CIO Strategic Guidance: Hyperconvergence at the Edge

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2Q 2018 | IN-5073

Enterprises started implementing hyperconverged infrastructure in data centers half a decade ago. Hyperconverged infrastructure combines software-defined storage (SDS) and networking with virtualized computing over a hypervisor all on commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. SDS empowers end users to manage data independent of underlying hardware. A hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). VMs execute multiple operating systems on the same physical server or machine. Hypervisor software presents a single administrative platform to run the VMs. Therefore, hyperconverged infrastructure presents a single administrative platform to manage data from multiple VMs on COTS servers.

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Optimized Computing from the Data Center to the Edge

NEWS


Enterprises started implementing hyperconverged infrastructure in data centers half a decade ago. Hyperconverged infrastructure combines software-defined storage (SDS) and networking with virtualized computing over a hypervisor all on commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. SDS empowers end users to manage data independent of underlying hardware. A hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM) creates and runs virtual machines (VMs). VMs execute multiple operating systems on the same physical server or machine. Hypervisor software presents a single administrative platform to run the VMs. Therefore, hyperconverged infrastructure presents a single administrative platform to manage data from multiple VMs on COTS servers.

Hyperconvergence at the edge essentially accomplishes this on an edge gateway or server instead of back in the data center. Hyperconvergence at the edge helps solve operational business problems in manufacturing, transportation, and retail by converting operational technology (OT) protocols, integrating siloed applications on ruggedized hardware, integrating managed data flows into a single architecture, and implementing analytics with minimal bandwidth costs and low latency.

Edge Computing Grows in Importance

IMPACT


As end users of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions in various verticals collect more data and more types of data in changing environments, they need more edge computing and edge analytics. With hyperconverged edge gateways, the end users can capture and process data from multiple, previously siloed applications in multiple protocols; learn from live streams of data coming off devices; reduce bandwidth; and lower response time. Consolidated computing in the cloud can find more long-term trends and coordinate operations across departments and geographies, but edge computing helps solve problems at the source, in near real time.

CIOs need to integrate and manage data from end-to-end and data source to data center. To do that, they need to control that data at the edge. No single vendor has a true end-to-end solution, but hyperconvergence at the edge can help simplify the IIoT ecosystem and stakeholder puzzle.

Recommendations for CIOs

RECOMMENDATIONS


To optimize computing at the edge, ABI Research believes that CIOs in the manufacturing, transportation, and retail sectors should consider the following recommendations:

  • Solve problems at the edge with partners that understand IT, OT, gateways, and VMs: Implementing hyperconverged architecture at the edge requires working with partners that understand both the IT and OT worlds. Companies that know the OT side include Eurotech, Siemens, and PTC’s Kepware. Companies that specialize in IT include VMware, Dell EMC, HPE, FogHorn Systems, and SAP.
  • Create cross-functional task forces internally: Likewise, your own IT team needs to understand your own company’s OT problems. IIoT solutions take joint project planning across IT and OT to succeed.
  • Stay as open as possible to new solutions: By integrating VMs under a hypervisor at the edge, CIOs do not limit themselves to any single type of solution in their gateways but instead can integrate almost any new type of platform, edge analytics, and processing.
  • Manage from the cloud: No matter how many problems edge analytics solve, CIOs still need to manage the overall operation from the cloud. Cloud computing provides the only true solutions for finding long-term trends and strategic planning and management.

Following this strategic guidance should help CIOs better prepare for the future opportunities that transformative technologies will bring.

For more insights and perspectives on manufacturing and the Industrial Internet, please check out ABI Research’s Smart Manufacturing service.

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