Category: Data Center

Edge computing, a distributed computing architecture, has become the standard IT infrastructure in most industries, thanks to its benefits: increased data processing speeds, reduced bandwidth requirements, and fewer network congestions.

Over the years, several organizations have rushed to deploy edge computing solutions, and the demand has constantly been rising. Even so, some edge computing companies have done more and better than others in helping their clients implement this distributed computing architecture. Below, we have rounded up some of the best edge computing companies.

Edge Computing Market Trends

• Edge computing has been growing exponentially over the years, thanks to the rapid adoption by various organizations across industries. The rising number of applications requiring real-time data processing, massive adoption of AI, 5G and IoT, plus the increasing number of smart devices are some of the key factors driving the growth of edge computing.
• According to a recent Grand View Research, the global edge computing market in 2020 was valued at $4.68 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 38.4% to reach $61.14 billion during the forecast period 2021 to 2028.
• Similarly, the rapid growth of edge computing has seen key market players from various ecosystems come together to add value to their products and services. Major players from traditional enterprise IT, cloud, networks, and data center providers are acquiring the smaller and more disruptive players to diversify their markets and boost their competitive advantage.
• That said, some of the key players in the industry are those companies that tap into the three market segments – hardware, software, and services – to fully meet the needs and expectations of their customers. These companies include AWS, ADLINK, Dell Technologies, etc. We’ve covered this and more below.

Top 5 Edge Computing Companies

The edge computing industry is massive, and first-mover companies are now enjoying a significant portion of the global market share. The majority of the top edge computing companies offer full-package services to their clients, helping them streamline their business operations with real-time and near-real-time insights, lower bandwidth usage, and less latency.

Edge computing companies seek to optimize these benefits while solving the major challenges of bringing compute power closer to the data source. These challenges include the need for complex IT infrastructure and the large amount of junk data generated by edge devices such as IoT sensors. Below are the top five edge computing companies.

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS is a reputed company that offers cloud and edge computing services. Their hybrid cloud services also span solutions that include AI, IoT, robotics, ML, data analytics, compute, and storage capabilities.

Besides being heavily invested in the cloud, the company has competitive edge solutions and devices that serve industrial, connected home IoT and commercial markets. Some of the popular edge solutions offered by AWS are AWS IoT Core, Amazon FreeRTOS microcontroller OS, AWS IoT Device Management, etc.

AWS’s edge cloud interfaces are complex, and the companies that use their services often get professional training from AWS.

2. ADLINK Technology

ADLINK is a Taiwan-based company that focuses on embedded computing. The company has a widespread operational presence, spanning over 40 countries, with key design centers in the US, Asia, and Germany.

Some of ADLINK’s specialties within the edge computing world are IoT hardware & software, AI software, and advanced robotics solutions. Among the main company, offerings are industrial motherboards, computer-on-models, data acquisition modules & complete systems. ADLINK serves several industries, such as manufacturing, networking & communications, healthcare, military, and aerospace.

3. EdgeConnex

EdgeConnex helps businesses across industries to bring compute and storage facilities near the data sources. The company’s model is to have data facilities where they are needed most to enhance network and IT connectivity.

EdgeConnex, through its self-service management operating system, Edge OS, gives customers a single and secure view of their infrastructure, deployed in various locations across the globe.

The company has over 4,000 footprints outside of the hundreds of data centers worldwide. EdgeConnex services find their use cases in fast media streaming, AI, ML, and IoT applications.

4. Google Cloud

Google isn’t on top of the list of cloud providers, but its edge computing portfolio is quite interesting, thanks to the company’s active participation in 5G and IoT tech developments. One of Google’s flagship edge devices and technologies is the Google Edge TPU, a hardware chip that allows AI to run entirely on edge.

Other solutions are Google Anthos, a hybrid multi-cloud platform used to develop apps on the network, and Google Coral, an ML platform for edge applications. The latter helps users build their own devices using local AI.

5. Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies has three distinct edge-computing hardware: mobile, enterprise, and IoT edge. As a macro-cap tech company, Dell Technologies has invested a lot in edge computing and is one of the tech giants with innovative edge computing hardware options.

Under the mobile edge portfolio, the company offers cloud-enabled hardware for remote/ mobile locations such as the PowerEdge XR2 Rugged Server. Dell’s IoT edge portfolio includes edge gateways designed for retailers, manufacturers, and smart cities.

Getting Started with Edge Computing

Edge computing comes with several benefits, and the right deployment will depend on your unique use cases. Whether you need a cloud-edge hybrid model or you want to set up an edge data center, there are several edge companies you can partner with. Remember to seek professional advice from an expert IT consultant to help you choose the best edge computing solution for your business model.

Article Source: Top Edge Computing Companies

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Background

Data center security includes physical security and virtual security. Data center virtual security is actually data center network security，it refers to the various security precautions that are taken to maintain the operational agility of the infrastructure and data. Data center network security threats have become more and more rampant, and enterprises need to find countermeasures to protect sensitive information and prevent data vulnerabilities. We will discuss the data center cyber attacks and solutions.

