Despite the increasing popularity and convenience of ecommerce, 92% of purchases continue to be made off-line, according to the U.S. Census. That’s putting enormous pressure on retailers to meet new consumer expectations around real-time access to merchandise and order information. In fact, 85.3% of shoppers expect retailers to provide associates with handheld or fixed devices to check inventory and price within a store, a nearly 51% increase over 2017, according to a survey from SOTI.
Industry trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and content distribution networks (CDNs) are driving the need for edge computing. That’s because these solutions often require low latency, high bandwidth, greater reliability, and strong security.
It’s a tall order meant for Micro Data Centers (MDCs) to fulfill. An MDC is a self-contained data center architecture that offers complete IT infrastructure within a stand-alone, secure enclosure.
MDCs offer a number of key advantages beyond today’s server rooms and traditional data centers. First, because they’re distributed closer to bandwidth-intensive content, MDCs can significantly reduce latency and lower costs. Secondly, it’s easy and cost-effective to add data center capacity to them anywhere and anytime it is needed – in both IT room and non-climate-controlled environments. And because MDC IT equipment is pre-installed before shipment in a self-contained and secure enclosure, it can provide physical security and protection of critical business applications.
IT professionals have been honing their data center management expertise for decades. However, migrating these best practices to an edge computing environment can be challenging.
That’s because many workers located in edge environments, such as retail store clerks, lack the necessary data center expertise to ensure edge sites are properly maintained. Complicating matters is the fact that edge data centers can be expensive and complex to run.
Clearly, organizations need a new way forward. Fortunately, cloud-based platforms are designed for the edge, and can simplify remote monitoring and management. Here’s what every business should look for in a solution:
There are plenty of reasons for organizations to embrace edge computing. By moving applications, data, and computing services to the edge of a network, as opposed to a large data center or cloud, organizations can lower operating costs, improve application performance, reduce network traffic, and achieve real-time data analytics.
As more organizations come to know the advantages of edge of network devices, many are eyeing deployments. In fact, according to the IDG 2018 State of the Network, 56% of networking professionals have plans for edge computing in their organizations.
What do embedded sensors, ecommerce sites, social media platforms, and streaming services have in common? They all produce vast volumes of data, much of which travels across the internet. In fact, Cisco estimates global IP traffic will grow to 3.3 zettabytes annually by 2021 – up three times compared to internet traffic in 2017.
For many businesses, these data packets represent treasure troves of actionable information, from customers’ buying preferences to new market trends. But as the volume and velocity of data increases, so too does the inefficiency of transmitting all this information to a cloud or data center for processing.
Human beings are inherently biased. So when companies began using computer algorithms to guide their critical business processes, many people believed the days of discriminatory hiring practices, emotion-fuelled performance reviews and partisan product development were coming to an end.
(Insider Story)Damon Neth hasn't had a full-time, salaried position with a company in nearly 20 years. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
(Insider Story)For today's overworked, time-strapped IT employees, bots are more than simply apps that perform automated tasks, like delivering weather reports or taking pizza orders. Rather, they're a respite from endless help-desk calls, constant software updates and tedious server maintenance jobs.
(Insider Story)Most corporate acquisitions come with a fair share of complexities. But when Accuride acquired a majority stake in Italian truck wheel manufacturer Gianetti Ruote, the Indiana-based company never dreamed of the impact the deal would have on its IT activities. Since Accuride expanded into Europe late last year, its U.S. IT team has had to contend with everything from a stalled cloud strategy and decentralized systems to increases in hardware costs, licensing fees and IT head count.
(Insider Story)Over the past eight years, Michelle Ufford has had five different jobs at Web hosting company GoDaddy, including her current role as engineering manager. There once was a time when Ufford would have been considered hazardous to the workplace — an IT professional with a penchant for tossing aside years of costly training for a technology du jour.
(Insider Story)With its 11 sprawling theme parks, 47 resorts, 13 vacation properties and four luxury cruise liners, The Walt Disney Company isn't exactly known for thinking small. But the multinational entertainment juggernaut is making an exception when it comes to application design.
Disney is one of an increasing number of companies to embrace microservices as an innovative approach to application development. Essentially, microservices involves designing software applications as small packages of independently deployable services. By building these self-contained components, CIOs can get innovative services to market more quickly, easily and affordably.
Like many organizations today, Nationwide must regularly churn out new software applications to stay competitive in a crowded industry.
Because DevOps requires developers' full participation, from an app's design to its deployment, team members actually get to see the value their creations deliver in a live production environment.
(Insider Story)To some, the job of a higher-education CIO might seem downright cushy. After all, unlike their corporate counterparts, these IT leaders don't have to answer to shareholders, cater to business-line leaders or survive acrimonious mergers.
But the reality is, come the end of summer, these unsung heroes of academia face an onslaught of network traffic; malware-ridden personal devices; compute-intensive systems that require 100% uptime; demanding faculty, administrators and researchers; and some of the world's most tech-savvy -- and bandwidth-hogging -- students.
Far from taking it easy while students are out on break, higher-ed CIOs work tirelessly all summer to prepare for every imaginable back-to-school nightmare, from a security breach to a network outage to a Twitterstorm of negative publicity.