Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2019. Read them in this 11th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Bruce Kornfeld,
General Manager - Americas, StorMagic
2019 Predictions: The Edge Evolution
It's no secret that the
adoption of edge computing has been on a steady rise in recent years - so where
will it take us in 2019? The increased use of encryption-enabled software
solutions will now be mandatory due to the clear market movement towards
decentralized storage at the edge. Cost and increased security will become king
at the edge due to several market shifts during 2018. Organizations will no
longer tolerate being oversold unnecessary hardware and will turn to network
virtualization in unison as a more practical, cost-efficient solution.
Here's a list of 2019
market predictions that StorMagic envisions for edge sites:
1. The Continued Rise
of SDS. More and more data collection and processing is being conducted
through software-defined storage (SDS) solutions, so the importance of and
reliance on hardware-centric solutions will continue its decline. Customers
will continue the trend towards software adoption as most SDS solutions are
hardware agnostic and allow for ultimate flexibility. Organizations will no
longer accept being oversold custom hardware products and services from
manufacturers just looking to make a buck.
2. Encryption and other
Cybersecurity Methods Skyrocket. As facial recognition software goes
mainstream in retail outlets, vehicle monitors become standard and video
surveillance cameras pop up seemingly everywhere, more organizations have
further insight into the mass population than ever before. The rise of "Big
Brother" introduces the potential for wrongdoing and misuse of data.
Organizations will be forced to focus more of their time and budget on measures
to protect sensitive data.
3. Adoption of
Open-Source Hypervisors. End users are tired of paying the "hypervisor tax"
- which significantly increases the total cost of edge computing solutions.
They still require virtualization to be able to run all their local apps on one
highly available system, but open source hypervisors have improved so much and
are now ready for enterprise-class usage. We'll start to see this movement at
the edge first (where cost is king) and eventually work its way to the primary
datacenter.
4. The Rise of SDN
and NFV. The two network virtualization approaches-Software Defined
Networking and Network Function Virtualization-will interweave with highly
available software-defined storage solutions at the edge due to their
affordability and ease of use. Again, the days of IT being dependent on expensive,
proprietary hardware are numbered.
As your organization
plans for 2019, consider encryption-ready, software-based solutions that can
unlock the potential of your existing hardware to reduce costs, save time and
eliminate stress. 2019 will be a time where IT generalists, who have replaced
IT specialists, will have more options than ever before to transform, secure
and simplify their edge computing environments. Follow me on Twitter
@brucekornfeld to continue the discussion.
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About the Author
Bruce is an experienced
technology executive who has held leadership roles in marketing, alliances and
business development in the storage, server, networking and software
industries. He joined StorMagic in 2017 as CMO, and today serves as general
manager of the Americas, where he is responsible for the Americas region sales
and go-to-market strategy, as well as global strategic alliances and marketing.
Prior to joining StorMagic, Bruce held marketing leadership positions at
Compellent, Dell and NCR. He helped Compellent grow its revenue from $9M to
more than $150M, which led to their IPO and eventual sale to Dell for $960M and
was instrumental in building and growing Dell's first storage division to over
$1bn.