The Edge of the Network Supplement

Edge of the Network

Contents

Edge of reality

With

all the ink that's been spilled over the concept, it is perhaps a surprise that

the Edge is still an emerging sector.

Over the last several years, we've monitored the evolution of the concept of Edge computing as it approached reality.

All along the basic pitch remained the same: there are some applications which require low latency, and these applications will need resources placed close to devices and data.

Some early ideas turned out to be bunk, while the Edge proponents adapted their ideas to fit what might have actual market traction.

In the end, it became clear that the Edge relies heavily on telecoms innovation to deliver its basic functions, while the major use for the technology will be machine-tomachine communications, or the Internet of Things.

The reality of 5G

Sadly, delays to the rollout of 5G communications networks have been a stumbling block to the arrival of the Edge.

Regulators such as the US FCC have not auctioned spectrum as quickly as they might have done.

Meanwhile, the airline industry held up deployments on safety grounds - a development which might have frustrated telcos, but should reassure travellers. We don't think a risk of aircraft dropping from the sky would be a price worth paying for speedy mobile networks.

Happily the early hurdles are past, and Edge developers can look forward to easy access to the bandwidth they need (p4).

IoT delivers

That's just as well, because after a very long while, it looks as if the Edge's top application is getting close to a reality which will need all the bandwidth and low latency that 5G can provide.

The internet of Things (IoT) was conceived in the early 1980s - paradoxically before the Internet itself was well into existence. But its early development was held back because there were no local networks ready to support it.

That is no longer the case. Mobile networks can now deliver the speeds and latencies that you need to suport billions of connected devices gathering Terabytes of data.

There's another fact which may cause us to thank the IoT.

When analysts calculate the impact of digital infrastructure, there's a big carbon footprint on the debit side - but those rolling out the services say there's a big benefit.

The so-called "environmental handprint" of the Internet is in its ability to make other processes more efficient, with smart meters, smart cities and more.

All depending on the IoT (p10).

Edge in a box Edge discussions often sweep aside any consideration of Edge's physical manifestation. But that can't go on for ever.

Edge resources have to be installed and maintained, and will make demands on the planet.

Edge providers tend to prioritize containerized delivery, but there could be other ways.

We speak to one contender that wants to make Edge data centers into modular cabinets - but we expect more ideas in future (p13).

The arrival of the 5G Edge

Paul Lipscombe Editor 5G

has been heralded as the future of technology, with its quicker speeds, shorter latency, and greater efficiency.

Sure, there was 3G, and 4G before this, but the telecoms world has made a big noise about 5G and why it promises to be a game-changer.

Since the launch of the next generation connectivity in 2019, markets worldwide have adopted 5G, with most smartphones released in the last two years being 5G-compatible.

5G mobile connections could surpass one billion by the end of this year, according to analyst firm CCS Insight. This number is expected to explode to 4.5 billion by 2026, with China tipped to lead the way.

Another analyst firm Counterpoint Research recently revealed that one tipping point has been reached: in the second quarter of 2022, more 5G smartphones were sold than 4G mobiles.

Relationship with Edge So 5G is already having a big impact on the telecom industry and reaching consumers. At the same time, as a fast data solution located close to data sources and connected directly to devices, it’s obvious that 5G will tie in closely with Edge.

Finnish vendor Nokia says that

‘cloud-native Edge infrastructure will be essential to enable the successful implementation of 5G’, noting that it will support new, advanced use cases powered by network slicing capabilities.

Meanwhile, STL Partners, a telecoms consultancy firm, has been pretty busy about why 5G needs the Edge.

In a report, Tilly Gilbert, principal consultant and Edge practice lead at STL Partners, notes that Edge computing will reduce latency on the networks.

To achieve ultra-low latency, necessary for use cases like autonomous drones or remote telesurgery, the combination of 5G and Edge computing will be necessary, especially in the long term.

Another key benefit of 5G for Edge computing is that it can enable operators to change their backhaul business models, adds the report. It will allow data to be filtered at a local edge site, with whatever data is necessary being stored in the centralized cloud after being analyzed and rationalized (an architecture also referred to as multiaccess Edge, computing or MEC).

5G has been a slow burner? But where are we at with 5G currently? Nokia senior director sales engineering Fayyaz Patwa told DCD’s Stephen Worn that “the complexities around 5G mean it will take time” for 5G to take off fully. He made the comments during a fireside chat, titled ‘Why has the rollout of 5G not been as easy as expected?’

