HPE is building up for the rise of the "edge", where data-intensive workloads such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and augmented and virtual reality apps will be hosted. Cloud computing is still crucial for massive computing power and scalability, but to cater for real-time handling of vastly growing volumes of data it will be essential for processing to decentralise. This is the edge, and it’s where HPE is positioning itself to be a leader.
Telcos already have thousands of edge sites powering mobile and fixed networks, so they are uniquely positioned to lead the edge services market. However, until now telcos haven’t had the tools to do this themselves without relying on public cloud providers. To capitalise on the edge services opportunity, telcos need to bring applications from the cloud out to the edge and here HPE Edge Orchestrator - along with HPE Edgeline and HPE ProLiant servers - fits in. This new HPE offering enables telcos to unlock major business benefits for their customers:
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- Lower latency: When applications can process requests locally instead of routing them to a data centre, they can deliver much better performance.
- Bandwidth optimisation: Positioning application intelligence out at the edge, such as doing number-crunching closer to where the numbers are generated, greatly reduces the wide-area network (WAN) bandwidth the application requires.
- Improved security and privacy: Any time businesses transmit data over a network, they’re potentially exposing it to security threats.
HPE Edge Orchestrator enables enterprises to easily combine their applications with network services offered by telcos, thus creating an end-to-end flow across the edge. Today, HPE Edge Orchestrator supports Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) with other network-as-a-service (NaaS) functions being added to the catalogue over time. The MEC platform enables applications to run at the edge while delivering network services that ensure a dynamic routing of edge traffic in 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi environments.
“Today, telcos have significant enterprise business, but they are often seen as little more than bandwidth providers, competing mostly on price,” said Phil Mottram, Vice President and General Manager of the Communications and Media Solutions business unit at HPE. “HPE Edge Orchestrator empowers telcos to move up the value chain and become trusted edge services providers, offering differentiated, high-value enterprise services as well as new edge applications for their mobile subscribers. Furthermore, telcos will be positioned to compete more effectively with cloud and over-the-top competitors.”
HPE Edge Orchestrator will be available as a service to telcos from July 31, 2020.
