Jan-Feb 2020 - ChannelVision Magazine

VIRTUAL REALITY interdependency of the infrastructure. How does this all fit together? Once you understand how the components fit together, you’ll realize that a one-size-fits-all mentality won’t work. Instead, think about what your customer is actually trying to achieve, and tailor your recommendations around their desired outcomes. It’s your job to bring the pieces of the puzzle together for your customers. Become an expert The products are important, but let’s face it: the products themselves aren’t the differentiator in the channel. So, it becomes about who is easiest to work with, who is the most reliable, and who is the most trusted. Customers are looking for convenience and an overall experience that puts them at ease. Training is key to being able to provide value in this evolving environ- ment. Partner programs, such as those offered by Vertiv, can help you become a specialist and expert. It’s key for your customers to know that you are well- versed in various edge use cases and that you have the knowledge to lead them on their edge journey. Be proactive We all know the edge is here to stay. In fact, studies tell us it’s only going to expand in the coming years. One such study from Emerson Network Power found that more than half of participants who have edge sites today or expect to have them in 2025 expect the number of edge sites they support to grow by at least 100 percent, with 20 percent ex- pecting a 400 percent or more increase. In order to capitalize, now is the time to be proactive with your customers. Familiarize yourself with the various use cases at the edge, so that you can better look ahead for your customers. Last year, we categorized 24 top use cases into four edge archetypes, based on their performance requirements. These categories can be a helpful way to better understand the bandwidth, la- tency, availability and security needs at the edge – and how those needs differ based on the use cases. I recommend learning about a vari- ety of edge use cases, especially ones that may seem outside of your custom- ers’ typical lanes. This can allow you to transfer your learnings between cus- tomers and industries. A great place to start is the data intensive archetype. Edge use cases that are data intensive – such as smart homes, virtual reality and HD video content – require low-latency interactions with so much data that storing it in the cloud is impractical. Rather, it makes sense to process the data at the edge. IoT technologies that drive smart homes and factories must be able to support multiple data- intensive devices and systems. Mas- sive amounts of compute are required at the edge of networks to enable these devices to decide which data needs to go to a local, regional or cloud data center for processing and which data can stay on-site. The life critical archetype is for use cases that directly impact human health and safety, from digital health to autonomous vehicles. Hospitals, in par- ticular, are a huge growth area at the edge. From electronic health records and cyber medicine to self-monitoring devices and wearables, the healthcare industry is in the midst of a data evolu- tion. These applications require a focus on security and availability, since a data breach or downtime could have a direct impact on patient care. This archetype shares similarities with data intensive, but it places a greater emphasis on se- curity, whereas data intensive is more focused on latency. Cultivating this knowledge of the edge landscape will help you better serve your customers both now and in the years to come. Right now is the time to build your edge muscles by thinking holistically, becoming a trusted expert and acting proactively. o . Martin Olsen serves as VP, global edge and integrated solutions for Vertiv, and leads the com- pany’s efforts to deliver integrated physical infrastructure, deployment services, and remote management at the edge of the network. “What will be the primary data requirement for your edge applications in 2025?” (Among industry professionals with a variety of roles supporting the data center) IoT's Impact on Retail Busines es, % Strongly Agree Source: Retail Systems Research Source: Vertiv Business Approaches Taken by To Source: CompTIA The Edge EcoSystem 17% 42% 22% 20% Business Adoption of Virtualization Source: Spiceworks Data intensive (high bandwidth) Machin -to-machine communications (very low latency) Human latency sensitive (latency impacts human experienc ) Life critical (high criticality, low latency) DATA INTENSIVE MACHINE TO MACHINE LATENCY SENSITIVE LIFE CRITICAL HUMAN LATENCY SENSITIVE • Restricted Connectivity • Smart Cities • Smart Factories • HD Content Distribution • High-Performance Computing • Virtual Reality • Oil and Gas Digitization • Smart Security • Smart Grid • Low-Latency Content Dist. • Arbitrage Market • Real-time Analytics • Defense Force Simulation • Digital Health • Connected/Autonomous Cars • Drones • Smart Transportation • Autonomous Robots • Web Site Optimization • Augmented Reality • Smart Retail • Natural Language Processing The internet of things will drastically change the way companies do business in the next 3 years The internet of things will have a dramatic impact on con umer products in the next 3 years My company has no idea how the internet of things will impact our own operations in the next 3 years 2019 2018 Mostly specializing on a narrow range of vertical industry services and solutions Mostly engaging across a wide range of horizontal servic s and solutions Evenly split between some vertical specialization and some general horizontal D n’t know 3% 68% 69% 52% 56% 50% 27% 5% 92% 12% 40% 17% 39% 12% 32% 10% 30% Server virtualization Storage virtualization Application virtualization Desktop virtualization Data virtualizati Currently using Planning to use within 2 y Technology Maturity Analysis 30 CHANNEL VISION | January - February, 2020