It’s also the case that proponents in the telecoms industry may have raised hopes too high: “Part of the reason we haven’t met expectations with 5G, is because I, myself, and the team included have been beating the drums on 5G since about 2015, and we’ve set high expectations,” said Patwa.

“1G through to 4G was primarily usercentric and data-centric, but 5G is very different, it’s not just about consuming large data and speed, it’s about latency and reliability. It’s a game-changer and to achieve these advanced 5G features, requires the complete architecture to be redesigned. 5G requires a complete redesign.”

His comments were echoed by Viavi Solutions CTO Sameh Yamany, who adds that the industry needs to be patient.

“It’s a great time to be in this era with 5G coming in, but there’s a lot of expectation with 5G and we need to understand that it’s complex technology.

“It’s promised a lot and people were expecting a big change, but we need to look at the reality. There’s been a lot of complications such as spectrum availability, device availability, and how 5G is different from 4G architecturally and 5G requires a lot of different phases to go in.”

Yamany adds that while 5G will deliver greater speeds through its lower latency, and greater bandwidth, this isn’t the thing that people should be excited about.

He sees a bigger picture: 5G will drive the next industrial revolution, he says.

5G promised great things, but it has hit many hurdles on its way to reality. What are the prospects now?

“Here is the reality, 5G will bring speed and that’s what people will love, but that’s not what 5G is about, it’s about the connecting of machine-to-machine (M2M) and driving the next industrial revolution.”

He explains further that 5G will be crucial to the use cases that are expected to explode in the coming years, including private 5G networks, utilities, railways, aviation, Industry 6.0, and the education sector.

Hurdles around 5G

Delving a bit deeper into the topic of 5G, Worn asked the duo about the key hurdles 5G has faced to date.

Both further addressed challenges around the spectrum, notably in the United States with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), plus conflicts over 5G around airports, says Patwa.

“In the race for 5G, the US is behind,” he observes, but to offer a dose of reality, notes the vast size of the country, plus the different types of terrain within the States.

However, he does believe the US has been slightly behind with the rollout, despite US operators spending over $80 billion of spectrum in the C-band.

Patwa thinks that in some areas, the FCC is part of the problem: “The other challenge is the FCC. We feel the FCC has fallen behind in allocating spectrum C-Band which is referred to as beachfront spectrum [ie attractive property] in the race for 5G. It was auctioned about a year ago and the carriers spent billions. And then we ran into this airport and FCC issue, which slowed down the rollout even further.”

He’s referring to the FCC’s skirmish with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) late last year, which concerned spectrum in the C-Band. The FAA warned that 5G transmission within this band might interfere with flight safety.

The fallout from this was enough to delay AT&T and Verizon’s planned rollout of 5G services services in the C-Band, near airports. The FAA noted that its radar altimeters use spectrum in the 4.2GHz to 4.4GHz band, while US operators were anticipated to operate uncomrotably close to that in C-Band n77 spanning 3.3GHz to 4.2GHz.

Subsequently, AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay the full rollout of their 5G

networks until July 2023 in order to allow airlines more time to mitigate fears of interference.

The Americans aren’t the only ones that have had issues with the 5G rollout, with German Open RAN newcomer 1&1 recently delaying its own 5G rollout by six months.

And in the UK, Ericsson’s UK public head of affairs Patricia Dooley told a panel at this year’s Connected Britain event that the nation needs to show the same enthusiasm for 5G, as it does for fiber.

“I’d like to see the same level of enthusiasm for 5G rollout as there is with fiber roll-out,” she said.

“I’d love to see Liz Truss talking about 5G connectivity and fiber connectivity. I think it's really important that there is support there for the operator community, both large and small to deploy this network everywhere and quickly.”

Different architectures

Yamany agrees that the spectrum issues haven’t helped, but adds that 5G represents a complete ‘architectural change’ to those before it.

“5G is bringing a lot of architectural change, and maybe (in the future) 6G will be the continuation of 5G Advanced, focusing on non-terrestrial networks. There have been complicated political and environmental barriers around the world to 5G deployments. 5G is moving from being for consumers to being for machines.

“The blessing of 5G is also its curse. It’s moving to industries, but these industries are moving at their own pace and have their own standards to meet,” says Yamany.

Speaking to DCD, Nokia head of wireless networks Jane Rygaard had a similar opinion, noting that the architectural change to 5G is something that cannot be overlooked, with the move from a centralized network to a network edge that is highly decentralized.

She notes that the industry spent 15 years centralizing all the existing networks but is now looking to decentralize these networks, as they are easier to scale and provide better system reliability and security.

