Atlanta, GA
Ashburn, VA
Hanover, VA
OBX, NC
General Data
Core Data Center
Shiloh
Old Trap
of the data center closer to the device. This reduces the
number of hops to process and return, shortens the distance
traveled, and ensures that the data travels on a less
congested thoroughfare. It is also worth mentioning that
there are sometimes reasons beyond latency to consider
utilizing the edge. Such is the case with the aforementioned
video services. While they can tolerate a bit
of latency, some of those services have chosen to host
content at the edge to service densely populated clusters
of users rather than utilizing bandwidth on longer
distance paths.
Figure 5 details a hypothetical example of a supermarket
chain that illustrates how defining the edge is a continual
evolution. The example is purposely general and
is not intended to demonstrate specific latency requirements
32 I ICT TODAY
or physical distance of specific systems and equipment;
its intention is to show a possible scenario of geographical
migration of the edge in response to emerging
technologies.
To accommodate the need for lower latency for critical
data, the client chooses a multi-tenant edge facility (e.g.,
wholesale colocation data center, retail colocation data
center) in southern Virginia because it is closer to store
locations on the coast of North Carolina, thereby reducing
latency. The hosting costs are much less than the core data
center costs and that particular edge serves other services,
such as supplier information, security and tech support.
As technology advances, the client invests in a system that
provides near real-time stock status, number of customers
in a store, number of checkouts available, and other
FIGURE 5: Locations of the core, fog, and EDC
to accompany the hypothetical example of the
continual evolution of the edge and to demonstrate
a geographical migration of the edge as it may apply
to emerging technologies.
Hanover, VA
OBX, NC Critical Data
Near Edge Data Center (Fog)
Duck
Near Real Time Data
Edge Data Center
Micro Edge Data Center