While not as high profile as the AI announcements made at the recent Dell TechWorld event, Dell is making Edge computing a much simpler process for the many vertical industries that need the technology to accelerate and modernize their business, but may not have the expertise and/or resources to do so. With Dell Native Edge, Dell is moving the edge from a “do it yourself” model, into a “solution in a box”, drop ship model that relives the burden for companies deploying Edge systems.
As digital transformation has taken hold, Edge computing has become mission critical for many organizations, especially verticals like retail, food service, health care, logistics, etc. These industries typically have many (even thousands) of locations that could benefit greatly from localized compute. Currently many are served by centralized computing, requiring sending all data over high speed networks and reliable connectivity to a central location. This often results in latency issues and downtime. The hyperscalers (e.g., AWS, Microsoft Azure) offer ‘localized cloud instances” that try and make it more attractive to deploy local computer resources, especially if the organization is already a big user of cloud services. But many organizations are not yet ready for this model and/or are not fully committed to one cloud provider.
Creating a viable edge strategy is difficult. To do it right, organizations can’t simply take their apps and solutions and shift them to a remote computer. In most cases, the remote location will need customized capabilities specific to their needs, and those remote locations often lack skilled IT resources required to manage the installation. Further, with an array of edge devices (e.g., clients, servers, gateways), the security exposure increases dramatically, and a fully zero trust security model is a must. It’s also likely that connectivity for the edge to the central data center may not be available 100% of the time, requiring a standalone capability for offline use to compensate. All of the above challenges have limited the mass deployment of edge systems in many organizations.
Dell plans to change this by offering an “Edge in the Box” solution catered to the specific needs of an organization. It preconfigures applications/solutions including hardware and necessary workload software, drop ships the solution to the various deployment locations, and remotely manages the solution for the customer. In essence, Dell becomes the managed edge solution provider that alleviates a major need for the organization to deploy skilled resources, allowing them to concentrate on their key business needs (e.g., retailing) and not have to build out a distributed IT organization that includes remote resources. Further, it does not necessarily require a full commitment to a public cloud based infrastructure solution which the organization may not yet be ready for.
In the first offering of NativeEdge, Dell will target a vertical retail edge solution focused on micro fulfillment centers, and working on top of another retail system that may already be in place. As with many of its current solutions, NativeEdge is following an APEX strategy that puts Dell at the center of providing a full solution suite to companies on a consumption-based model.
The one negative to this offering is that Dell plans to use its own management system to manage the remote installations. They claim that in the typical distributed environment, which is more OT than IT oriented, this won’t be an issue. But we believe IT and OT are merging, even if that will take several years to be fully accomplished. Many companies have already invested in a centralized, “one pane of glass” management approach (e.g., Microsoft), and this Dell solution is a one-off. A similar issue played out in the mobile world, with many smartphone management solutions in the early stages moving from uniquely mobile management to then be incorporated into more filly inclusive systems, and it’s likely that Edge will follow a similar path. While the Dell NativeEdge solutions remain fully Dell controlled, this is not a major issue. But we expect most organizations over the next several years to want to fully integrate Edge management with their existing assets.
Bottom Line: Dell is lowering the barrier to making edge a critical component for many industries that now rely on an often antiquated central processing model. As enterprises digitally transform, Edge offers many benefits, including more local productivity, enhanced reliability, and elimination of network dependence. Localized processing can go a long way towards making overall connectivity much more reliable and also limit the need for as much central compute capability, thus saving cost and improving operational efficiency. With the APEX model extended to the edge, Dell is making it a much simpler process for organizations to deploy. While there are many System Integrators trying to do something similar, the scale of Dell and its wide reach of solutions put it well ahead of the typical SI. We believe Dell NativeEdge is a major step forward in making edge computing a realitistic and easily deployed solution for a wide variety of organizations.
Jack Gold is founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, LLC. With more than 45 years of experience in the computer and electronics industries, and as an industry analyst for more than 25 years, he covers the many aspects of business and consumer computing and emerging technologies. Follow him on Twitter @jckgld or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jckgld.