If you’ve spent any time in the networking trenches, you’ve no doubt spent many hours puzzling over an assortment of network topology charts. These visual representations of a network tell an important story of how the various components in a network are connected to each other and how data is transferred between its constituent nodes.

These topologies are more than just fancy diagrams – they essentially serve as a living blueprint that describes how a network functions and data is routed. Choosing the right topology will go a long way towards improving the performance and efficiency of your network, as well as help to rationalize how certain resources should be allocated and can provide a roadmap that’s essential for troubleshooting when network connectivity issues arise.

Over the past few decades, a wide variety of network topologies have been established, each of which caters to a specific environment or use case. However, as the network continues its inexorable march towards the edge – where connectivity can be intermittent and skilled resources are scarce – we will likely see a number of new topologies arise that take these constraints into consideration.

As Alan R. Earls, author of The Gorilla Guide to: Enabling IT at the Edge, notes in his explanation of the most likely edge topologies: “While the never-ending evolution of information technologies makes it hard to predict exactly what topologies will emerge or seem most appealing in the future, there are currently several strong contenders for edge computing.” These five edge topologies include:

1. Regional Data Center Edge: CDN, Telecom DC, Colocation.

This might be a service provider configuration with multiple tenants and, in comparison with other edge computing scenarios, is typically a very large-scale operation that differs from a traditional data center only in its relationship to an even larger central data center and in usually having a narrower focus.

2. Local Data Center Edge: Small Data Center, Micro Data Center.

This type of edge computing is likely general-service-oriented, perhaps for a remote office or branch office and is characterized by low or no staffing.

3. Gateway Edge: Intelligent Local/Field Gateway

This typically comprises a small cell or access point, such as a video management software (VMS) surveillance system and offers zero touch provisioning (ZTP) and configuration management.

4. Device Edge: Embedded Computing Devices and Traditional PLCs.

This type of edge, typically a single machine or work cell, has only enough intelligence to assist with a specific operation and provide some de- gree of reporting.

5. Compute Edge: Edge Server/Storage Outside of a Data Center.

Examples of this type of true edge computing potentially have the ability to include specialized services, such as video analytics-based applications and likely include ZTP.

It’s important to note that these topologies aren’t rigid. There are gray areas and some edge implementations can actually include multiple topologies. However, in most instances, one is clearly predominant.

To learn more about what future edge topologies might look like, download Scale Computing’s free ebook: “The Gorilla Guide to: Enabling IT at the Edge”

As the old Irish saying goes, the luck is in believing you’re lucky. But you don’t need luck with Scale Computing…you just need edge computing. With edge computing, you can run applications and process data outside centralized data centers, at the edge of your network closest to where that data is created and utilized. Centrally monitor and manage hundreds or thousands of distributed edge infrastructure deployments with few or no on-site IT personnel.

The award winning Scale Computing HC3 Edge series brings on-premises edge computing with high availability and disaster recovery to remote locations at an affordable entry level cost. All edge models can be deployed quickly, managed locally or remotely, and can self-heal almost instantly. Enjoy affordable edge computing infrastructure that is reliable, easy to deploy, and easy to use.

Take advantage today of Scale Computing’s HC3 Edge Computing Trial, a no cost program for qualified customers to try the Scale Computing HE150 edge computing platform. Built specifically for multi-site deployments that need highly available infrastructure on-premises, with remote management, the HE150 can be deployed almost anywhere, without requiring a rack or server closet. Get hands-on experience with self-healing, right-sized infrastructure that runs critical applications right where they’re needed.

Scale Computing joined forces with select reseller partners from the award-winning Scale Computing Partner Community to offer this innovative, right-sized, all-flash, NVMe storage-based compute appliance that delivers all of the simplicity, efficiency, and enterprise-ready virtualization associated with Scale Computing’s HC3 platform. Built specifically for multi-site deployments that need highly available infrastructure on-premises and remote management, the HE150 can be deployed almost anywhere, without requiring a rack or server closet. Taking up only the space needed to stack three smartphones, it also includes disaster recovery, high availability clustering, rolling upgrades and integrated data protection.

Details of the Edge Trial include:

• HC3 self-healing technology that keeps applications running
• Simplified deployment and management
• Minimal training, with no onsite IT expertise needed
• Do more with less hardware costs and fewer resources
• Single vendor support experience
• Available as a 3+ node cluster or 1 node platform
• Qualification criteria required (10+ locations)
• The trial offer is only valid in North America, United Kingdom, Benelux, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and South Africa

Edge computing has been one of the hottest buzzwords in IT over the past year, and it’s easy to see why. Businesses are implementing innovative workloads using new technologies that require on-premises processing of data due to the requirements of lower latencies, the volume of data being generated, autonomy or even regulation that requires it to run outside the cloud or primary data center. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how edge computing is transforming the industry—including how enterprises can best utilize edge computing to fuel innovation in their business strategies while protecting their data assets at the same time.

