The network edge where public and private traffic joins up with other networks, geographies and technologies has been the foundation of global telecommunications. The network edge is what makes the public network public and the Internet ubiquitous. As the number of users and volume of data grow exponentially, the edge where these networks must seamlessly and securely interconnect is critical to the reliable delivery of every digital service.
As the edge evolves to include connections between terrestrial networks, wireless networks, cloud providers and a variety of private enterprise infrastructure, interconnect mediation becomes exponentially more complex. Today, data centers play a vital role as hubs where participants deploy digital infrastructure, interconnect and operate their businesses.
The Evolving Edge
Where once the network edge connected one centralized telco network to another at a meet-me room, now the network edge needs to be much more flexible and capable. Technology advances are improving reliability and creating networking options that have not been previously available or feasible. For both businesses and consumers, there is no longer fixed or wireless; voice, data or video—only devices and applications.
Operators are deploying subsea, space-based and a variety of wireless and wireline solutions to connect customers and move business data. That makes interconnection at the edges of this wide variety of networks much more difficult. Securely and reliably mediating traffic across all the necessary domains to rapidly deliver high volumes of data from one place to another is the difference between success and failure at the edge.
As businesses commit more and more critical processes to the Internet, they are relying on operators and hyperscale providers to deliver reliable and secure connections at scale. Networks, clouds and enterprises all require interconnection and as 5G enables more agile and secure mobile and fixed wireless access for businesses; the edge can become a bottleneck or an asset.
Delivering fixed wireless access, virtual network services, and private wireless networks are all possible with 5G. But businesses need those services to come with Quality of Service (QOS) and performance guarantees.
Taking Action at the Edge
Technology solves important business challenges but as network operators, cloud providers and enterprises invest in new digital services and technologies, there remains a fundamental challenge and it’s not risk versus reward – it’s risk versus scale. Scale has long been the biggest challenge for operators and cloud providers as the number of transactions and volume of traffic increases exponentially. As enterprises adopt 5G technology, they must ensure their suppliers take the necessary steps to deliver business-class services while maintaining performance and reliability.
One of the early promises and challenges with 5G has been business class performance and latency. Most mobile operators exchange data primarily over the Internet, often across hundreds of miles. The result is the inability to deliver QOS or low latency. Running business applications reliably over 5G requires that interconnections move much closer to the customer, requiring a type of distributed edge to directly interconnect radio networks to the infrastructure hosting enterprise workloads.
While enterprises recognize the value of cloud, digital and wireless services they have no desire to install, interconnect, operate or maintain the infrastructure required to take advantage of those technologies. Focus is on the core business and businesses of all sizes will look to operators, clouds and technology vendors to get the job done. Digital service providers must deploy and interconnect their services wisely to guarantee the quality and performance enterprises require.
The edge is not merely a physical or architectural construct. The edge is an ecosystem of networks, clouds, datacenters and enterprises. The success of 5G depends on all the members of the digital supply chain, working together, at the interconnected edge.
Network-to-network, network-to-cloud, and cloud-to-cloud interconnect all require unique
architectures and approaches. As a vendor-neutral provider, Equinix has been delivering edge interconnection services for more than 20 years. As the edge expands, the company continues to deploy new sites, while growing existing IBX sites to accommodate both traditional and next generation wired, wireline, space-based and subsea communications networks.
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