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Edge Computing Trends to Expect in the Post-Covid World

by | Jan 14, 2022 | Edge Computing

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Over the last years, IT professionals have placed a larger focus on edge computing for businesses as they have increasingly turned to remote work in response to Covid-19. Because of this shift, network engineers are developing new use cases for edge computing in some unforeseen fields.

In this article, we discuss six trends you should keep an eye on, including:

  1. Edge computing in agriculture
  2. 5G edge computing
  3. Fog computing
  4. Kubernetes
  5. Retail
  6. SASE and SSE

Edge computing in agriculture

The success of the Internet of Things (IoT) in domestic and industrial spheres with concepts like the smart home or inventory tracking has opened the door for more extensive applications.

Recently, engineers have applied IoT to the agricultural sector to improve crop production and fight food scarcity. The applications here include;

  • Tracking animals
  • Optimizing fertilizer use
  • Analyzing soil quality
  • Monitoring crop growth and water usage.

Utilizing sensors and actuators to trigger generalized devices automates many routine tasks on the farm, allowing farmers more efficient use of their land. Similarly, it provides them with needed analytics they can use to plan further development on land that they seek to expand their operation.

5G edge computing

Although we tend to think of the transition to 5G in terms of consumer benefits and cell phones, the improved speeds of 5G offer new opportunities for the IT sector. There is still plenty of time and effort required before this comes to fruition; implementing 5G over the last year has brought with it several challenges:

  • Varying speeds depend on the provider
  • Lack of infrastructure such as 5G nodes
  • The need for technology with 5G integration

Like any other technology, edge computing is restricted by the physical limitations of what hardware and software can do. With the improved speed that 5G offers compared to 4G, edge computing will be opened up to new use cases requiring the ability to analyze large amounts of data in near real-time. For example, self-driving cars require the ability to quickly process information gathered by external sensors to navigate traffic successfully.

The size of the global edge computing market will explode to $61.14 billion by 2028—a compound annual growth rate of 38.4%—according to Grand View Research. “It’s quite evident that 5G and its probable benefits have the potential to create a powerful network based on the technology that is expected to reorganize the industry architecture,” the company reports.

Fog computing

Although the movement to the cloud has long been touted as the ultimate data storage solution, network engineers have noted that the massive amount of data being transferred online has proven to be too much even for the cloud. This veritable traffic jam of information has led to slower connections for remote users. Enter fog computing; by storing data in decentralized locations, fog computing provides a computing layer between the cloud and the network edge.

Fog computing shortens the distance between points and makes data more secure. As remote work becomes more of a reality for a growing number of workers, we expect fog computing to become more of a mainstay in how we use technology daily. The benefits of fog computing are larger than just individual; however, businesses can use fog computing technology to monitor everyday functions like temperature, waste disposal, and power consumption.

Kubernetes

One of the major challenges to effective edge computing is getting the software to run reliably when moving it from one environment to another. Kubernetes makes it possible to run data-heavy applications from the network edge, reducing the strain on the cloud infrastructure. It also brings these capabilities as close as possible to the end-user. These systems:

  • Reduce latency
  • Balance global load balancing
  • Reduce bandwidth

Kubernetes also focuses on scalability; the pods and nodes used for small businesses, for example, may similarly be smaller and more manageable than those used for large enterprises. This brings large workloads closer to the user themselves and ensures that they have solutions properly sized for their needs.

Retail

The retail sector has seen a great deal of growth in online sales; however, most retail sales still happen in stores. This multi-billion-dollar industry has been progressively turning to edge computing in recent years to assist in both. The need for edge computing in retail is primarily motivated by the growing need to harness the explosion of data in their stores. By bringing their computing to individual stores, retailers gain the ability to:

  • Analyze sales data for more effective promotions and discounts
  • Constructively manage inventory
  • Increase store security with alert notifications triggered by sensor devices

Real-time updates offer retailers a greater deal of maneuverability in the post-covid era, alerting them to potential problems before they grow to an unmanageable state. This results in heightened employee productivity, improved customer experience, and reduced costs.

SASE and SSE

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), as well as its corollary Security Service Edge (SSE), have become the mainstay of edge computing during the pandemic due to the sudden intense need for remote working capabilities. These edge computing solutions bring the network closer to the user, removing the strain from overworked data centers having to process large amounts of data.

SASE is the architecture that companies want to achieve. SSE is an essential component of this, as well as Access. SSE + A = SASE. Without SASE, traffic has to be backhauled through the data center so the main firewall can secure it, but this causes slowdowns and poor user experiences. With SASE, traffic can stay connected and secured via the cloud without passing through the data center.