What Are the Main Data Center Networking Threats?

Data center network is the most valuable and visible asset of storage organizations, while the data center networks, DNS, database, and email servers have become the number one target for cybercriminals, hacktivists, and state-sponsored attackers. Regardless of attackers’ purpose and what they are seeking financial gain, competitive intelligence, or notoriety, they are using a range of cyber technology weapons to attack data centers. The following are 5 top data center network threats.

DDoS attack

Servers are prime targets of DDoS attack designed to disrupt and disable essential internet services. Service availability is critical to a positive customer experience. DDoS attacks, however, can directly threaten availability, resulting in loss of business revenue, customers, and reputation. From 2011 to 2013, the average size of DDoS attacks soared from 4.7 Gbps to 10 Gbps. What’s worse, there has also been a staggering increase in the average number of packets per second during a typical DDoS attack. This proved that the rapid growth of DDoS attacks is enough to disable most standard network equipment. Attackers can amplify the scale and intensity of DDoS attacks primarily by exploiting Web, DNS, and NTP servers, which requires enterprises to do a good job of network monitoring at all times.

Web Application Attack

Web applications are vulnerable to a range of attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, etc. Attackers attempt to break into applications and steal data for profit, resulting in enterprises’ data vulnerabilities. According to the 2015 Trustwave Global Security Report, approximately 98% of applications have or have had vulnerabilities. Attackers are increasingly targeting vulnerable web servers and installing malicious code to turn them into a DDoS attack source. Enterprises need proactive defenses to stop web attacks and “virtual patching” of data vulnerabilities.

DNS Attacks

DNS infrastructure is also vulnerable to DDoS attacks or other threats. It is turned into a target of data center cyber attacks for two reasons. First, attackers can prevent Internet users from accessing the Internet by taking DNS servers offline through a variety of means. If an attacker disables DNS servers of ISP, they can block everything the ISP does to users and Internet services. Second, attackers can also amplify DDoS attacks by exploiting DNS servers. Attackers spoof the IP addresses of their real targets, instruct DNS servers to recursively query many DNS servers or send a flood of responses to victims. This allows the DNS server to directly control the victim’s network of DNS traffic. Even if the DNS server is not the ultimate target for attackers, it still causes data center downtime and outages due to DNS reflection attacks.

SSL Blind Spot Exploitation

Many applications support SSL, however, it is surprising that SSL encryption is also a way that attackers can exploit for network intrusion. Although decrypt SSL traffic is decrypted by firewalls, intrusion prevention and threat prevention products, etc., there are some security implications for data vulnerabilities due to these products’ inability to keep up with the growing demand for SSL encryption. For example, the conversion from 1024-bit to 2048-bit SSL keys requires about 6.3 times the processing power to decrypt. This case shows that security applications are gradually breaking down under the decryption requirements of increasing SSL certificate key lengths. For this reason, attackers can easily exploit this defense blind spot for intrusion.

Authentication Attacks

Applications often use authentication to authenticate users, allowing application owners to restrict access to authorized users. But for convenience, many people perform a single authentication. This makes it easy for attackers to use password cracking tools to brute force. Hackers will crack lists of stolen passwords, and even password hashes, and use them to break into other online accounts. As a result, enterprises centrally manage authentication services and prevent users from repeating failed login attempts.

Data Center Virtual Security Solutions

Network security defenses in the data center are imperative. In view of the data vulnerabilities and network security risks caused by the five major data center network security threats, here are some defense solutions.

• Prevent vulnerabilities: Deploy IPS to protect and patch frequently vulnerable systems and applications. IPS can also detect exploits targeting DNS infrastructure or attempts to use DNS to evade security protections.
• Network segmentation: Network segmentation implemented effectively enables preventing lateral movement and achieves least privilege access under a zero-trust security model.
• Deploying application and API protection: The solution to mitigate the OWASP top 10 risks for web applications is to use web and API security applications. Also, data centers can install firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS), to help businesses monitor and traffic inspect before it reaches the internal network.
• Defense against DDoS: Use on-prem and cloud DDoS protections to mitigate DDoS threats.
• Prevent credential theft: Deploy anti-phishing protection for users to prevent credential theft attacks.
• Securing supply chains: Detect and prevent sophisticated supply chain attacks using AI and ML-backed threat prevention, as well as EDR and XDR technologies.

Conclusion

Cyberattacks also have a profound impact on data center network security. Enterprises should prepare defense solutions for data centers to ensure data security. The best practices above can also help enterprises gain relevant information about how their data center networks are operating, allowing the IT team to enhance the virtual security of their data centers while maintaining physical security.

