From the Metro to the Neighborhood – Introducing the Flexential Local Edge Solution
The last nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the importance of network communications in nearly everything we do. Network-based interactions are increasing, with International Data Corporation (IDC) predicting that by 2025 every connected human in the world will have a digital interaction every 18 seconds. Increasingly, this interaction will be enabled by 5G, IoT and AI as these technologies mature and drive value into our businesses and economies. As these transactions grow, our networks and the applications they support must be robust, resilient, secure and capable of providing low latency.
Building robust services requires reducing single failure points, increasing tolerance of data mobility and coherency, and looking at distributed application models to support next-generation applications. The growth of data and the resulting transactions to build business value increase the need for distributed, low latency connectivity and access to compute and storage services at the edge, where data is being generated and used.
Edge computing services support a variety of industries and applications. Manufacturing quality and safety, supply chain security, mobile healthcare and smart health devices, transportation and logistics, next-generation media and entertainment—including e-sports—and autonomous vehicles, are growing in usage as contactless services become more important worldwide.
For applications like these, latency is an experience killer. As more data is generated at the edge, it needs to be quickly processed, prioritized, analyzed and turned into results. Secure copies of data and transactions will be replicated upstream to other facilities and data centers to support robust and resilient services and long-term decision-making. Secure edge delivery that is supported by robust cloud and last mile network services is key.
Recently, Flexential announced the introduction of Flexential Local Edge, designed to enable low latency, always-on, secure and resilient edge experiences. Powered by the Flexential Interconnection Platform, Flexential Local Edge will be available in initial markets including Denver and Boulder (Broomfield), Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia. Flexential also announced the addition of access to the Colo Atl (an American Tower company) facility at 55 Marietta Street in Atlanta, linking another major carrier hotel to the Flexential Interconnection Platform and providing even more access in the southeast region, as well as connectivity to Flexential’s Local Edge data center on the south side of Atlanta.
Flexential Local Edge was born from a partnership between Flexential and American Tower, the world’s largest wireless infrastructure provider. American Tower’s secure, professionally managed Local Edge data center is co-located at tower sites across the country, allowing for flexible options in deploying hardware at the edge. Local Edge extends cloud services to Flexential edge data center locations, providing robust services on the Flexential Interconnection Platform, including premium multi-carrier IP bandwidth with automated DDoS scrubbing, data center interconnect, and cloud connectivity to providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure.
This joint service will enable next-generation edge, IoT, 5G and AI applications to support increased data acquisition and analysis at the edge—resulting in smarter transportation infrastructure, faster 5G deployments, improved quality and reduced costs for a variety of industrial and manufacturing IoT needs.
For further information about Flexential Local Edge, please visit https://www.flexential.com/connectivity/flexential-interconnection-platform/local-edge-solution
Jason Carolan
Jason leads a team focused on defining, assessing and providing direction on the changing technology landscape facing Flexential customers.