Around the world, the IT landscape is rapidly coalescing towards a hybrid model that is supported by edge deployments located in geographically distributed regions. The factors driving this development are varied, though the rise of latency-sensitive applications, surging IoT deployments, and lowering tolerance of delays by users inured with the instant accessibility of mobile apps all play a part.
Challenges of Edge Systems
Globally, the edge computing market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 34.1% in 2020 to reach US$15.7 billion by 2025, according to a report on MarketsandMarkets. And as enterprises are increasingly finding out, managing systems across multiple locations can get complicated quickly.
For mid-sized to larger organisations, administrators might have to tab through multiple screens or swivel their chairs between monitors to keep track of everything. They might even have to create their own system to properly track the disparate systems. Unsurprisingly, many organizations lack the capacity to manage these systems and turn to IT solution providers to maintain the sites for them.
APC by Schneider Electric is on a mission to help facilitate seamless edge operations with these considerations in mind, says Steven Brown of Schneider Electric. This is done by establishing a cloud-based management platform designed for managing distributed IT through the Schneider Electric EcoStruxture IT platform, and continuously improving it with new capabilities.
EcoStruxure IT Expert
On its part, EcoStruxure IT Expert by Schneider Electric is designed for efficient management of critical infrastructure through real-time monitoring and instant fault notification. Because the platform is vendor-agnostic, it gives providers the option of monitoring equipment from multiple vendors.
Brown outlined three primary functions of EcoStruxure IT Expert as follows:
- Monitor environments and issue alarms for conditions such as high temperature, humidity, and health of UPS battery.
- Configure disparate infrastructure devices and keep their firmware updated.
- Collect and analyse data for the ability to review performance data in real-time for actionable insights.
In a nutshell, EcoStruxure IT Expert allows your Partner to have visibility into your device data in read-only mode to help monitor your equipment more efficiently, regardless of whether they are from Schneider Electric or other vendors. Customisable dashboards, alarm notifications and instant visibility into all power and networked critical infrastructure assets.
Taking it further
Finally, the release of EcoStruxure IT Expert API (application programming interface) in May this year enhance the platform with new public API capabilities. For instance, users can now maintain a local data store and build custom applications to react to changes. With increased access to energy and infrastructure resource data, users can also make changes to increase efficiency and sustainability.
Moreover, IT solution providers can leverage the public API to seamlessly integrate EcoStruxure IT Expert into their existing remote monitoring and management (RMM) systems for better visibility across IT systems to cut across the complexity.
Solution providers that have yet to dip their toes into the power and critical infrastructure monitoring can now leverage EcoStruxure IT Expert API to add these capabilities into their portfolio of offerings. You can learn more about EcoStruxure IT Expert API here.
You can also learn more about capitalizing on edge computing opportunities here.
Article by Michael Kurniawan, Vice President – Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric
