Why Does Hosting Applications on Edge Servers Matter a Lot?

One of the technology industry’s premier analytical organizations Gartner defines Edge computing as “the physical location where things and people connect with the networked, digital world.” According to one of the world’s most popular technology service consultants Accenture, in computing and the IT hosting industry the Edge means “processing data closer to where it’s being generated, enabling processing at greater speeds and volumes, leading to greater action-led results in real-time.”

In simple words, an Edge device is one that collects and processes data as close as possible to where it is generated. For example, if the task is to collect and analyze the traffic data on a specific major transportation hub, the devices that collect the data should be on-site. Hosting and processing the data in one location is virtually impossible in an open environment or inside facilities, that are not built and do not meet the security of hosting sensitive data. Here is where edge data centers fit into the industry’s landscape.

To be considered an Edge Data Center, a facility must be physically close to the point where the data is collected and it must have direct internet connectivity with fewer network hops to the edge location. Here we come to one very important thing – although the major cloud providers (aka “hyperscalers”) have advanced automation platforms and networks, they often lack data centers that meet the edge requirements. The so-called “Major Clouds” also charge their clients for IOPS, DNS zones, and DNS queries and most importantly for each GB of transmitted data, despite that they do not offer the low latency required for instant data processing. Therefore, although the major hyperscalers have become the first-choice IT infrastructure providers that host automated applications, they are far from being a good choice for hosting an edge infrastructure.

Here is where Edge Hosting providers come in favor of the application service providers. Such providers specialize in building cloud infrastructure delivery platforms that offer computing capacity in data centers that offer real-time data processing to a specific local market.

There are two types of Edge infrastructure – Edge Bare-Metal and Edge Cloud. Both allow application providers to maximize security, performance, and application orchestration control at the edge. “Edge-Bare-Metal” is a term that refers to physical dedicated servers, where organizations lease physical (Bare-Metal) server appliances exclusively, as single tenants. The “Edge Cloud” refers to leasing a virtual environment, that resides on an underlying physical infrastructure shared by multiple tenants. Price-wise the “Edge Cloud” is a more economical infrastructure solution, as it is based on the Cloud infrastructure sharing model. The “Edge Bare-Metal” is usually more costly as it dedicates physical computing capacity to one organization and allows it to redistribute it internally and apply its own IT infrastructure management policies.

Both Edge Bare-Metal and Edge Cloud Edge servers and edge data centers play a very important role in enhancing the performance and efficiency of software applications that deliver services to local markets.

Instant Data Processing and Application Delivery

If an organization needs to deliver application services to the Greater New York City Area, for example, using any major cloud is not the best option. The proper solution is to lease a New York Dedicated Server, hosted in a specific edge data center in the city or in the metropolitan area, which is connected to a network with as many peers as possible. This will guarantee that the hosted content is closer to end-users and the application’s data is delivered with the lowest possible round-trip delay.

When data is processed on servers in edge data centers, the applications can quickly retrieve information without waiting for round-trip communication to a centralized data center. It is exactly the opposite when the data is hosted with any of the major hyper-scalers, who are good for scaling and delivering data nationwide or internationally, but not to the local market.

Enhanced Network Security

When hosted on edge servers the data travels less over the internet from the server where they are hosted to their users and goes through fewer internet network devices. Since sensitive data remains closer to the source, there’s less exposure during transmission over broader networks. On the networking level can be implemented improved security protocols at the edge to safeguard the data against threats.

Increased Operational Efficiency

When the technology operations are based on a distributed computing model that utilizes appliances that collect data on the edge and transmit it for processing to the closest edge data centers, a higher operation efficiency is achieved. The whole industrial workflow is being improved and there is either less or zero overload of the technology systems.

On a networking level, the application overload and especially the higher latency increase the business cost for data transfer. This is the point where Edge Hosting is beating the Cloud ten times out of ten. Unlike the applications hosted on the major clouds, those that are hosted in edge data centers, feature a high operational efficiency at the lowest possible recurring costs.

This IT model of application and data distribution between edge-hosted servers optimizes resource utilization, prevents systems overload, guarantees efficient use of computing power, and ensures that the organization will not face skyrocketing bills for IT infrastructure.

When hosted on servers in edge data centers, the applications can scale horizontally by adding more edge servers as needed, adapting to changing demand without overloading a centralized infrastructure, hosted in a single data center.

In summary, edge servers and edge data centers enhance local services by minimizing latency, improving security, optimizing operational efficiency, and decreasing the total cost of ownership of the IT infrastructure.