Use cases

As for the use cases, there’s a range of sectors anticipated to grow in the coming years, from remote surgery to things we’re already seeing such as cloud gaming.

Another industry is agriculture, which Dell Technologies UK networking director Lee Larter tells DCD can be pivotal for sustainability.

“There is an abundance of opportunities around 5G and Edge. Some sectors have many options, for example, farming and agriculture. When we use Edge solutions to understand farming better, we can reduce waste, and optimize more sustainable methods.”

Larter adds that 5G will transform many industries once it's fully available, and should be a key focus for the UK government in its approach to ‘Levelling Up’ the UK’s economy.

“Once 5G is available everywhere, it will give us reliable and dedicated connectivity that could help to transform many industries. It would also help to address some of the imbalance that the government is trying to even out with its leveling up agenda.”

Another use case that Dell boasts about is its partnership with the Formula 1 racing team McLaren. The company is able to “leverage its data which is turned into new innovations that help McLaren improve their performance”, says Larter.

“Modernized connectivity is essential for getting the best out of Edge solutions,” adds Larter.

“All these use cases require exceptional levels of information flowing, which requires very low latency without delays.

“Here is the reality. 5G will bring speed and that’s what people will love, but that’s not what 5G is about. It’s about the connecting of machine-to-machine (M2M) and driving the next industrial revolution"

5G is an expanded, low latency, highperformance network that captures all this real-time data for business advantage.”

Metaverse is closer to reality

The Metaverse will also become more of a reality thanks to advancements in 5G and Edge, says Rygaard. Or Metaverses, because it’s plural and won’t just be one, she said.

This virtual world that exists online will be made up of different websites, social media platforms, and games to create cyberspace. It’s something that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is looking to push.

But 5G and the Edge will play a key part in bringing the Metaverse to life, Rygaard says, as virtual reality (VR) and related technology will rely on the lower latency of 5G, which is a critical enabler to bring this virtual futuristic world to life.

Rygaard: “I think the most significant part is how do we from a security and privacy perspective, make sure that we have data available in the right places for the right reasons?

“The more we build physical systems in applications, the more we can talk about the Metaverse going forward. The Edge plays a massive role because we bring applications closer to where they make sense.”

Modernize

Without the Edge, organizations will fall behind, adds Larter, who warns that businesses will need to keep up to date.

He argues it's impossible to ignore, with many smart household products using data. Data is critical for the future, and how we use it will be even more important. Again 5G will be important in this.

“Organizations are going to need Edge to remain competitive. If businesses don’t start modernizing and using these new technologies to their advantage, they will be left behind.

“It will become imperative for them to modernize and make better use of the data they’re generating. But to do this well, 5G is needed.”

On the subject of smart home devices such as Alexa, Larter warns businesses to figure out the best way to get vast amounts of valuable information from these devices while ensuring they’re protected and connected to other data sources.

“When you have more data, you have a more extensive threat surface area, which needs protecting. With Edge, hackers can look for vulnerabilities across various devices rather than within the data center, which means we must create new security solutions.”

The advances in Edge and 5G will bring opportunities for businesses, says Larter. He adds that with the new technology capabilities, will come a new generation of digital skills.

“With 5G and Edge, come new digital skills and opportunities for future generations. Even when leveraging this new technology and collecting valuable datasets, we need human input to structure the information and create the right business outcome.”

Quite what these digital skills turn out to be is not clear yet, but a burgeoning community is working on it.

In any case, there is little doubt that the future could be very exciting if all the promises made for 5G, Edge and related technologies turn into reality for businesses.

"Once 5G is available everywhere, it could help to transform many industries. It may also help to address some of the imbalance that the government is trying to even out with its leveling up agenda"

How Edge Computing Will Power The Metaverse

The next generation of virtual worlds would be simply inconceivable without low latency local computing

Steven Carlini

Vice President of Innovation and Data Center, Energy Management Business Unit, Schneider Electric

B

uilding a virtual world is not going to be easy, fast or cheap, with cost estimates soaring into the trillions. But many megasized companies are diverting ample resources to develop their portion of the metaverse in a bid to become like the Oracle in the Matrix movies.

Much of the media attention revolves around VR headsets, AR glasses, haptic gloves and other wearable hardware required for an immersive virtual reality experience. While this otherworld experience is the end result, layer upon layer of behind-the-scenes technology will form the foundation of the metaverse, including data centers and network infrastructure.

Of course, we have data centers and networks now, but they lack the speed and capacity for an immersive experience of this magnitude. Additionally, due to the almost zero latency requirement, metaverse data centers will need to be in very close proximity to the user, and network speeds must be blazing fast. For users all over the world to interact, a fleet of decentralized local edge data centers will be essential.

