Edge Data Center Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Growth in Adoption of IoT - Over the past ten years, use of IoT has rapidly increased. About 14 billion devices were installed as of 2015, and by 2022, that number would almost triple to approximately 41 billion, globally. Edge computing and IoT work together to provide a more efficient way to gather and handle data. Edge computing handles data processing in real-time, which lowers network latency and congestion, increasing efficiency and improving the user experience. Moreover, IoT gadgets could act as cloud gateways, facilitating even more data gathering and processing. IoT and edge computing combine to provide a comprehensive approach to processing and managing data. Hence with the growing adoption of IoT, the demand for edge data center is also estimated to increase.
• Rise in Establishing Network of Edge Data Centers - In 2022, the Government of Uttar Pradesh, in India inked an MoU with the Noida-based data center company VueNow Infotech Pvt Ltd to create a network of edge data center at about 749 locations throughout the state. It was projected that constructing the amenities would cost approximately USD 2 billion.
• Surge in Demand for Robotic Surgeries - Robotic operations were carried out in the US in 753,000 cases in 2018, 883,000 cases in 2019, and 876,000 cases in 2020. Edge data centers could provide the extremely low latency and network stability that some medical equipment, such as those used in robotic surgery, needs.
• Growth in Demand for Autonomous Vehicles - Globally, there were reportedly about 30 million autonomous vehicles in 2019, and this figure is expected to rise to approximately 53 million by 2024. Hence, with the growing demand for autonomous vehicles, the edge data center market is also estimated to grow. In autonomous vehicles, edge computing enables every bus, truck, and automobile on the road to function as a data warehouse. This makes it possible to provide mobility as a service, where data may be used by outside parties to provide services such as ride-sharing, route counselling for travelers, and information-gathering for traffic flow control by road authorities.
• Upsurge in Adoption of Smartphones - In 2023, the total number of smartphone users in the globe would be 5 billion, representing approximately 85% of the global population. Using cell-tower edge data centers, telecom companies could connect wireless sensors and mobile devices to improve their closeness to end customers.

Challenges

• Needs Heavy Initial Capital Investment - The need for significant capital expenditure in the research and development of edge-enabled software frameworks and hardware devices would certainly increase the initial cost of using edge data centers. Through taking into account the heterogeneity of hardware and platforms as well as the capacity with the arrival of edge, this investment is necessary to support a variety of key applications and workloads. Given the absence of digitalization and network infrastructure, the initial capital investment for leveraging requisite infrastructure and knowledge is considerably higher in emerging economies. While evaluating other IT investments inside the company, edge technology investment is frequently in competition.
• Unable to Provide High Speed Connections in Rural Area
• Issues Regarding Security in Green Storage Technologies