Edge data centers are the foundation of the next frontier of IT. But not all edge data centers have data gravity: the secret to getting the most bang for your buck and securing the future. Forward-thinking organizations should look for edge data centers with this X factor.
1. What is data gravity?
If you haven’t heard of data gravity yet, chances are you’ve heard of gravity. It’s a force of attraction that draws objects toward each other. When we add the word “data” to the mix, the definition doesn’t change much.
Data gravity is the phenomenon the IT infrastructure industry is experiencing where certain data center hubs seem to have created an ecosystem that continues to draw in value and deliver more and more opportunities to tenants on an ongoing basis without much effort. The ecosystem is self-bettering—a flywheel creating its own momentum.
Right now, the edge is rich in data gravity, but not all edge data centers have this X factor. Data gravity requires the right beginnings.
2. Why data gravity is essential to edge data centers
Consider a data center in a tertiary market compared to an edge data center in an up-and-coming market in the center of the United States. Sure, the former is a data center, but its connectivity ecosystem potential is underwhelming. Tenants will benefit in some ways but they’re cornered when it comes to spurring their expansion long-term and opening up more tools for digital transformation and evolution. On the other hand, the geographically central edge data center in an up-and-coming market changes the game. This facility still services the edge (as opposed to major hubs like Ashburn or Silicon Valley), but because it’s a midway point for east-to-west and north-to-south routes, companies colocated here will have much more to choose from. These types of long-term benefits draw high-value companies in and launch a data gravity-driven data centre ecosystem.
3. Recapping the Edge Exodus
In 2020 alone, research from McKinsey revealed that out of 2,395 surveyed participants across a full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialities and tenures, half said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one function. In 2021, Ericsson forecasts proposed that in 2022, 5G subscriptions would pass one billion (a milestone reached two years faster than 4G did post-introduction. https://growntechnology.com/the-6-types-of-information-system-and-their-applications/
This skyrocketing demand for next-gen applications isn’t news to most. In reality, the story of IT’s move to the edge of the network is well-worn. It’s common knowledge now that when the world calls for low-latency applications and highly available workloads, the solution moves data capture, computing, and storage closer to the point of generation. This allows for quicker data transfer, more agile and mobile networking, and less latency and jitter for end-user experiences—all of which are paramount for making 5G use cases, some IoT applications and other similar opportunities functional. https://www.techopedia.com/10-biggest-data-breaches-of-all-time-and-how-to-prevent-them/2/34863
When organizations think of 5G, IoT, and AI, they have to be thinking of the edge. And if they’re thinking of the edge, they need to think of data gravity. This is the secret to getting the most bang for your buck and securing the future of IT—not just squirrelling it away in some endpoint facility. To find an edge data centre with data gravity, connectivity potential is a great indicator. Centralized data centre locations, an on-site or nearby IX and news of a growing ecosystem are great data gravity gauges. These are the facilities that forward-thinking organizations should be entrusted with their IT.
