Data Centre Magazine April 2021 | Page 65

Marc Garner , VP of Schneider Electric ’ s Secure Power Division , talks ruggedized micro data centres and the role they have to play at the network ’ s edge
NETWORKING

Marc Garner , VP of Schneider Electric ’ s Secure Power Division , talks ruggedized micro data centres and the role they have to play at the network ’ s edge

WRITTEN BY : HARRY MENEAR

The ways in which data is generated , and the role that it plays , are changing . As artificial intelligence ( AI ), 5G and the rapidly-expanding internet of things ( IoT ) unlock new applications , they also place greater demand on the digital infrastructure that supports them to manage exponentially larger datasets with lower latency than ever before .

Advancements like self-driving cars , fleets of drones , and autonomous industrial robots will need to be in constant , seamless , nearinstantaneous contact with the networks that allow them to function effectively and safely . To support these kinds of applications , computing and data storage is increasingly being moved from the network ’ s core ( think : AWS hyperscale facility with more than 50MW of capacity ) to the edge ( think : well , we ’ ll get to that in a moment ).
While the data centre industry is undeniably marching with speed and purpose towards an era of massive , hyperscale campuses , these huge centralised facilities simply can ’ t handle the enormous groundswell in demand for ultra low latency , ultra localised data centre infrastructure that supports the growing need for data centre infrastructure at the edge .
A centralised hyperscale data centre used to host public cloud services , for example , is a hermetically sealed , perfectly controlled environment . Data centre operators control
datacentremagazine . com 65