The hyper-converged SimpliVity 2600 could finally bring the IoT in from the cold.
The biggest obstacle to widespread IoT adoption is a simple one: the technology wasn’t designed for the centralized network infrastructure it relies on today. While small numbers of near-proximity devices are easily integrated into unified cloud architectures, today’s profusive distributed network of AI-powered home assistants, smoke detectors, and light bulbs have been relegated to the far edge.
But with 8.4 billion connected IoT devices, and another 70 billion on their way over the next decade, it’s getting harder and harder for the IT industry to ignore them. Luckily, the launch of HPE’s SimpliVity 2600, built from the ground up for IoT network integration, may give major industry players occasion to show the IoT some dedicated love. And it could be the beginning of a new era for enterprise IoT — one that solves problems posed by edge computing and enables the IoT to harness all the pie-in-the-sky applications we’ve been hearing about for so long.
The Edge Computing Problem
Inexpensive, distributed, and often deployed in remote locations, IoT devices working at the edge tend to suffer bandwidth bottlenecks due to relatively poor connectivity. Unfortunately, they also tend to require ultra low latency — you don’t want remote burglar alarms to suffer from any degree of lag time.
For these reasons, processing and storing IoT data in the cloud usually doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you can just compute that data locally, which is to say, within the device itself. But while this decentralized computing approach is cheaper, faster, and simpler, it also creates distributed infrastructure silos. Data isn’t very useful if you can’t access and process it in unified contexts, and keeping data consistent, synchronized, and secure is a challenge in distributed applications.
The eternal tradeoff is one between centralized cloud processing and storage, which brings data integrity and convenience, and decentralization, which reduces latency and bandwidth requirements. You can’t enjoy the benefits of both at the same time. Instead, what we historically aimed for is a solution that achieves some happy medium between the two.
A Hyper-converged Solution
Hyper-converged IT infrastructures have been making their way into the enterprise for a few years now, but with the launch of HPE’s compact (17.64 in. x 33.02 in.) VMware-based appliance, they’re now coming to the IoT as well. SimpliVity 2600’s two-node cluster allows for closer integration between distributed IoT networks and the cloud.
The highly scalable, software-defined, VM-centric platform is designed to simplify the management of distributed systems like IoT deployments across a heterogeneous infrastructure. By offloading compute-intensive tasks to distributed servers closer to the edge, latency is reduced, while the consistency and synchronization of data is maintained.
Unlocking the Potential of the IoT
As the IoT expands in size and complexity, the demand for more efficient computing “at the edge” will escalate. The wide-ranging list of potential applications for IoT in the enterprise has the potential to transform entire industries. Enterprises able to leverage the power of IoT-enabled systems stand to reap substantial rewards — but they can’t do it without the right infrastructure.
Network infrastructure experts like Turn-key Technologies (TTI) can help businesses leverage the power of the IoT with cutting-edge technologies that bring siloed device networks into closer integration with the cloud, and address the latent problems associated with distributed networks.
With over two decades of experience, a roster of happy customers, and a highly credentialed team of skilled specialists, TTI has the tools to transform companies of all sizes into the IoT-enabled enterprises of the future.