Article source: Data Center Network Security Threats and Solutions

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Background

With the continuous growth of new data storage requirements and the steady enhancement of green environmental protection awareness, green data centers appear in the concept of enterprise construction. Newly retained data must be protected, cooled, and transferred efficiently. This means that the huge energy demands of data centers present challenges in terms of cost and sustainability, and enterprises are increasingly concerned about the energy demands of their data centers. It can be seen that sustainable and renewable energy resources have become the development trend of green data centers.

Green Data Center Is a Trend

A green data center is a facility similar to a regular data center that hosts servers to store, manage, and disseminate data. It is designed to minimize environmental impact by providing maximum energy efficiency. Green data centers have the same characteristics as typical data centers, but the internal system settings and technologies can effectively reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints for enterprises.

The internal construction of a green data center requires the support of a series of services, such as cloud services, cable TV services, Internet services, colocation services, and data protection security services. Of course, many enterprises or carriers have equipped their data centers with cloud services. Some enterprises may also need to rely on other carriers to provide Internet and related services.

According to market trends, the global green data center market is worth around $59.32 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.5% in the future to 2026. It also shows that the transition to renewable energy sources is accelerating because of the growth of green data centers.

As the growing demand for data storage drives the modernization of data centers, it also places higher demands on power and cooling systems. On the one hand, data centers need to convert non-renewable energy into electricity to generate electricity, resulting in rising electricity costs; on the other hand, some enterprises need to complete the construction of cooling facilities and server cleaning through a lot of water, all of which are ample opportunities for the green data center market.

For example, Facebook and Amazon continue to expand their businesses, which has also increased the need for data storage of global companies. These enterprises need a lot of data to complete the analysis of potential customers, but these data processing needs will require a lot of energy. Therefore, the realization of green data centers has become an urgent need for enterprises to solve these problems, and this can also bring more other benefits to enterprises.

Green Data Center Benefits

The green data center concept has grown rapidly in the process of enterprise data center development. Many businesses prefer alternative energy solutions for their data centers, which can bring many benefits to the business. The benefits of green data centers are as follows.

Energy saving

Green data centers are designed not only to conserve energy, but also to reduce the need for expensive infrastructure to handle cooling and power needs. Sustainable or renewable energy is an abundant and reliable source of energy that can significantly reduce power usage efficiency (PUE). The reduction of PUE enables enterprises to use electricity more efficiently. Green data centers can also use colocation services to decrease server usage, lower water consumption, and reduce the cost of corporate cooling systems.

Cost reduction

Green data centers use renewable energy to reduce power consumption and business costs through the latest technologies. Shutting down servers that are being upgraded or managed can also help reduce energy consumption at the facility and control operating costs.

Environmental sustainability

Green data centers can reduce the environmental impact of computing hardware, thereby creating data center sustainability. The ever-increasing technological development requires the use of new equipment and technologies in modern data centers, and the power consumption of these new server devices and virtualization technologies reduces energy consumption, which is environmentally sustainable and brings economic benefits to data center operators.

Enterprise social image enhancement

Today, users are increasingly interested in solving environmental problems. Green data center services help businesses resolve these issues quickly without compromising performance. Many customers already see responsible business conduct as a value proposition. Enterprises, by meeting compliance, regulatory requirements and regulations of the corresponding regions through the construction of green data centers, improve the image of their own social status.

Reasonable use of resources

In an environmentally friendly way, green data centers can allow enterprises to make better use of various resources such as electricity, physical space, and heat, integrating the internal facilities of the data center. It promotes the efficient operation of the data center while achieving rational utilization of resources.

5 Ways to Create a Green Data Center

After talking about the benefits of a green data center, then how to build a green data center. Here are a series of green data center solutions.

• Virtualization extension: Enterprises can build a virtualized computer system with the help of virtualization technology, and run multiple applications and operating systems through fewer servers, thereby realizing the construction of green data centers.
• Renewable energy utilization: Enterprises can opt for solar panels, wind turbines or hydroelectric plants that can generate energy to power backup generators without any harm to the environment.
• Enter eco mode: Using an Alternating current USPs is one way to switch eco mode. This setup can significantly improve data center efficiency and PUE. Alternatively, enterprises can reuse equipment, which not only saves money, but also eliminates unnecessary emissions from seeping into the atmosphere.
• Optimized cooling: Data center infrastructure managers can introduce simple and implementable cooling solutions, such as deploying hot aisle/cold aisle configurations. Data centers can further accelerate cooling output by investing in air handlers and coolers, and installing economizers that draw outside air from the natural environment to build green data center cooling systems.
• DCIM and BMS systems: DCIM software and BMS software can help data centers managers identify and document ways to use more efficient energy, helping data centers become more efficient and achieve sustainability goals.

Conclusion

Data center sustainability means reducing energy/water consumption and carbon emissions to offset increased computing and mobile device usage to keep business running smoothly. The development of green data centers has become an imperative development trend, and it also caters to the green goals of global environmental protection. As a beneficiary, enterprises can not only save operating costs, but also effectively reduce energy consumption. This is also an important reason for the construction of green data centers.

Article Source: Why Green Data Center Matters

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