Rethinking resiliency at the edge

• Edge computing still vital to operations.

• Security often compromised.

• Solution is prefabricated Micro Data Center Xpress.

The use of cloud computing by enterprise companies is still growing rapidly, and this greater dependency means businesses must rethink the physical infrastructure equipment (power, cooling, networking) remaining on-premises, at the ‘edge’.

“Large or extra-large cloud data centres now house many of the critical applications for enterprise businesses that once resided in their on-premises data centres," says Derek Friend, regional executive and head: Telco, C & SP at Schneider Electric. "However, not all applications have shifted to the cloud for various reasons, including regulations, company culture, proprietary applications and latency, to name a few.

“As a result, businesses are left with what we refer to as a ‘hybrid data centre environment’, or a mix of centralised cloud data centres, regional medium-to-large data centres, and smaller on-premises data centres.“

What once might have been a 1MW data centre at an enterprise's branch location may now consist of a couple of racks of IT equipment running critical applications and/or providing the network connectivity to the cloud. However, the decreased footprint and capacity of the on-premises data centre should not be equated with it being of lower importance, because in many cases, what has been left on-premises becomes more important.

With more applications living in the cloud, the connectivity to the cloud is crucial for business operations to continue. There is also a growing culture of millennial employees who demand ‘always on’ technology and cannot tolerate downtime disruption.

Unfortunately, most edge data centres today are fraught with poor design practices, with little thought being given to redundancy or availability, leading to costly downtime. Common problems include:

• Lack of security: Rooms are often unsecured; racks are often open (no doors).

• Unorganised racks: Cable management is an afterthought, causing cable clutter, obstructions to airflow within the racks and increased human error during adds/moves/changes. (See figure 1)

• No redundancy: Power (UPS, distribution) systems are often 1N, which decreases availability and the ability to keep systems up during maintenance.

• No dedicated cooling: These small rooms and closets often rely on the building’s comfort cooling, which can lead to overheated equipment.

• No Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) monitoring: These rooms are often left unmanaged, with no dedicated staff or software to manage the assets and ensure that downtime is avoided.

“This suggests that a change in how we design these small on-premises data centres is needed," says Friend. "We can no longer only focus on central and regional data centres. More focus should be directed on the localised sites because they are currently the weakest links. The typical design practices at the edge are inadequate, given the mission-critical nature of these sites."

Improvements should focus on:

• Physical security

• Monitoring (DCIM), operational practices, remote monitoring

• Redundant power and cooling

• Dual network connectivity

“The Schneider Electric prefabricated Micro Data Center Xpress is a simple way to ensure a secure, highly available environment at the edge. Prefabricated, factory built and tested, these centres offer the quickest deployment, the shortest possible lead time and wide configuration options. They are self-contained, secure computing environments in single IT rack size or smaller that enable latency reduction," says Friend.

“Best practices such as redundant uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), a secure organised rack, proper cable management and airflow practices, remote monitoring and dual network connectivity ensure that on-premises sites can achieve the operational success they require,” he concludes.