Facebook founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized this point in a statement before the opening of the Mobile World Congress in 2022: "Creating a true sense of presence in virtual worlds delivered to smart glasses and VR headsets will require massive advances in connectivity. Bigger than any of the step changes we've seen before."

Host data centers will contain every environment, object and avatar in the metaverse.

A new virtual world

In the metaverse, a new virtual world will be digitally created, replete with all aspects of a physical environment. While a simple space like an office can be modeled, more complex environments, such as a city, are also modeled.

Within the modeled physical space, the number of objects and the number of virtual people (avatars) may be very limited in that small office. However, a city street may have buildings, vehicles, dining areas and many people. Software designers create these modeled environments, objects and avatars, which are stored on servers and hosted in a central data center.

These host data centers will be mega-scale and contain every environment, object and avatar available in the metaverse. Housing all the metaverse data will drive significant power usage.

For example, a planned data center (that has since been put on pause) from Meta

in the Netherlands to host a portion of the metaverse in Europe has an expected energy consumption of 1,380 gigawatt-hours per year. This single data center would consume nearly half as much energy as all the data centers in the Netherlands combined. For a data center of this magnitude to gain approval, it must be built in the most environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

The physics problem

To make the metaverse experience immersive for the participant, the virtual environment and the participant interact in real time to give the sense of actually “being there.” These simulated graphical elements must update rapidly in response to the interactions of the participants.

The roundtrip latency required to support live, single-participant interactions has to be less than 10 milliseconds, which is much faster than today’s latency-sensitive applications, such as video calling and cloud games, that have a roundtrip efficiency of about 100 ms to operate seamlessly.

One main challenge is physics: Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light—300 million meters per second for massless particles. But data isn’t massless. It doesn’t travel in a straight line when going through the fastest transport medium—fiber optic cable. Instead, the real speed is 30 percent to 40 percent slower than the speed of light. For example, at 40 percent slower than light, it takes around 50 ms for data to travel roundtrip from New York to Los Angeles (4,500 kilometers [2,800 miles] times two), and that is five times too slow for a singleparticipant metaverse.

Realistically, the farthest the data center can be from the participant is 900 km (559 miles), and mega data centers won’t be within major city boundaries. A participant who lives in a large city could interact with all of the

environments and avatars hosted in the data center that is just outside the city. This model pushes the entire rendered experience to a user’s console as a video stream with which the user can interact.

This model would also be advantageous for multiparticipant engagements in which participants live in the same city, and their avatars are interacting and evolving in the same digital world. But they all must be located physically near the host data center to deliver the video in 90 to 120 frames per second, ideally with a 2K to 4K definition with less than 10 ms of latency.

A seamless Edge experience.

Delivering this experience reliably to everyone who wants to participate in a single-hosted environment at the same time and with low latency is challenging, but edge computing holds the key to powering the metaverse.

Edge computing is an IT deployment that puts applications and data as close as possible to users—exactly what’s required for a seamless experience, giving users the local computing power necessary while minimizing networkbased latency and network-congestion risk.

Whether you live in Paris, France or Paris, Texas, the environment you wish to be immersed in must be downloaded into a local edge data center in close proximity to where you are.

You would choose a specific environment—a small subset of the entire metaverse. If you wish your avatar to interact with other avatars, the people owning those avatars must also download that environment into their local edge data center, and so on for other avatars. The environments must then be synchronized with each other so the avatars can interact in real time.

Building the metaverse will take a global effort that no single company or industry is capable of sustaining. Instead, the evolution of a reliable internet deployed to billions of people shows how powerful the connectivity industry can be when it works together. Deploying the mesh of local edge data centers globally at the network edge is a key building block. 

This article first appeared on Forbes

Whether you live in Paris, France or Paris, Texas, the environment you wish to be immersed in must be downloaded into a local edge data center in close proximity to where you are

IoT - the Edge savior?

As well as giving mobile operators a new revenue stream, Internet of Things applications could reduce the carbon footprint of the human race

For years we’ve heard from industry experts and business leaders about how the Internet of Things will change our daily lives and how we use technology.

Most people use these ‘things’ as they’re called, without realizing it. They include smart appliances which enable you to turn your lights on or off, or even wearable devices, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers.

And the IoT is proliferating firmly at the heart of the Edge. In simple terms, IoT devices gather sensor data, and then share it by connecting to an IoT gateway or other Edge device, so the data can be sent to the cloud to be analyzed.