Edge Computing Trends Connect The World

New edge computing trends focusing on agriculture, remote work, or data storage offer more avenues and applications for existing technology. These new technologies ensure that, when the post-covid era comes, technology will emerge ready to take on whatever challenges it brings.

We at ZPE have been working with large and small enterprises for years, covering edge computing trends tailored to clients of every size. Our products are designed to be scalable for any needs, meaning that they can grow with you every step of the way.

Let’s have a conversation.

Reach out to us today for a consultation to see what ZPE can do for you.

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Simplifying Network Edge Orchestration With a Single Platform

by | Jan 7, 2022 | Network Edge Orchestration

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One of the most prominent edge computing challenges any organization may face is deploying and managing their critical remote edge infrastructure. For instance, the lack of network edge orchestration can lead your organization to have gaps in the automation pipeline, which means more manual work.

In addition, you may end up managing and securing many different boxes from many vendors, increasing your operational complexity, risk of human error, and attack surfaces. Conversely, if you stick with one vendor’s ecosystem, that could hamper your automation and orchestration efforts. Overcoming these challenges requires a simplified and unified network edge orchestration platform.

Solving the challenge of deploying and managing critical remote edge infrastructure

Automation and orchestration are key to the NetDevOps transformation process, and that should include both your on-premises infrastructure and your edge network. Ideally, your network orchestration platform will extend to your entire enterprise network, including remote branches, data centers, and clouds. One way a network edge orchestration solution addresses the challenge of deploying and managing critical edge infrastructure is by automating many configuration and management tasks. This helps reduce human error and speed up deployments.

However, your remote edge infrastructure may consist of many different appliances from many different vendors. With a highly complex remote infrastructure, your attack surfaces increase and your automation capabilities decrease. But, replacing your edge infrastructure with vendor-homogenous devices is costly, plus you’ll be locked into a single ecosystem, orchestration solution, and feature roadmap that may not align with your business goals. That’s why you should look for a network edge orchestration platform that uses an open architecture for complete vendor-neutral control and automation.

Some other critical components of an ideal network edge orchestration solution include:

  • Monitoring and environmental sensors to warn you of issues with your remote infrastructure
  • Out-of-band (OOB) management to remotely manage your infrastructure
  • A solution that replaces many branch appliances with a single box and aloud dashboard for 360-degree management

Luckily, there’s a way to get all this functionality and more in a single platform with ZPE Systems.

How ZPE simplifies network edge orchestration with a single platform

ZPE Systems simplifies network edge orchestration by consolidating your infrastructure devices and management into a complete and unified solution. ZPE’s Linux-based Nodegrid OS helps you avoid vendor lock-in and allows you to have orchestration freedom, while the ZPE Cloud is the vehicle that accommodates it. You can orchestrate across devices and environments, and use ZPE Cloud to store scripts and gain access to your orchestration chain.

ZPE Cloud

ZPE Cloud gives you complete control over your edge infrastructure from anywhere in the world via a single web-based application. With ZPE Cloud, you can run the configuration, access, and management of your distributed IT environments without needing to deploy technicians on-site. Plus, if you need additional functionality, you can add ZPE Cloud Apps, which include:

Nodegrid Data Lake. Nodegrid Data Lake gives you visibility into a valuable machine, application, and user experience data. You can then analyze and visualize this data and put it to work for your enterprise, giving you opportunities to optimize processes and detect early warning signs of issues or attacks.

SD-WAN. ZPE Cloud’s SD-WAN app gives you powerful edge network functionality, including:

  • Automatic VPN creation to provide secure tunnels to your hub, SSE (Security Service Edge), or SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) provider
  • Automatic link quality detection for visibility into connections
  • Automatic path switching to optimize traffic flows and network performance

Palo Alto Prisma Access. ZPE Cloud’s Palo Alto Prisma Access app allows you to manage your Prisma Access solutions via ZPE Cloud, further consolidating your network edge orchestration. This empowers you to protect your edge users with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), eliminating the need to backhaul that traffic and affect the performance of your enterprise network.

Learn more about these network edge orchestration features and the other ZPE Cloud Apps.

Nodegrid Services Routers (NSR)

The Nodegrid family of services routers, or NSR, gives you robust routing and switching capabilities out of the box while also providing you with a single, vendor-neutral point of access to all your critical edge infrastructure. NSRs support OOB management, guest OS and network functions virtualization (NFV), and Docker/Kubernetes.

Nodegrid Hive SR. The Nodegrid Hive SR is ZPE’s newest and most innovative network edge router. The Hive SR is a fully-integrated, 5-in-1 branch gateway with an open architecture for true vendor neutrality. You get SD-WAN, security, compute, NetDevOps, and OOB in one box, making it easier to consolidate and simplify your network edge.

