Dell Technologies this week launched Project Frontier initiative that promises to make deploying software at the edge simpler using integrated platforms that will be available in 2023.
Announced at a Dell Technologies Summit event, Project Frontier will create an integrated edge computing platform for vertical industry segments such as manufacturing and retail.
Dell CEO Michael Dell told conference attendees these platforms will help customers simplify, optimize and scale their edge applications in a secure way.
The offerings can be centrally managed either by an internal IT operations team or via managed services that Dell provides to simplify onboarding and ensure zero-trust security. The overall goal is to reduce the number of instances that might require IT personnel in the field to configure and update them.
According to a 2022 IDC survey, 42% of businesses say the most challenging aspect of edge deployments is putting together an entire edge solution. To address that challenge, Dell is also launching a Dell Edge Design Program through which it will collaborate with customers to further advance edge computing solutions.
Through its Dell Validated Design program, the company is already building edge computing platforms for specific customers, but the goal now is to make it simpler to deploy edge computing platforms at scale.
The number of application workloads being deployed on edge computing platforms is rising sharply as organizations seek to process and analyze data closer to the point where it is created and consumed. In fact, that shift is at the core of many digital business transformation initiatives that depend on edge computing platforms and devices running, for example, internet of things (IoT) applications to process data in near-real-time.
A major issue—and one that remains largely unsolved, in many cases—is that organizations lack the ability to consistently deploy software on edge computing platforms. That results in a hodgepodge of homegrown tools deploying software on a wide range of edge computing platforms using manual processes that don’t scale well.
It’s too early to say just how much software will ultimately be deployed on the edge, but there may come a day when there is more software at the edge than there is in the cloud. Of course, the real challenge will be unifying the management of DevOps processes, regardless of where any given piece of software might be deployed. In fact, Dell is betting that as edge computing continues to evolve, the line between edge computing and cloud computing will continue to blur until they are little more than natural extensions of each other.
Dell, of course, is not the only IT vendor that views edge computing as the next trillion-dollar IT opportunity. There is already no shortage of options. The issue will be determining which IT vendor has the most robust edge computing ecosystem. In the meantime, DevOps teams would be well-advised to revisit DevOps workflows now with an eye toward making sure they can truly scale. After all, as edge computing platforms continue to proliferate, their ability to build, deploy, update and secure software is about to be put to the ultimate test.
