As machines increase their autonomy and ability to make decisions, the demand for more data storage and processing capacity becomes necessary to power the Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the millions of devices added to networks.
One of the main challenges in this regard is latency. That is, the time it can take for the network to turn information into actions. The lower the latency, the more responsive the machines are to environmental stimuli.
According to a study held by IDC, The Digitization of the World From Edge to Core, the volume of data and end-user connectivity through technological devices such as the Internet of Things (IoT) will be 175 zettabytes and 21 billion by 2025, respectively – and this scaling is not afraid to maintain its growth throughout the decade.
Latin America, in particular, has shown interest in adopting Edge Computing to improve different processes and operations, from transportation and logistics to industrial plants, utilities, Smart Cities and hospitals.
According to the 2022 Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Survey of 316 executives in six LATAM countries (Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Colombia), 90% of executives in the region’s emerging technologies are extremely or very important to an organization’s future success. A similar proportion (87%) say they have leveraged emerging technologies extremely well or very well over the past two years.
Compared to cloud computing, this is the most widely used emerging technology among Latin American organizations, cited by 65% of respondents. The study concludes that by migrating computing and storage from a centralized data center to a location closer to where data is collected, Edge Computing can provide better speed, reliability and scalability.
Saida Ortiz, Channel Director, Vertiv Latin America
Latin America is undergoing an unprecedented transformation supported by the growth of digital consumption and the fact that the 5G network is starting to be deployed in the region, making Edge Computing necessary to meet the new digital demand.
In this regard, CIOs in the region must manage more devices than ever before while the user experience and their business needs have increased dramatically. All this through an infrastructure that allows them to offer services remotely in a globalized and digitized world.
An important fact is that, according to Vertiv’s Data Center 2025: Closer to the Edge research, more than half (53%) of IT industry professionals believe that their investment will exceed 100%. 20% believe that this investment, ranging from the future role of cloud computing to the issue of renewable energy, will double.
It will occur especially in healthcare, telecommunications, energy distribution and transport. However, a great opportunity presents itself in the education sector as well.
The implementation of Edge undoubtedly brings multiple benefits of connectivity and improved performance compared to how we interact. Therefore, I believe that a CIO must understand that Edge Computing is about distributing information efficiently, quickly and appropriately for the business.
Thus, I believe that there are four points that a CIO should be aware of to take advantage of Edge Computing:
- Understand how information must be distributed in order to deliver it as quickly as possible to customers
- Understand the corporate infrastructure strategy to determine what initiatives or actions to implement regarding customer investment, satisfaction and momentum
- Understand the conceptual elements that have to do with technology to understand what technological transformation means and how to implement it
- Finally, it is necessary to identify what cultural transformations must happen within the organization. For this, it is crucial to drive change management concepts, change the mindset of employees, help them find the organization’s purpose and reflect this in their day-to-day actions
Fábio Henrique, Regional Director, Panduit Central America, South America and the Caribbean
The 5G Internet services are already a fact. They are here not only to change how we communicate but also to invite enterprises to get on the path of Edge Computing, which has been around for a few years but only now are we giving it the respect it deserves.
This infrastructure gives security, speed and capacity to our connections. The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed brought evolutions to many companies on a technological level, not only in devices but also in infrastructure, but we still have a long way to go to keep up with what is to come with issues like the Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and cybersecurity among other implementations to come.
That said, it is important to invite CIOs and IT managers to invest in Edge Computing, which in the end, translates into better customer service and fewer interruptions in your e-commerce, websites, apps and social media due to latency in speed.
Who has not tried to show a video to a potential customer from a cell phone, tablet or iPad to the TV in the meeting room, for it only to stop? Well, this is not exclusively the fault of the Internet speed.
We need to understand that there is a framework that supports the operation of the technology in the companies behind IoT and that being vulnerable to a hacker or a data breach can turn into a reputation crisis. One of the clearest examples is the hacking of government entities in Latin America.
It is important to note that Edge Computing will have steady growth until at least 2025 and that in these three years, communications, new devices and the need to connect everything to a single cloud will advance – not only in work but also in everyday life.
It comes down to more volumes of data and changes that we must keep up with to bring processing power as close as possible to where the data originates and it requires state-of-the-art protocols to work.
We must allow ourselves to be won over by what technology brings us as practicality in our lives.
Raymundo Peixoto, Senior Vice President, Dell Technologies Latin America
In this era of data, it is increasingly difficult to define the line that information draws from where it originates to the different points where it is processed. Immunity is the keyword that drives the competitive world.
Now, organizations can extract value from information and make decisions in real-time, improving and digitizing their processes, creating new lines of business, or simply taking technology where it could not go before.
Virtually, every industry and every market will approach Edge Computing projects in one way or another. According to analysts, 80% of the information generated in 2025 will come from locations outside of what we would call traditional data centers. Gartner estimates that 50% of the infrastructure to be deployed by 2023 will be in Edge environments. According to IDC, the number of applications in Edge will grow by no less than 800% by 2024.
The opportunity is great, and the new reality implies a new model for many organizations that will have to deal with the complexity posed by the new paradigms and architectures, the principal security challenges or the difficulty of maintaining coherence between all the elements of the chain.
It will be vital to pursue simplicity in the consumption of end-to-end solutions, as integrated and packaged platforms simplify deployments and operations. It will also be necessary to ensure the integrity of all elements, their security and availability, which is complex in an environment where there are more and more points and sources of information, as well as to maintain standards and homogenize infrastructure, processes and control plans.
