CLOUD & EDGE
which is epic – we ’ re looking at the edge ,” said Jon Eaves , the Founder and CEO of Edge Centres .
Australia is a prime example of the need for micro edge data centres . A huge proportion of the country ’ s population is focused around coastal cities . But , “ all the Netflix in Australia is consumed from Sydney ,” Eaves explains . “ That means that , if you ' re in Western Australia - which is six hours by plane away from Sydney - your video is still streaming out of Sydney .”
As a result , in Speedtest ’ s 2019 global internet index rankings , Australian internet ranked 68th in the world – four places behind Kazakhstan .
This is precisely what makes regional edge infrastructure so vital . “ As these edge facilities start coming online , the service providers that currently can ' t get a foothold in regional areas – because the facilities themselves don ' t exist – are going to be able to expand ,” says Eaves .
Contexts such as these – which are being driven further by the burgeoning demand for 5G and the IoT – are fuelling what Eaves terms the “ edge wave ”.
Edge Centres is an Australian based Edge Data Centre provider , which launched in 2021 . The company currently has eight locations across the east coast of Australia .
The future for the edge , and its place in the smart cities of the future Beyond simply making Netflix streaming faster ( albeit an honourable mission ), edge growth will unlock opportunities for almost every industry sector .
As a result , big things are being anticipated for data centres at the edge .
According to Connor , this growth can be divided into two subcategories . There will be edge devices encompassing ( IoT-enabled ) sensors and handheld devices , which will be able to generate , process and act upon data locally . Then there will be edge infrastructure – the networks ( including 5G ) and data centre infrastructure that act to support ‘ local ’ applications .
“ Industry 4.0 promises to revolutionise the manufacturing industry , with more and more
110 August 2022