Learn more about the exciting new Nodegrid Hive SR, or check out ZPE’s other edge router models:

  • Nodegrid Bold SR: a fully-loaded WiFi, and cellular branch services router
  • Nodegrid Gate SR: a small but powerful edge router with PoE, and support for legacy systems
  • Nodegrid Net SR: a highly modular network edge services router for a completely customized deployment

Environmental Monitoring

ZPE’s environmental monitoring sensors monitor for airflow, smoke, unsecured cabinet doors, and more. These sensors integrate seamlessly with the Nodegrid ecosystem of hardware, VMs, and cloud management, giving you a complete virtual presence in your remote data centers without needing to be there physically.

Zero Touch Provisioning

Zero touch provisioning (ZTP) uses automatic provisioning to configure edge networking devices without human intervention. Without ZTP, you have two options for configuring remote edge appliances:

  • You configure and stage the appliances at HQ and ship them to your remote data centers. This creates a huge security risk—what if your package is intercepted or delivered to the wrong address? A malicious actor could potentially spin up your device and access your critical remote infrastructure.
  • Your engineers travel to the remote data center to stand up your new equipment, or you pay for managed services from on-site data center technicians. In either case, your network edge deployments are expensive and time-consuming.

ZPE Systems provides true zero touch provisioning to streamline critical remote infrastructure deployments. As soon as a Nodegrid device comes online, it uses DHCP to connect to a TFTP server and download and install the necessary configuration files. That means you can remotely deploy an entire branch without ever leaving your office.

Zero Trust Security Framework Foundation

Security experts, including analysts at Gartner, recommend that enterprises move toward the zero trust security model. ZPE provides the framework with which to build a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) infrastructure so you can secure and harden your entire edge architecture from the bottom up. The Zero Trust Security Framework Foundation ensures that hackers can’t take advantage of your network edge orchestration and automation by integrating with ZTNA authentication platforms like Okta that provide single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and other zero trust identity and access management (IAM) functionality.

Combining ZPE Cloud with Cloud Apps, Nodegrid Services Routers, environmental monitoring sensors, zero touch provisioning, and zero trust network access will give you a complete network edge orchestration solution.

Simplify your network edge orchestration and more with ZPE Systems

No matter how uniquely challenging your network edge architecture may be, ZPE’s network edge platform can help. For example, you can deploy Nodegrid NSRs with ZTP and OOB to an oil rig with only LTE and satellite internet access, which will then give you complete control over an infrastructure that’s entirely offshore. Or, you can use our consolidated solutions to create a branch-in-a-box from scratch with SD-WAN, edge compute, SASE on-ramp and ship it anywhere in the world.

ZPE Systems’ vendor-neutral, single-platform network edge orchestration solutions are highly customizable to fit every use case.

Learn more about simplifying your network edge orchestration with a single platform.

Contact ZPE Systems today or request a free demo.

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How to Reduce Data Center Carbon Footprints

by | Jan 7, 2022 | Data Center Management

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Data centers face a uniquely modern challenge when it comes to climate. Government estimates place data center energy consumption at 10 to 50 times the energy per floor space of a normal commercial building. These estimates are further complicated by tenuous statistics on water consumption, which is not universally reported. As the use of information technology grows, businesses can adopt practices aimed at reducing data center carbon footprints.

This article identifies three major areas of improvement to reduce data center carbon footprints.

  • Remote Management & Truck Rolls
  • Data Center Consolidation Strategies
  • DCIM Management Tools

Remote management cuts down on truck rolls


“Truck rolls” refers to the traditional model of troubleshooting problems at the data center, in which a technician would have to be physically there to examine the issue. This process is estimated to cost hundreds of dollars per visit and wreaks a devastating environmental impact to maintain—for example, instances where the technician would need to be flown out to get to the place. In many of these cases, that impact is made for no reason, as “no-fault found” (NFF) visits account for a staggering number of visits to centers.

For this reason, remote management capabilities are one of the primary keys to reducing data center carbon footprints. Instead of having to fly in a technician, network engineers can access the data center software from any remote location. By allowing network engineers to regulate data center issues remotely, they reduce the:

  • Need to have technicians physically brought into the center
  • Financial, time-consuming, and environmental burden 
  • Number of NFF visits since engineers can remotely check for these problems

Remote management tools have become remarkably popular due to the manageable ground they provide to data centers looking to mitigate the avoidable environmental costs of daily operations.

