Solving Edge Computing’s Storage Problem

Gartner projects the overall volume of data generated from edge computing to triple over the next five years. While organizations will gain game-changing insights and agility from the billions of pieces of data they collect from millions of interconnected devices, the overall volume of data generated from edge computing will easily overwhelm today’s traditional storage infrastructure.

In this article, we’ll discuss what Wasabi is doing to help solve this edge computing storage dilemma, but first, let’s define what we mean by edge computing.

What is edge computing?

At its most basic, edge computing is the running of applications and compute outside of the traditional data center, closer to where data and analytics are being created and consumed. If we interpret the traditional data center as the “core,” including private servers accessed over a network, and the “cloud” as servers accessed over the public internet, then we can interpret the “edge” as inclusive of all the places in between. More and more data is moving between all three locations: core, cloud and edge.

Cloud storage for edge data

Cloud object storage has become a de facto standard as a unifying repository for storing all of an organization’s data, no matter where it originated, however, there are significant additional benefits to be achieved by connecting edge devices with cloud storage. This integrated infrastructure approach provides the best of both worlds, combining the speed of edge computing with the scale of bottomless cloud storage. However, the variability of deployment models, application types, and data types deployed across edge locations can create complexity and management challenges for IT organizations – and this complexity can lead to time and cost inefficiencies.

Scale Computing is out to change all that, which is why Wasabi has partnered with them. Our joint Scale Computing-Wasabi solution minimizes this complexity by enabling customers to quickly and easily deploy right-sized edge computing solutions where and when they need them, regardless of space and infrastructure limitations. Seamless integration with local on-prem and Wasabi hot cloud storage makes current and future storage problems a thing of the past.

Scale Computing is leading the way in edge computing

Scale Computing, a market leader in edge computing, virtualization, and hyperconverged solutions, was recently named a “Fast Mover” Innovator by Gigaom in the HCI edge computing space. The company offers fully integrated, easy-to-deploy edge devices for both enterprise and SMB markets, powered by the Intel® NUC Enterprise Edge Compute (EEC) Edition built with Scale Computing.

Scale Computing’s HE150 Series (Intel® NUC) devices are an out-of-the-box solution ideal for running any critical applications on-prem with immediate high availability. Its small footprint makes it easy to install at the site of data creation and powerful enough to process any workload at the edge. Combined with centralized management enabling a whole fleet of edge devices to be managed from a single pane of glass, their right-sized compute and virtualization solution delivers significant simplicity and cost savings to their customers.

Scaling the storage capacity of Scale Computing’s edge compute solutions

Scale Computing’s lightweight edge devices provide the needed amount of computing performance in a small package. However, what these devices provide in power they, by design, lack in storage. That’s where Wasabi comes in. With Wasabi’s hot cloud storage connected to a Scale Computing edge device, storage capacity becomes scalable, and, because of our breakthrough price-performance, virtually unlimited. Data that is no longer needed on site, but required for compliance, data protection, long-term trending analytics, or other retention needs can easily be backed up or archived in the cloud. Because Wasabi doesn’t charge for egress, customers can retrieve their edge data whenever they like, without negatively impacting their storage budget. If edge devices become compromised due to a security event, like a ransomware attack, or other unforeseen disaster, backups can be rapidly retrieved from the Wasabi cloud at no additional expense.

Emerging edge computing use cases

There are myriad use cases and applications for edge computing across a wide swath of industries. You might find edge computing resources on the manufacturing floor, across a university campus, on a ship in the middle of the ocean, in a driverless vehicle or remote surveillance device, in a restaurant, retail store, or any back office. The variety of locations and use cases is what makes edge computing so interesting and in demand. Below are just two examples of how edge compute deployments are impacting modern business and digital initiatives:

Manufacturing edge:

Intelligent manufacturing creates data at the speed of the conveyor belt. IoT sensors are processing production speeds, quality control metrics, temperatures, and more. Those real-time workloads are processed by IT platforms on the production floor. These are not towering server racks, they’re edge devices, right-sized to provide the compute power needed to keep everything on track. Once that data’s been collected, it may not be needed beyond standard retention time, but compliance reasons or future analytical needs may call for a no-delete policy. Next-generation cloud storage, such as Wasabi, enables manufacturers to cost-effectively retain production data indefinitely. It also serves as a low-cost repository for large CAD files, which can be recalled instantly and at no additional cost to the user.

Retail edge:

Brick and mortar retailers have been rolling out technologies that improve the customer experience, streamline business objectives, and provide safe, secure stores for consumers. IoT sensors that capture frozen food temperatures, smartphone apps that lead shoppers to sales on their favorite items, and checkout-less transactions that process more customers faster are already in many stores around the world with new technologies being introduced all the time. Right-sized on-premises edge devices, like the HE150 from Scale Computing, provide the low-latency compute power needed to run these workloads. While day-to-day retail operations are easily handled by these small-but-mighty servers, integrated and affordable cloud storage allows retailers to keep all that data for business analytics, legal compliance, and disaster recovery.

Wasabi has joined with Scale Computing to offer joint infrastructure solutions to build out edge-to-cloud deployments. Scale Computing and Wasabi are aligned in their focus on scalability, value, and performance. Together they create a lower total cost of ownership solution than competitive solutions on the market.

Want to try it for yourself? Scale Computing offers a free trial for HC3 Edge.

Learn more about how Wasabi and Scale Computing work better together.