Telco Edgility Chief Product Officer18 Dec 2023 11:29
Spotted this somewhat lengthy article last week by Telco’s Chief Product officer, shown below Why hyperscalers can’t make the cut Dec 6, 2023 | Ziv Koren
First was on-premises
Once upon a timethe digital world was defined by on-prem software. It was the backbone of our operations, but it came with a host of challenges. Deployment was cumbersome, updates and patches meant extensive downtime, and security was hard to establish and even harder to maintain.
And then came the cloud
The cloud was a game-changer. Now you could update your software as often as needed, keeping your customers happy with new and improved features hot out of R&D ovens.
Enter: The edge
The managed edge holds the promise of extending the convenience of cloud computing, to on-prem computing, so essentially you get the best of both worlds. Software deployment, updates, maintenance, and scaling become simpler and easier to handle, yet compute stays closer to your users and your data, which means you get real-time insights and smarter decision-making right where you need it.
But, for on-prem to become a managed edge and truly fulfill its potential, it must be reliably connected to the cloud (at least part time) – a vital link that adds a layer of management complexity and cost.
So how do hyperscalers fail at the edge?
Let’s look at the cost of managed hardware. When deploying to the cloud we’re usually unaware of the physical hardware costs, but deploying on the edge can easily translate to hundreds of sites and thousands of compute devices. When multiplying these numbers by the cost of managed hardware configurations offered by Azure, AWS, and GCP the numbers will make your CFO cry.
You need reliable, guaranteed, and secure connectivity that connects your edge compute to your cloud backbone. Hyperscalers simply take that as someone else’s problem.
A concrete use case
Now, let’s put theory into practice with a real-life example. Think about a massive ready-mix concrete manufacturer with global operations. Their challenge was that each customer or construction project has their own special formula for the mix, and the mix has to be ready in time for the cement truck pickup. They decided to go for a virtualized approach and looked for a solution that would enable them to deploy the AI models on cheaper white- box servers and to manage both on-prem network and compute from a single hub.
The manufacturer gained control of their network and simplified the complexity of managing thousands of edge compute devices across multiple sites. While achieving smooth and secure connectivity is crucial, hyperscalers, while excelling in cloud deployments, fall short at the large-scale edge. The connected edge doesn’t have to be complex and costly. Opting for a unified solution, that combines secure, robust connectivity with white-box flexibility, and simplifies the mess of managing at scale, proves pivotal in achieving a cost-effective and efficient edge. Ziv Kore
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