It’s not a recent term either.

History

The concept of connecting devices to the Internet goes back further than the Internet itsel. Iin 1982, researchers at Carnegie-Mellon University hooked up a modified Coca-Cola machine to Arpanet, one of the precursors of the Internet using the TCP/IP protocol. The machine could report back on its inventory and the temperature of the cans.

The term “Internet of Things” was coined in a speech by Peter T. Lewis, to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, DC in September 1985.

Lewis said: "The Internet of Things, or IoT, is the integration of people, processes and technology with connectable devices and sensors to enable remote monitoring, status, manipulation and evaluation of trends of such devices."

This was before Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other short-range communications technologies which would eventually make the IoT possible, but the tech industry returned to the idea repeatedly until it started to happen, also using other terms such as M2M - machine to machine.

By 2009, Cisco estimated that there were already more ‘things’ connected to the Internet than people on Earth (then around 6.8 billion).

Paul Lipscombe Editor

Today, it’s estimated that there are around 12.2 billion IoT active endpoints globally, according to figures from IoT Analytics, a firm that specializes in market insights for this sector. Humans, meanwhile, have increased to 7.83 billion.

IoT Analytics predicts the number of devices on the Internet will more than double by 2025 to 27 billion.

Hype

“About a decade ago, IoT became the big new thing and there was a lot of hype,” says IDC IoT industry analyst John Gole.

But have operators fully tapped into the benefits that IoT brings? Gole says that initially, operators this was a struggle, as there was a lack of an ecosystem in place and the IoT market was in his words ‘immature’.

“All the telcos were rushing in and wanted to take advantage of this big new opportunity, but struggled because it was a challenging environment to be in.”

According to Gole, the mobile network providers felt they had an obligation to drive IoT, and if this was to be the case, the market had to start emerging. At that time, in developed economies mobile phone use was reaching saturation, and mobile operators were shifting away from just selling mobile phone calls, and offering data instead as the demands for services being texting and calling grew.

Beyond that, once people are using all the data they can, the next logical expansion would be to start connecting devices.

“IoT is not a single use case or single market. Telcos really enjoyed the mobile phone business where essentially everyone in the world needed a mobile phone in the past, but that’s now switched more towards data as demand for this grows.”

His comments echo a report by the GSMA, which effectively says that operators could do more with IoT.

GSMA figures from 2020 estimate that by 2025 the IoT market will be worth a whopping $900bn to the global economy.

However, the same report revealed that connectivity will be worth $48bn, which is

just five percent of this overall figure. For context, applications, platforms, and services are tipped to account for 67 percent of the overall market.

According to Iris IoT Solutions managing director Stephen Westley, IoT is the next “golden egg for mobile network operators”.

“Mobile networks are looking at the next revenue stream and IoT is that for them, it’s a golden egg.”

UK-based Iris Solutions provides IoT solutions to its customers, including cold storage trackers, fall sensors, and GPS trackers.

The company works with mobile network operator Vodafone, one of the biggest mobile network operators in the world.

Operators pushing IoT

Despite Westley and others suggesting a vast monetary potential of IoT for operators, are these companies doing enough to tap into this market?

One mobile network operator that has been highly vocal about its IoT and Edge advancements is that name again, Vodafone.

The operator claims to have more than 150 million connections on its global IoT network and has been very active in demonstrating its achievements centered around various use cases.

Whereas a lot of mobile network operators tend to focus heavily on their consumer

business and push mobile phone contracts, Vodafone appears to place IoT as a key pillar of its business model.

The UK-based company recently outlined its intentions to develop a new mass-market precise positioning system that can locate IoT devices, machinery, and vehicles.

This scheme will initially be piloted in the UK, Germany, and Spain, and is expected by Vodafone to provide better accuracy than just using only individual global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

Vodafone claims that location accuracy will improve from a few meters to just centimeters, using Topcon's European network, which is comprised of thousands of GNSS reference stations.

“As new technologies like autonomous cars and connected machinery continue to evolve, Vodafone is providing the critical connections to support these new services with greater precision, more safety, and at scale," said Vodafone Business director for platforms and solutions Justin Shields in early September.

Beyond Vodafone, there are plenty of other examples of operators getting stuck into the opportunities afforded by IoT.

Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US recently demonstrated a different type of IoT use case, combining with cleaning technology and equipment company ICE Cobotics to manage its i-Synergy fleet management software.

Using T-Mobkile’s IoT, ICE Cobotics will connect and manage more than 7,500 new and existing cleaning units worldwide. This will enable its customers to make better decisions based on near real-time data, while reducing downtime through remote notifications, with performance analyzed from a remote location.

