An IDC Infographic
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In Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), COVID-19 has accelerated the need for enterprises to transform their ICT infrastructure, datacenters (DC) and business models. Resiliency is top-of-mind for most executives. Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) is part of the essential strategy as they look to provide high-quality and secure DC infrastructure with high uptime and support digital initiatives.
63%
of enterprises and service providers (SPs) say COVID-19 and the resulting social distancing efforts impacted DC resources
Introduction
The “always on” edge
IT services shifts to the edge
Monitor and manage IT at the edge
Guide to Data Center Essentials
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DCs need to be smarter
Monitoring during pandemic
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48%
said the immediate shift to work-at-home put pressure on resources to support remote locations.
Businesses were challenged to provide consistent application performance with pressure placed on both the core and edge. Greater reliance was placed on SPs to manage DCs and workloads.
COVID-19 highlights the need for smarter DCs and SPs to ensure consistent performance
37%
shifted more workloads to cloud or managed services provider.
27%
relied on colocation provider for remote hands service as personnel are limited in their physical interaction with the infrastructure.
COVID-19 heightened the need for remote monitoring and DC partners
Prediction: 40% of APEJ core enterprise DCs and 60% of major edge IT sites will leverage machine learning (ML)- and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled controls to transform maintenance and improve the efficient use of energy resources by 2023.
Based on what DC operators are experiencing now with COVID-19:
plan to invest more in remote monitoring and control technology for their DCs.
plan to use more infrastructure “as a service” such as SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
plan to increase their use of colocation DCs.
50%
39%
32%
Define your edge
Edge IT is not a single type of device nor a single kind of location. Some enterprises choose to compare the edge IT ecosystem with an inverted multilayer wedding cake ranging from millions/billions of sensors to a central core residing in a few enterprises or cloud DCs. A more useful metaphor is the set of rings. Each ring varies in depth and density
Core
Regional
Metro
Building /Campus
System
Sensor
Don’t forget the core, even at the edge
Treat the edge as a logical extension of your core
Take a multipronged "always on" approach to security
Action
Reasoning
Edge computing cannot be treated as a tier "bolted on" to the firm's main infrastructure (aka the core). It must be functionally and logically treated as an extension of the firm's core. A mismatch can lead to downtime and unavailability. Inadequate resources create a mismatch between expected service levels and the infrastructure.
Edge computing changes the way firms view security — both physical and digital. Data collection devices compromise the integrity of their entire business; security can no longer just be about physical access to their datacenter, network access or securing applications.
Plan to deploy IT services at the edge
Prediction: By 2023, in APEJ, more than 30% of new infrastructure deployed will be in increasingly critical edge locations rather than in corporate DCs, up from less than 10% today.
Infrastructure deployed to edge
Outsource to telco, colocation and SPs
deployed to edge New form factors prefabricated, containerized and micro-DCs
45%
35%
34%
31%
23%
Will deploy IT equipment in close proximity to where its needed
Will use telco-provided resources
Will use prefabricated, containerized DCs
Will rely on a SP to supply DC resources
Will use colocation providers
Will outsource our edge initiatives
Will deploy purpose-built micro-DCs
65%
of APEJ enterprises and SPs are planning to deploy more IT services at the edge locations
Monitor and manage IT service at the edge
Focus of IT investment for many enterprises is shifting from DCs to critical edge locations.
Enterprises will adopt a more systemic approach to edge IT design, deployment, consumption and management.
The race to extend cloud environments and SaaS-like offerings to the edge is the next major battleground.
36%
33%
Will rely on my IT providers management tools
Will use KVM over IP technology
Will use colocation providers remote hands service
Will rely on my colocation providers portal and tools
Will use DCIM tools
Will outsource management
Will hire more people to staff edge sites
Essential Guidance
Before 2020, many edge sites performed a supportive role. They were valuable, but not always mission critical. Now, they are an important part of companies’ operational resilience and future growth plans.
Companies, especially telecommunications providers, need to make sure that edge sites have intelligent functionality for detecting all attempts to access the site or its equipment, providing an uninterruptible power supply and cooling to critical assets, distributing electrical power among equipment, rebooting equipment correctly when needed, providing site leak and moisture detection and monitoring overall equipment health, among other requirements.
Rack-based equipment helps set up sites for efficient servicing and ongoing management at more technology-intensive sites.
Having a “single pane of glass” to monitor all sites remotely from the comfort and safety of their own homes can give businesses today the competitive edge.
Early detection of issues can help staff move proactively to address challenges, such as moving to battery power, sending technicians in for proactive repairs or switching traffic to another site as equipment is replaced.