Organizations looking to deploy edge computing solutions on hyperconverged infrastructure are attracted by three main advantages of edge computing: performance, security, and cost-efficiency.

Edge computing can boost application performance in several ways: The speed at which data is processed increases by reducing latency and allowing critical operations to occur at local nodes. All of these benefits improve the overall end-user experience.

In terms of flexibility, edge computing technologies offer clear benefits over their more traditional counterparts deployed in conventional data centers.

Where Edge Computing and Hyperconverged Infrastructure Intersect

Edge computing is one of those terms that’s been thrown around a lot lately, but what does it mean? Edge computing involves placing compute resources closer to where data is generated and used rather than sending all data back to centralized servers or the public cloud. This enables the adoption of new applications and use cases such as AI/ML, augmented reality, computer vision, etc. where additional data generated and processed at the edge has a direct impact on the organization (higher revenues, lower costs, or potentially both depending on the environment). The benefit is clear: lower latency times and better performance for applications.

Edge computing requires businesses to rethink their relationship with managing infrastructure, but many CIOs may not fully understand how an enterprise can leverage edge computing. Often unique in edge computing deployments are the lack of on-premises IT expertise to deploy and manage infrastructure, and legacy workloads that need to be run on-premises with newer workloads – challenges solved by edge-ready HCI.

What is hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI)? HCI pools together resources into an infrastructure that can be managed with cloud-like ease for the entire stack (hypervisor, storage, etc.). Virtualization software turns many high-performing processors into multiple virtual machines with their own virtual processors, thus allowing each OS to run its own set of programs independent of other OS running on other processors. This means that if you need more processing power in an application or system, you can add more virtual processor cores to an existing virtual machine (VM) without affecting other processes running on other VMs.

Enterprise Use Cases

Edge computing offers many use cases for hyperconverged infrastructure in addition to those already mentioned above, including cloud services, mobile/IoT device data collection and storage, business continuity/disaster recovery, and Industry 4.0 Manufacturing Automation.

Edge computing can take advantage of HCI by using shared storage between compute nodes and allowing users to manage all their edge computing workloads from a single management interface (like that of Scale Computing’s HC3). This streamlined process removes network latency caused by transferring data between sites. By storing data on edge servers that reside as close as possible to its point of origin, we reduce network traffic and make business insights actionable faster than ever before.

Today’s enterprises rapidly move away from managing isolated IT systems. They’re modernizing to gain operational excellence through integrated systems with built-in cybersecurity protections and designed for digital transformation with multiple application profiles. Using edge computing infrastructure platforms with built-in high availability (HA) will decrease costly downtime at major companies that rely on highly distributed equipment assets in each global region where they operate.

Edge Computing in Action with HCI

Now that edge computing has become a reality for enterprises, and as HCI continues to demonstrate its viability in enterprise data centers, there’s no doubt that we’ll see more and more edge computing use cases in years to come.

Edge computing has several advantages over centralized cloud architectures (which involve transferring large amounts of data from sites to a central location), including cost savings, improved performance, and higher levels of security. This makes it an ideal solution for both large businesses—companies with multiple sites that are tired of paying expensive bandwidth bills—and smaller companies that can’t afford traditional cloud costs.

The downside is that storing all your data on-premises means you have limited access to it if something goes wrong or needs maintenance. In situations like these, having an edge hyperconverged infrastructure could be just what the enterprise needs to ensure business continuity at every level. With HCI, everything sits onsite; system components are close by, so they can easily communicate with each other and quickly respond when problems arise.

HCI Changes Everything

Companies are still trying to figure out what edge computing is and how it works for them. Luckily, you don’t have to learn edge computing from scratch. The best way for most enterprises to start leveraging HCI for edge computing can be done by deploying software on edge-ready hardware that scales up when necessary, but scales down if the number of workloads decreases.

All of these advantages come with minimal costs — so much so that leading industry experts think edge computing will make hyperconverged infrastructure ubiquitous in companies of any size. And if there’s one sure thing about pervasive hyperconvergence, it’s going to change everything we know about business as usual.

Want to see edge computing and HCI in action? Request a demo today!

Edge computing is now well established as an opportunity to drive innovation by putting compute resources closer to where they are needed. From manufacturers who are applying edge computing on the factory floor to monitor machine data and inspect outputs or a chain of retail stores that have deployed edge-based solutions to run their critical applications, the appetite for edge computing is growing by the day.