MEC tech

Vodafone has also launched its own dedicated program for businesses called ‘Edge Innovation Programme 2.0’, where businesses can test new use cases and roll out smart services and products using Multiaccess Edge Computing (MEC) technology.

This form of the Edge, is designed to bring services and processes closer to the user, or “closer to the Edge”, and moves the data away from the centralized cloud and closer to the edge of the network, so a large part of the processing can be done by Edge resources.

MEC is a relatively new segment of the market, but certainly a growing one. So much so, that Gartner predicts that by next year more than 50 percent of enterprisegenerated data will be created and processed outside of the data center or cloud. This figure was less than 10 percent in 2019.

Vodafone has worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch these MEC services delivered with AWS Wavelength for Vodafone business customers in the UK.

Prior to this, the operator did a number of trials with companies across a range of areas, including sports technology, autonomous transport, biometric security, remote virtual reality, and factory automation.

Beyond speed and latency capabilities, Vodafone says that MEC also enhances security, with distributed deployments minimizing the impact of cybersecurity incidents, while cost is reduced, and scale offers increased capacity.

Covid boosted IoT use

The global pandemic has played a big part in IoT adoption, adds Westley, who believes that the need for connectivity and instant data has been driven forward as a result.

“One of the things I think that has opened people's eyes to the power of IoT, and especially since the pandemic, is that we don't need to do as many manual tasks anymore,” he said.

“This is the whole point of IoT, as its purpose is around creating efficiencies, and data for people to give them better insights.”

Some might counter-argue that IoT could reduce job opportunities, with businesses instead focusing on automated systems or even making use of robot workers.

However, Westley shuts down this idea, noting that IoT will instead create other roles.

“The growth of IoT means effectively that job specs are changing, and it means that companies are able to become more efficient. Most businesses at the moment are overstretched and demand-powered, so having IoT, through things such as sensors that can transmit instant data, helps to alleviate some of these problems.”

“IoT isn’t here to replace manpower, it’s here to better analyze data, and diverge focus elsewhere,” he added.

More specifically relating to Edge, Westley adds that IoT needs to work closely with Edge when it comes to processing data.

“For some of the projects we’re doing there’s quite a lot of data processing. So if we can get the data on the Edge so that the device is making those decisions this means you’re only sending out the necessary data, and in turn reducing the data levels over the networks, which is good for us, because it helps with things such as battery life. If we’re saving on battery power, it saves us time and money.

“The more processing we can do on the Edge, the better it is for us, and also other IoT companies. It helps us make informed decisions on the Edge, as opposed to the backhaul.”

Sustainability benefits

The technology industry is involved in a massive effort around sustainability, with the demand for data means that data centers are pushed to grow ever bigger, with a corresponding increase in their environmental footprint.

Some of the largest hyperscalers have outlined their ambitions to be more carbonneutral, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

The arrival of the Edge could bre a sign of much more energy used in tech applications. The Edge will clearly have its own footprint, on top of that of the cloud which is housed in centralized facilities.

However, sustainability could actually become a selling point for IoT. Many IoT applications increase efficiencies elsewhere, and produce a positive benefit, sometimes referred to as a “handprint”.

This is backed up by a report conducted by Ericsson which says that the ICT sector as a whole has the potential to cut carbon emissions by up to 15 percent by 2030. The report reckoned that total global emissions would be 63.5 gigatons per year by 2030, and ICT could shave between 7 and 15 percent off that.

This figure depends on multiple industrial sectors participating, but most of the benefits, in sectors like agriculture and smart buildings, are very clearly based on use of IoT.

Westley agrees that IoT will enable long-term and potentially optimistic targets around cutting carbon emissions, making them a reality for businesses.

As well as cutting emissions, Gole adds that the use of IoT properly will enable businesses to make better decisions.

He says that IoT is providing the data to make these decisions for businesses.

“Almost all use cases that I can think of relating to IoT are about providing data for better visibility so that you can make better decisions. A lot of the time, this will link in with efficiencies, such as energy and asset monitoring.” 

Putting the Edge in a box

Edge data centers aren’t all ISO shipping containers

When you think of data centers you probably think of massive buildings which are very secure and full of cabinets that store a copious amount of data. And often you’d be right to think that.

The Edge is different, of course. Here the resources are installed in smaller units that can be placed out of doors, close to applications and also close to communication links such as cell towers, which they rely on to link up with their mobile devices, and also for backhaul to the cloud.

