FIVE MINUTES WITH ...
Q . HOW ELSE CAN EDGE TECHNOLOGY ASSIST THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS ?
» “ Digital twin technologies – creating real-time virtual simulations of manufacturing processes with live data – will enable manufacturers to run scenarios to see where they can improve or adapt processes , giving them the confidence to make important decisions very quickly .
“ Rapidly growing awareness of these transformational advantages is why market intelligence company IDC estimates discrete and process manufacturing companies will invest US $ 33 . bn in edge architecture in 2022 .
“ It can , however , be difficult to see through the various configurations proposed for 5G and edge computing , which include small data centres close to phone masts or allied to radio access network base stations . We are already seeing , however , that private , localised 5G networks are gaining popularity with large enterprises such as port operators , while telecommunications companies are fast collaborating with cloud-providers on businessoriented solutions .”
Q . TELL US MORE ABOUT EDGE DATA CENTRES AND HOW MANUFACTURERS CAN MAKE USE OF THEM
» “ Most advanced manufacturing applications will depend on data from sensors , which are relatively ‘ dumb ’ devices . The IoT gateways needed to process this data can only do so efficiently and cost-effectively in a fully mature edge data centre .
“ Manufacturing enterprises looking to embrace the edge should seek out such highly connected edge infrastructure platforms . Edge data centres need to be in a spread of strategic locations with low-latency connections to diverse connectivity-
“ A MANUFACTURER WITH EDGE APPLICATIONS WILL FIND IT EXTREMELY CHALLENGING WITHOUT EDGE-ENABLED MANAGEMENT TOOLS ”
20 October 2022