In our previous blog (https://www.centerprise.co.uk/news/from-hci-to-dhci) we looked at HCI2.0 or dHCI as it is otherwise known. An extension of traditional HCI giving the ability to discreetly scale storage and compute for unpredictable workloads whilst retaining the ease of use of traditional HCI. 
In this blog, we have a relook at traditional HCI, in a series of technical blogs written to help IT administrators understand how artificial intelligence and hyper-converged infrastructure can simplify management and control costs at the edge. 
 

What is the EDGE and its challenges?  

Firstly, the concept of edge computing differs from organization to organization.  As every business is unique, with its own unique challenges, infrastructure architectures, and language. The concept can be defined as a requirement for infrastructure at the edge of an enterprise, or in remote locations where data is being generated and/or accessed. This is instead of hosting such services in the public and private cloud because of the specific requirements or limitations of doing so.
In today’s data-driven world it is not acceptable, and sometimes not even possible, to send data to the public or private cloud for processing. Such a model creates latency, can require large amounts of bandwidth, and can easily be disrupted by failures. Edge infrastructure allows companies to accelerate access to generated data, enabling real-time data processing without latency. This real-time response is critical to many applications, services, and end-user experiences, and demonstrates a measurable impact on the business. It also eliminates the option of storing sensitive data in the cloud in situations where security and strict data regulations are a concern.
 

Growth at the EDGE

Businesses are beginning to recognize the requirement for edge infrastructure with the continuous growth of IoT, connected devices, and low latency applications that require high availability. By 2025, Gartner predicts 75% of data will be generated outside of the public and private cloud. 
This data will need to be stored somewhere and will require computing for processing. This does not mean the public and private cloud is going away – on the contrary, on-premises edge computing is a growing requirement that complements cloud solutions and meets demands they cannot.

Requirements at the EDGE

Edge sites demand a reliable set-and-forget system that provides enterprise-class features in small physical footprints. Such an infrastructure should provide compute, storage, backup, DR and networking in a space-saving compact design for edge deployments. Finding a resilient, simple, high performance IT infrastructure for edge locations can be a challenge. That is where HPE SimpliVity, an industry-leading HCI solution, comes in. 

EDGE infrastructure solutions meet with HPE SimpliVity

HPE SimpliVity allows IT admins to remotely manage sites from a centralized location for businesses that scale from a single to multiple locations.  Enterprise-class features include:

1. Virtual machine (VM) high availability, 
2. Built-in data protection for local and remote backups, 
3. Inline dedupe & compression
4. Centralized management with true AI integration. 

In this blog series, we walk you through the challenges of ROBO sites, the benefits of HPE SimpliVity in a distributed environment, and how artificial intelligence (AI) and hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) can simplify management and help control costs at the edge. 

From the pains of managing and maintaining multiple locations, to how to achieve the best availability to ensure business continuity, we explain the many ways HPE SimpliVity is optimized for the edge.

Thanks to our colleagues at HPE for some additional Blogs on the EDGE:

1. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 1: Edge and remote office challenges 
2. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 2: Multisite management and orchestration 
3. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 3: Cluster resiliency and high availability
4. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 4: Backup and disaster recovery 
5. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 5: Space and scalability
6. HCI Optimized for Edge, part 6: Cost-effective data security