But in its short lifetime the Edge has spawned its own cliche. Data centers consisting of a few racks installed in a standard-issue ISO shipping container, or else in a customized box the size of an iSO unit.

There’s a reason for that. Edge resources have to be delivered to the sites where they will operate, and those units, are rugged, reliable, and can conveniently be placed on standard articulated trucks for delivery where they will be needed

But that’s not the only way to do things.

Edge like a telco cabinet

UK startup Dataqube is aiming to get the data center market to think differently when deploying Edge data center resources.

Based in Cambridge, UK, Dataqube is looking to take a different approach to deliver capabilities around the Edge, perhaps taking a leaf out of the closely-related telecoms market. Its Edge facilities are literally housed in square shaped cabinets it calls ‘pods’.

Paul Lipscombe Editor

Founded in 2020, the company’s Edge pods are basically flexible roadside cabinets. Dataqube says they are more transportable and relocatable than the traditional containers, claiming they can be up and running within 24 hours.

Dataqube chief operating officer Steve Pass told DCD about the company’s ambition to scale out its offering, bypassing limiting factors adopted by others.

Pass said that the company wanted to avoid the bricks-and-mortar approach that many traditional data center companies have used.

“Fundamentally Dataqube is a flexible, scalable data center solution,” he said, noting that Dataqube can build pods to any particular size or shape.

“Our pods are not built to a particular fixed size, or to a certain dimension and this means we can deploy Edge data centers of all sizes. We want to try and challenge the traditional ways of building data centers."

Different types

Essentially, Dataqube’s boxes are rugged cabinets with a square footprint big enough to hold a rack. They can be linked together in any orientation.

The cabinets themselves provide an IP rated outer structure to protect all internal

equipment, and can be installed indoors or outdoors.

Some cabinets hold specialized kit including the power distribution units and switchgear, while another will hold an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which Dataqube says can deliver reliability equivalent to Tier 4, if required, Generators can also be added.

Each cabinet has space on top, for a cooling system, and all have built-in fire suppression and detection, with a selfactivating fire extinguishing system

There’s also built in 24×7 security monitoring and intruder detection using CCTV installed on the exterior of each pod.

The IT rack cabinets can support up to 30kW IT load, which can be extended to 100kW if customers take up the option of liquid cooling.

Dataqube’s Pass says the company can fit its data centers into existing structures infrastructure, rather than having to alter them.

“We have the ability to build however we want to, whether this is in straight lines or in different shapes or sizes. We can even build our data centers around existing infrastructure if this is necessary.”

Cost is a key consideration too when building out data centers, and Pass says that building out these cubes is up to 50 percent cheaper than in more traditional ways. Deploying the pods is also quicker than the more traditional data centers too, he adds.

The pods can extend to quite large

systems, says Pass, who notes that the largest installation so far was 60 megawatts, although some of Dataqube’s smaller pods can be between 7 to 10 kilowatts.

Investment

The company is currently led by CEO Claude Sassoulas, who was appointed in August 2022.

Sassoulas replaced Dataqube founder David Keegan in the role, and most recently spent four years as COO at InterCloud, a Paris-based European software-defined cloud interconnect provider.

Sassoulas describes Dataqube as “disruptive”. It has raised significant investment, most recently €26 million ($29m) in Series A funding from French investment management company Rgreen Invest in December of 2021.

It's Rgreen’s first venture into the data center market, with the firm intent on investing in sustainability projects.

When the investment from Rgreen was confirmed, then-CEO Keegan said: “Our goal has always been to develop a sustainable solution to support the data center industry in its drive to reduce CO2 targets in line with CSR policies.”

Sustainability

Data center energy demands are high on tech companies’ agenda, and the arrival of the Edge will add yet more to the power budget.

Centralized data centers have been working hard to reduce their environmental footprint, choosing locations like Sweden, where cooling is available for free, consolidating technologies into large facilities to get the economies of scale, and signing large power supply deals that give them access to renewable energy source.s

All these options are not available - or may be problematic - at the Edge. But despite this, Pass says Dataqube has been able to adopt certain techniques that turn the Edge into an environmental advantage.

One obvious difference is the size of the cabinets. Conventional containers are designed to be accessed and managed by humans who will climb inside to work on the racks.

Dataqube’s smaller modules are accessed from outside. This means they embody less raw material, but the elimination of “human space” inside the cabinet is itself a benefit, says Pass.

Without human space, he says, operators can reduce power consumption because there’s no need for lighting, or air conditioning for engineers.