One of the first and most important steps for any edge journey begins with finding the right solution vendor. There are now dozens of vendors who offer some flavor of edge functionality – but as is the case with any enterprise technology, you’ll need to be able to read through the marketing fluff to determine which capabilities matter most to your specific use case. What follows are just a few questions that should be part of every evaluation along with a brief explanation as to why they’re important.

1. How resilient is your edge solution? What type of automated failover capabilities does the edge solution possess?

For most edge deployments, skilled IT staff are typically not on-site to troubleshoot issues when they arise. This is especially true for organizations that maintain numerous remote branch offices where technical resources are in short supply. The resilience of a prospective edge solution should be considered as a core selection criteria so you’ll want to ask several questions about how a prospective vendor ensures availability in the event of a disruptive event. A mature edge solution should be able to demonstrate how their systems can automatically failover to another node and minimize downtime in the event of a disruption.

2. What type of software do you use to manage the edge systems and what type of automation capabilities does your solution possess?

A robust edge computing solution is more than just an integrated stack of compute, networking and storage equipment (and few so-called edge vendors meet this minimum standard!). What makes edge truly deliver value, lies in the ability to intelligently orchestrate these infrastructure components as a unified whole so that your edge systems can quickly adapt to evolving conditions. The software that keeps these systems running is like the cerebral cortex of your edge network and a mature edge solution should also include built-in automation capabilities that can successfully mitigate small issues before they cascade into a full-blown outage. Beyond evaluating the intelligence of a prospective edge solution, you should also be mindful of its usability. If the software is too complex then usage will be limited to those select individuals who fully understand it. Finally, any worthy edge solution provider should be able to provide a live demonstration of their software’s capabilities. Even better, they should offer a free trial version of their edge solution to help you evaluate it in your real-world environment.

3. Are there any additional licensing fees for virtual machines?

Before you can sell your leadership team on an edge computing solution, you’ll need to understand the fully loaded costs of the infrastructure you’re buying. Imagine purchasing a new car only to find out that at the end of every year that you need to pay additional fees to fully utilize all of its capabilities? Therefore it’s important to consider all of the costs – for instance, do you need an additional license for a hypervisor like VMware or for advanced virtualization features like software defined storage? Do you need to purchase additional tools to remotely monitor remote hardware and software (i.e. VMWare vCenter or other cloud based management tools). You can read more about the hidden costs of VMware in this CRN interview with Scale Computing CEO, Jeff Ready.

4. How will maintenance and upgrades of remote devices and systems be handled?

The ease in which you can maintain your edge infrastructure should also be a key consideration when evaluating a potential solution. By their very nature, edge systems exist and operate in remote locations. This might mean a remote office far away from headquarters or it could be something even more extreme such as a freighter in the middle of the ocean. And because trained IT staff won’t be available to maintain and update these systems, it’s imperative that you understand the time and effort that will be required to keep your edge deployment up-to-date and fully operational. For organizations that have deployed edge to multiple different locations, it’s also important to assess an edge vendor’s ability to centrally deploy new functional and security updates across their estate and whether they are able to roll these out in a non-disruptive fashion.

5. How easily does your edge solution integrate with different cloud environments?

While many in the industry believe that the edge and the cloud are in fierce competition with one another, the reality is that there is a role and function for both and they should ideally complement each other. As the authors of this FCC whitepaper write, “instead of being in competition with each other, forward-looking organizations, and even many public cloud service providers, are beginning to consider how to selectively employ both.” A mature edge provider should be able to demonstrate integrations with the major public cloud providers including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, and IBM Cloud and should also be able to seamlessly run VMs in container environments such as Kubernetes and Docker.

6. How much training does your solution typically require for staff to be productive?

Every new solution that is introduced into your environment represents another layer of potential complexity. And while every tool will require some degree of training for the individuals tasked with managing your edge environment, the complexity of some tools will require significantly more time and effort than others. Because your IT staff already has too much on their plate, you don’t want them to have to spend days or weeks working to get certified on a new system. The most feature-rich edge solutions should pay as much attention to the usability and intuitiveness of their platform as they do to their capabilities matrix.

7. Can we speak to other customers in our industry who have deployed your edge solution?

Finally and perhaps most important of all, before making a final decision about a particular edge provider, you’ll want to speak to other businesses in your industry and their firsthand experience with a particular vendor as their insights can help identify potential issues and questions to ask by getting the unvarnished truth from other technology professionals who have actually applied the technology. Peer-review sites like Gartner Peer Insights, Spiceworks, TechValidate and TrustRadius also provide an essential lens into the real-world application of edge technologies and should be part of any due diligence process before making a final purchase decision.