Orchestrating enterprise edge technology solutions
When contemplating things like connected and autonomous vehicles, smart manufacturing and industry 4.0 use cases, remote operations on oil rigs and in mines, and safe spaces and smarter cities – these all require very low latency processing and generate large data volumes. Any delays could spell disaster!
The promise of edge technology is clear. It meets the needs of these highly reactive systems – pushing data processing and compute out to where speed and reliability are critical for real-time decision-making, successful customer experience, and intelligent operations.
Though edge communication can be realized with other technologies, it is 5G that will accelerate edge adoption.
5G’s higher bandwidth, ultra-low latency, and increased data rates inherently support the high performance, low latency requirements of edge computing. Multi-access edge computing (MEC) coupled with 5G network virtualization will enable dynamically scalable instances of edge compute at the mobile network infrastructure edge.
CSPs are well placed to respond to enterprise growing demand for edge solutions
CSPs are well placed with their existing physical network infrastructure (BSC/RNC) to locate edge computing infrastructure close to the physical location where it is needed.
Many are already forming partnerships with public cloud network providers to enrich their offering with edge cloud solutions and edge computing.
But it is the role of an ecosystem orchestrator for 5G edge enterprise use-cases that will place CSPs in the strongest position to capture the edge opportunity:
• Offer end-to-end edge solutions – including dedicated connectivity, IoT edge devices, edge cloud, 5G, MEC & industry specific AI
• Pool their strengths by collaboratively working with public cloud providers and network vendors in joint go-to-market initiatives
• Sell via channel partners as vertically specialized resellers in a B2B relationship
To capture a significant share of the edge technology opportunity, CSPs will need to learn to work with partners, and for this CSPs will need the right business capabilities.
