All too often, discussions surrounding the topic of the Internet of Things (IoT) revolve around the exponential increase in IoT devices that are expected to be deployed around us. We’re often bombarded with statements from research firms such as Gartner, which predicts that by 2020, there will be 26 billion IoT devices deployed globally.
Impressive? Absolutely. But at the same time, it doesn’t paint the entire IoT picture.
The IoT revolution isn’t just going to change our applications and endpoint devices, it’s also going to significantly change how data centers operate. Today’s data centers are largely built around the concept where endpoints use client applications to access data housed within a data center. While this will continue to be the case for many data center applications, IoT is more about data collection and less about data distribution. In other words, expect more data to be flowing into data centers rather than out of them.
Data taken from these billions of IoT devices will be collected and analyzed in order to make decisions, perform actions or other automated processes. IoT applications will possess built-in intelligence to make predetermined decisions based on the analysis of the data it collects. The goal for many IoT applications is to produce accurate, real-time results.
Changes in data flows and automated responses based on data analysis will dramatically change the way data centers are designed, deployed, secured and managed. On the following pages, we’ll explore seven specific ways that IoT will impact your data center. Some of the changes may be fairly easy to address in most traditional data centers. Others may require complete data center overhauls for IoT to work optimally.
If you thought the data center went through a major disruption with server virtualization, get ready for even greater disruption with the Internet of Things. Simply put, the IoT will dramatically change how next-generation data centers are architected at almost every level.
To learn more about IoT and its impact on IT, attend the Internet of Things Summit at Interop Las Vegas this spring. Don't miss out! Register now for Interop, May 2-6, and receive $200 off.
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Internet/WAN connectivity becomes more important than ever
The vast majority of IoT data collection devices will live outside of the data center. It’s critical that the connections between devices and the data center are reliable all the way out to the last mile. Not only that, but many IoT applications will have to rely heavily on real-time data transport. So latency becomes crucial. Look for smaller, distributed data centers to be the norm in our new IoT world.
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Sharp increase of ingress traffic
Most data centers were built to support a large amount of egress data traffic flowing out of the data center. This was due to the fact that external devices were largely for data consumption. The IoT largely reverses traffic flow. Now, endpoint devices will be transmitting far more data into the data center.
(Image: badalyanrazmik/Pixabay)
Data storage will grow significantly
Since IoT devices will be collecting and transmitting data into the data center, storage space will have to dramatically increase. For many data centers, storage will be one of the single largest expenses to become IoT ready.
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Variable data collection
Collection of IoT data will be unpredictable in regard to the type of data being collected as well as the frequencies and amounts at any given time. For example, if a manufacturer uses IoT to collect data and perform automated tasks based on data collected, the amount of data collected will vary greatly depending on operating hours and day of the week. Additionally, if a component malfunctions, IoT sensors will adjust based on this knowledge and collect/transmit different types of data such as a live video feed of the manufacturing plant floor
(Image: geralt/Pixabay)
Flexibility and scalability are key
In no way will your IoT needs remain static. IoT aspirations will be designed, implemented, changed, and ultimately replaced with something bigger and better. That kind of flexibility happening at the network edge requires a data center that can quickly expand, contract and adapt.
Flexibility and scalability are key
In no way will your IoT needs remain static. IoT aspirations will be designed, implemented, changed, and ultimately replaced with something bigger and better. That kind of flexibility happening at the network edge requires a data center that can quickly expand, contract and adapt.
(Image: geralt/Pixabay)
Flexibility and scalability are key
In no way will your IoT needs remain static. IoT aspirations will be designed, implemented, changed, and ultimately replaced with something bigger and better. That kind of flexibility happening at the network edge requires a data center that can quickly expand, contract and adapt.
(Image: pixelcreatures/Pixabay)
