{"id":387,"date":"2019-03-29T10:39:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T16:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fatpipeinc.com\/?p=387"},"modified":"2024-08-01T08:41:09","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T14:41:09","slug":"the-intelligent-edge-where-are-we-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fatpipeinc.com\/blog\/the-intelligent-edge-where-are-we-today\/","title":{"rendered":"The Intelligent Edge-where are we today?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is it, and where is it going?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most WANs of today still use routers and technology that, at\nthe time, served a purpose and provided a mechanism to expand the network to\nremote branches and locations across the world using MPLS or similar protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But times have changed. \nTraffic on WANs has increased by almost 10 fold in the last 15\nyears.   T1 was \u201crevolutionary\u201d many years\nago, providing speeds of a blistering 1.5Mb\/s.    Today, this throughput is not going to make\nthe grade in 99% of WANs.   Fiber, or\noptical networks can reach speeds of over 100Gbps.   It is like buying a new car every 5\nyears.   You see the features and you\nwant them, as do network administrators.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what is the \u201cIntelligent Edge?\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, what really is \u201cthe edge\u201d?  A definition from Wikipedia is \u201can edge\ndevice provides an entry point into enterprise or service provider core\nnetworks.  It can be thought of as a\nrouter that provides authenticated access to faster more efficient backbone and\ncore networks.\u201d     Essentially, \u201cthe\nedge\u201d of any network is thought of to be a place where you generate, collect,\nand analyze data on the edge of the network where the data is generated rather\nthan in centralized servers and systems.  \nComputation is largely or completely performed on a distributed device\nnode known as smart device or edge device.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK \u2013 so now we understand \u201cwhat\u201d the edge is, so what is the\n\u201cintelligent edge?   As Wide Area\nNetworks grew and became more complicated with more and more devices being\nattached, both hard wired, wireless and remote, the need for bandwidth\nincreased, dramatically.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today \u2013 there are almost 24 Billion devices connected to the\ninternet with the expectation of 50 billion by 2020.    Think of the \u201cintelligent Edge\u201d as a place\nwhere computing occurs.   It is\n\u201cintelligent\u201d because there is technology there that has ability to control,\nanalyze and compute.   This can be a\nmanufacturing floor, a farm crop field, a city, your home, power plant, sports\narena, your car, in the air, or under the sea. \nThese interrelated computing devices or objects are referred to as the\nInternet of Things (IoT) and these devices are driving how and why the \u201cintelligent\nedge\u201d is becoming a key focus for network managers.   This\nintelligent edge connects these devices, performs analytics, computes, and can\ncontrol actions that were formerly confined to the central or cloud based data\ncenters.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The usage and access demand is what is driving \u201cedge\u201d\ntechnologies and solutions.   It is much\nbetter to access the information and data as close to the connection point as\npossible.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average, users have 5 different devices to attach to the\nnetwork.    Of course they expect to\nattach to a network and access the applications and data they need,\ninstantly.   But this requires a network\nwith agility, flexibility and \u201cintelligence\u201d to understand where the requests\nare coming from, how to manage the requests in the most efficient and effective\nmanner possible and to provide reliable connectivity which, after all, is why\nsensors and monitors are being installed in machines such as wind turbines, to monitor\nvibration, wear and operating effectiveness, and help prevent brownouts or\nblackouts.    However, without constant\nand reliable connectivity, the data provided by these sensors would be \u201clost\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The un-intelligent router in all its forms is struggling to\nfind relevance in this scenario. The availability of ethernet handoff is\nkilling the router business. They are trying hard to find relevance in this\nscenario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So where next for the \u201cintelligent edge\u201d?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated earlier, more and more devices are being connected\nand more and more data being collected on a multitude of things to help\nstreamline decision making to prevent downtime or in the worst cases,\nfailure.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networks of the future are going to be driven by the need\nfor instant information, instant decisions, and instant remediation.   All of which is why the \u201cintelligent edge\u201d\nwill become a mainstream \u201cproduct\u201d in the design and implementation of ANY\nnetwork.      Having said that, what does\nthis mean for networks of today, and what should the administrators plan for to\nembrace these changes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at the current most important issues faced by\nnetwork administrators and how embracing intelligent edge devices will affect\nhow these issues might be dealt with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly \u2013 Security:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many recent surveys suggest the number one issue faced by\nnetwork administrators worldwide is, security. \nSecurity of data, whether in transmission or stored somewhere is\ncritical.    We just have to look at the problems faced\nwith social media company data breaches, credit card company breaches and\nothers to know that data security is by far and away the number one issue.  Can the \u201cintelligent edge\u201d help?  Yes and no.  \nIt is not the \u201cedge\u2019 that can prevent hacking, it is the underlying\nsoftware that transmits the data that is key.   \nThe transmission of data across the network, from edge device or user to\ndata center to other devices, needs to be secure.   Administrators need to deploy software\nsolutions that provide highly secure data transmission, and that includes data\nfrom the edge.    The intelligent edge,\ndoes however, compute locally and provides a more local management issue, rather\nthan a broad network security issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second:- Ease of\nManagement:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believe it or not, the costs of recruiting, training,\ncertifying and managing skilled IT staff is becoming a major issue for any\nbusiness.   The days of paying for\ncontinuing education and propriety certification are waning.   Today, administrators are looking for\nsolutions that are easy to manage, especially when devices and or offices are\nremote.   The Intelligent Edge should be\nsimple, easy to install and manage remotely, and for the most part, this is\ntrue once the devices are installed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third: –\nCompatibility with existing networks:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations are reluctant to rip and replace their\nnetworks.   If a solution can augment\nexisting installations, administrators will look favorably at these\nrecommendations.  So, does the\nintelligent edge help with these decisions?   \nCertainly, as they can use existing infrastructure provided there is an\nunderlying software that can manage data transmission and device access\nsecurely and reliably.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth: – Network\nperformance:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latency, bandwidth, reliability, duplication and overall\ncost of the network are all top of mind. \nIntelligent edge devices cannot perform or provide the benefits they\nclaim to bring to a business if the underlying network is slow, unreliable or\nusing legacy systems that are slow and difficult to manage or update.    The Intelligent Edge is only going to be as\ngood as the network infrastructure it is connected to.  The bottom line here is to make sure the\nnetwork is configured to take advantage of intelligent edge device data.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Intelligent Edge is certainly something that can help network\nadministrators predict the future more accurately.  The more data these devices provide, the\nbetter the decision will be on how to use this information, and with the advent\nof AI, this information can be acted on immediately, providing \u201cinstant\u201d\nremediation or feedback that helps businesses learn what we like, when\nequipment may malfunction, where to route data to avoid a line failure, how to\nprepare for the best solution, and even where we might choose to travel to\nnext.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So just install intelligent edge devices and move\non?   Stop!    Read this first!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in this article, we mentioned the need for the\nunderlying network infrastructure to be \u201cintelligent edge\u201d ready.    Remember, you can have all the sensors and\nmonitoring services available, but if the data they produce is not getting to\nthe right places at the right time, you are back to square one.    Adding more devices or \u201cedge services\u201d does\nnot make network administration easier unless you have the right network\nsolution to take advantage of these benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without installing software solutions to monitor and manage\nyour edge devices, the \u201cintelligent edge\u201d becomes another user on the\nnetwork.   In order to take advantage of\nthe many benefits the \u201cintelligent edge\u201d provides, you need to make sure your\nnetwork is ready.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must be ready to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n