data center asburn, virginia

Data Center Growth Continues in Virginia

Vantage Data Centers, a leading wholesale data center provider on the west coast, has secured 42 acres of land in Ashburn, Virginia to construct a new 108MW wholesale data center campus. The acquisition represents a significant financial investment for Vantage totaling more than $1 billion over the next several years.

data center asburn, virginiaAccording to Vantage, “The Ashburn campus will be larger than any of our current campuses in Silicon Valley and Quincy, Washington. More importantly, it’s an investment in our customers. As you can imagine, the decision to expand beyond our west coast focus is not one we came to lightly. Throughout the process, there was one constant driver to proceed with the expansion: the demands of our customers.”

Ashburn is located in Loudoun County which is referred to as Data Center Alley; see Data Center Alley – Loudoun is King of the Internet. It is a strategic location not just for data center providers, but for data center customers as well. Northern Virginia contains the densest interconnection point on the east coast. Loudoun’s Fast-Track Commercial Incentive Program allows data center operators to get to market in record time.

The region features low-cost power and a valuable sales tax exemption which results in a compelling TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). Construction of Vantage’s Ashburn campus is slated for early 2018; a five-building design and the delivery of the first 24MW building in early 2019. Other data center providers are expanding their operations in Northern Virginia as well; see Northern Virginia Data Center Growth.

For more information on data center design and edge computing networks, contact EdgeMCS.

More Data, More Flexibility, Equals Less Security?

The race is on to capitalize on the predicted multi -trillion dollar market investment in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Many companies are already seeing the positive business impact of IoT devices in the form of valuable data collected used to track customer behavior and inventory in real time. Additionally, reduction in operating costs associated with efficient usage of connected devices to allow employees the flexibility to work remotely is also an asset to the enterprise. The opportunities are plentiful for IoT to have a significant impact on our global economy, but the security challenges of increased vulnerabilities associated with all things “smart” will need to be addressed.

Seemingly edgeless networks are being created by the data flow between connected devices. This is resulting in harder to manage workplace security environments. Understanding the financial implications of what it would cost in the event of a security breach is difficult; in addition to, the negative impact it could potentially cause to an organization’s reputation. Detecting and preventing security attacks, while still being able to take full advantage of IoT business potential, is top priority for CISOs everywhere. For a closer look into the transformation created by IoT adoption, read full article here.

 

The Network Paradigm Shift With Edge Computing

Evolving technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Internet of Things (IoT) are shifting the core components of cloud computing closer to the end user in the form of edge computing. The traditional model for compute, storage and networking being accessed through centralized resources is being replaced by network architecture that is distributed and decentralized in order to streamline data flow and reduce latency times for data analysis.   This paradigm shift in the network by computing closer to the edge allows for critical data to be analyzed in near real-time which is especially important today in the health care, telecommunications, finance and manufacturing industries.

Due to the explosive growth, vulnerability, and availability of IoT devices, there are security concerns around edge computing even though some experts world argue security is better because data is staying closer to the edge and not traveling as much over the network. In addition to that, the term fog computing in relation to edge computing which includes network connections between the cloud and edge devices is coming into play. All this information can be confusing when trying to digest what it all means for your network architecture. Here’s an article that breaks down the important elements and commonly used terms of edge computing that might help.