JON EAVES
TECH & AI
JON EAVES
TITLE: CEO COMPANY: EDGE CENTRES
Jon is a veteran data centre builder and tireless evangelist for the future of the edge. He founded Edge Centres – the world’ s first off-grid data centre company – in 2021.
that are able to operate in the warm days of Barcelona in the summer, as well as in the cold, humid nights in the winter. We’ re able to distribute the network capacity, which is adding more capacity when there’ s more users.”
Overcoming edge architectural complexity The edge computing ecosystem requires sophisticated architectural thinking that challenges traditional data centre design principles. The operational challenge is complex and multifaceted. Jon Abbott, Technologies Director at Vertiv, explains the management reality:“ One of the primary concerns with edge deployments is the need to maintain and manage a large number of geographically dispersed sites, which can be both time-consuming and resource-intensive.”
Vertiv addresses this through comprehensive IT management platforms that combine infrastructure monitoring software with remote access support, essentially creating data centre management capabilities for distributed environments. Jon adds:“ Monitoring and management systems can help to optimise the utilisation of critical equipment by operating it more efficiently, identifying stranded capacity to reduce energy waste and costs.”
Essentially, edge computing has reached an inflection point where practical applications are finally emerging with real business benefits, but organisations need fundamentally new capabilities to manage distributed infrastructure effectively – skills that bridge traditional data centre operations with field deployment expertise.
The evolving infrastructure landscape The market’ s explosive growth has attracted players from across the technology spectrum, each bringing distinct advantages. Jon Eaves, CEO of Edge Centres, spoke at Data Centre LIVE about the market’ s remarkable diversity:“ I don’ t have one customer that’ s doing the same as another. We’ ve got 700 customers now ordering 700 different things, all related to edge computing.” His observation captures the bespoke nature of edge deployments, where standardised data centre approaches simply don’ t work.
Mark Cooper, VP Edge Strategy at AtlasEdge, who presented at Data Centre LIVE on edge computing myths, positions the infrastructure opportunity:“ Edge is where the next wave of innovation resides and it will ultimately empower a more sustainable and digital society.”
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