“LEVERAGING CLOUD IS LIKE TURNING AN OIL TANKER”
Pratima Harigunani (PH): How will you describe the Edge space, especially the Telco Edge?
Roy Illsley (RI):
We define the edge as locations with a maximum of 20 milliseconds (ms) Round Trip Time (RTT) to the end-user device, or machine. Edge locations can be further subdivided as those less than 5ms from the end-user device or machine (far edge) and those between 5ms and 20ms from the end-user or machine (near edge). We also differentiate among service provider telco edge, service provider cloud edge, and the enterprise edge.
The service provider telco edge can be defined as the telco IT–operated sites, including COs and regional DCs and leased space in co-location provider DCs, while the service provider cloud edge is the cloud service provider (CSP) IT–operated sites including leased space in colocation provider DCs. Similarly, enterprise-operated sites, including branch offices, industrial locations, regional DCs, and leased space in co-location provider DCs can be termed as the enterprise edge.
PH: How crucial is the aspect of orchestration and management capabilities?
RI:
The market in multi-cloud orchestration and management is expanding to cover tools that enable CSPs, and enterprises, to access and manage their entire cloud environment from the core to the edge. Ovum’s operational management survey 2019 showed that enterprises were evenly split in favour of using open source or proprietary tools for managing onpremises and cloud environments. This level of use of equality was not universal, and in bare metal use cases 80% use open source, while in storage nearly 60% use proprietary tools, and for proprietary hardware and software in general the use of open source was approximately 30%. The take-away from this research is that the management market is moving in two major directions: a comprehensive proprietary suite of integrated solutions that are increasingly expanding beyond the proprietary boundary, or an open-source collection of technologies that can be assembled in a DIY manner.
PH: So which way will enterprises move on this aspect?
RI:
The multicloud management forecast shows 22% CAGR and market valuation of USD 22 billion by 2023. When combined with Ovum’s IT spending analysis – that shows an increase in spending on management as compared to the previous year – it demonstrates that organizations see the management layer as critical to delivering value and efficiency from cloud usage.
Ovum expects the management capability to evolve around the increased desire. Omdia’s operational management survey 2019, hints at organizations moving to simplify and reduce the management tooling. While the concept of the manager of managers has lost its marketing appeal, it still resonates with the operational teams. Therefore, Ovum expects this broader management reach will be delivered based on management platforms. The key trend for 2020/21 will be the joint management of cloud-native and VMs using a common language and skill set.
PH: Is Edge a considerable revenue opportunity ahead? If so, what drivers will play out for hyperscale cloud providers and for telcos?
RI:
A large portion of the servers that telcos have deployed at the edge so far are used for Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). Surveying telcos, Omdia found that many edge-located server deployments will be justified by cost savings achieved by virtualizing network