Data Center Infrastructure Consolidation


Bringing the data center online presents numerous questions—what is the best way to do it? What are the risks? What hardware or software assets does my data center have that might affect the consolidation process?

Network engineers need to overcome these challenges, but the good news is they have several options regarding data center consolidation. The first is straightforward cloud migrations (i.e., moving all the data in the center online, where it can be accessed and deployed more rapidly). This method offers the most direct path to reducing data center carbon footprints. However, the process of doing so is long (six months to two years) and potentially jeopardizes data being transferred if no fail-safes are being utilized. 

For this reason, data centers are taking a more moderate approach to the cloud. There are a few basic approaches to this model: network managers can work with a “public cloud” (such as Microsoft Azure or AWS Direct Connect) for enhanced reliability and agility in the face of necessary disaster recovery.

Whatever the method, there are three significant reasons to look at data center consolidation options. These include:

1. Reducing data center carbon footprints

The demand for data services is rising exponentially, according to the International Energy Agency global data centre electricity use in 2020 alone was 200-250 TWh, or around 1% of global final electricity demand. Consolidating your data centers means reducing the amount of hardware used at each physical location, where fewer machines will accomplish the work once done by many. Beyond the general energy consumption reduction inherent in this process, some data centers will also consolidate physical locations, resulting in fewer physical centers. 

2. Enterprise benefits

Data center consolidation means that enterprises will be able to save on the cost of buying new hardware. Similarly, it can reduce software licensing costs since everything is being moved onto fewer systems. A great example of this is how the federal government achieved substantial savings since it started consolidating its data centers in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) “19 of the 24 agencies reported achieving an estimated $2.8 billion in cost savings and avoidances from fiscal years 2011 to 2015.”

3. Improved efficiency

The more hardware a center has, the more possible points of failure. Data center consolidation reduces error by eliminating potentially problematic hardware before it starts to fail. Consolidation also eliminates possible entry points for potential threats to the center (both physically and in terms of cybersecurity), improving security. 

According to the Uptime Institute’s 2021 Global Data Center Survey, outages, while less extensive than in previous years, have become way more expensive. Over 60% of the respondents reported losing more than $100,000 to downtime. Of that 60%, 15% lost over $1 million.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that these solutions reduce data center carbon footprints across the board. This places data migration as the most likely long-term option for data centers in the near future. Is also important to note that the ‘cloud’ is basically someone else’s data center, so once more companies migrate to the cloud, this will force cloud providers to rethink their data center configurations.

Reducing data center carbon footprints with DCIM tools

Although consolidation reduces carbon emissions produced by data centers, it is essential to note that data migration to the cloud will take time. In some cases, migration may not be a viable option—a company may not have the resources to afford the process, for example.

In this case, reducing data center carbon footprints focuses on fighting the heat generated by multitudes of servers, routers, and switches. Analyzing cooling, regulating energy consumption, and optimizing rack layout and configuration are all central challenges. 

  • Free air cooling (using cold external air to cool data centers) effectively reduces data center carbon footprints. Still, it requires building a center in a naturally cold place, which is not always realistic and can be very expensive to move.
  • Switching liquid cooling systems towards greywater sources (such as seawater) reduces the amount of potable water consumed by data centers. This also requires moving/building centers to places where fresh water is available.
  • Hot aisle/cold aisle configuration consists of facing server racks with heated exhausts towards air conditioner intake vents and rack fronts facing air conditioner outputs. This distributes heat and energy more effectively, but doesn’t reduce costs as much as other solutions.

All solutions outlined above require a constant stream of incoming data to help engineers evaluate what solutions work for their centers. It is advisable to consider first investing in equipment compatible with environmental sensors, which are instrumental in collecting such data. These tools aid network engineers both in planning their consolidation strategy and Sensors will help to monitor environmental conditions so that they can optimize their systems.

Help the environment, starting with your data center

Although data centers face this problem, there is a large variety of technological solutions. Remote management tools reduce the environmental impact of costly truck rolls, while DCIM tools like rack layouts and free air cooling mitigate the daily effect of data center operations. To be more specific for truck rolls, the environmental impact is fuel consumption and for normal operations, the impact is power consumption.

These tools can serve as a potential short-term fix while engineers look into cloud-based consolidation options like data migration, or even serve in the long term as they strive toward a net-zero center.

However you evaluate your technology strategy, you want to make sure you have the right tools in hand. ZPE’s Nodegrid offers robust remote management tools to reduce your truck rolls, reduce data center carbon footprints, and keep your engineers constantly connected to the status of your center. It similarly offers external sensors which provide you with critical data to adjust or reevaluate your approach, when necessary.

Learn more about how ZPE Nodegrid reduces data center carbon footprints.

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