He’s also proud of the cooling options. The Dataqube cabinets use outside air cooling for the air-cooled option (up to 30kW), and liquid cooling for the more dense options from 30kW to 100kW.

Liquid cooling

Earlier in 2022 Dataqube invested in cooling specialist Liquidcool, and gained exclusive market rights to its products.

LiquidCool first spoke to DCD back in 2014, and launched a liquid-cooled Edge appliance in 2017, in which each blade is separately sealed in a module in which coolant circulates.

Dataqube has access to a new Edge module, developed form LiquidCool’s earlier technology. MiniNode is a sealed box for Edge applications like cell towers, and other harsh environments. The liquid-cooled system inside uses eco-friendly dielectric fluids.

The company also provides ZPserver ("Zero Pressure Server") units - modular sealed units which fit into existing server racks and have a claimed partial PUE 1.03.

Liquidcool claims that: "One liquid-cooled rack can replace four air-cooled racks within a data center, saving energy and space and eliminating capital and maintenance costs. No more complex air handling systems, ductwork, filters, or CRAC units."

Pass says liquid cooling is the most

efficient for reducing power consumption: “The primary thing for us is to significantly reduce the power we use. We use liquid cooling instead of air cooling, as it is better for reducing power consumption.”

Last year the average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) for the data center industry was 1.57 PUE. Pass claims that with Dataqube’s liquid cooling, this number can be reduced to as little as 1.05 PUE.

Maintenance

Servicing Edge resources can be a minefield. Centralized data centers locate all the equipment close together in one building, and can afford on-site tech support.

By contrast, Edge applications installed across small distributed facilities like Dataqubes, cannot rely on on-the-premises support. Any tech intervention will require an engineer to visit or. At the very least, a set of equipment and instructions must be delivered to local less-technical staff.

Dataqube customers have a choice, says Pass. They can either by repairs and maintenance form Dataqube as additional aftersales, or else opto to do it themselves.

“We’re very open with our customers about the option of servicing these pods,” said Pass. “It's a service that many of our customers take because they find this easier. It’s especially easier for customers that have multiple deployments across different locations.”

For those that do take out the option of having their Dataqube serviced, Pass says the company is on hand to watch the systems’ performance.

“We are able to closely monitor these data centers 24/7 and offer full mechanical or electrical support maintenance too. So if something does happen, even if there’s just a warning that something isn’t right, we’re able to quickly react to it.

“Because we’re trying to be as sustainable as possible we want to build data cubes as closely located to our partners as possible. But we also want to ensure that we have support networks nearby too. To do this, we work with local partners and suppliers to offer our partners the correct level of support, no matter what country they are in.”

Mind the doors

There is an additional issue to consider with servicing Edge equipment, which data center authority ASHRAE (the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers) has flagged up in recent years,

Traditional data centers are buildings with doors, so a visiting engineer can enter and open a cabinet without exposing it to any extreme conditions. Even containerized units offer this protection to their equipment.

But small cabinets like Dataqube’s open directly to the air, and are maintained by an engineer standing outside. Opening the box can expose equipment outside to unexpected temperature of humidity levels, or allow dust and dirt into the cabinet,

“Many items that are non-issues for brick and mortar data centers are real issues for small edge data centers,” ASHRAE technical committee member Jon Fitch told DCD in 2020.

Telecoms networks are already deployed in cabinets, but they use hardened equipment, built to specifications like NEBS, defined by AT&T in the 1970s.

Anyone putting IT equipment in a roadside cabinet will have to ensure that the whole package is able to withstand having its doors opened in a range of conditions, and that engineers operating on the systems will take due precautions beyond those required in a building or a container,

Security is something that Pass is keen to address too, noting thathe Dataqube is made out of stainless steel, with no exterior door handles that can be opened up, and no card readers that can be accessed. Naturally, CCTV adds an additional layer of protection.

Opportunities

In March of this year, Dataqube announced that it will supply 20 of its pods to Australian firm Edge Centers. The company is also manufacturing pods to be deployed across Europe, America, and Africa, says Pass.

However, he didn’t specify any targets or any figure on how many have been deployed so far but added that Dataqube will be active with these deployments in the next six to 12 months.

“Our biggest opportunity is to provide a flexible, scalable, and sustainable offering to the Edge market,” said Pass.

He adds that a challenge for the industry as a whole has been adapting to change, using the example that the way data centers have been built now is not much different from what it was about 30 years ago, even though the world and the data we consume have significantly grown.

If the industry can come together and work on reducing consumption power, Pass is confident that the data center industry will become more sustainable.