Opportunities in 2022 for Hardware, Software, Cloud and Datacentres

The technological adaptation in the areas of hardware, software, cloud and datacentres has gained its importance in terms of productivity for many organisations. Presently the MSMEs and providers are emerging with opportunities in the delivery of products, services, and solutions.

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic made remote working a top priority for many organisations, which were forced to enable employees to work from home to maintain productivity. As a consequence, these organisations began to heavily invest in on-demand computing resources for remote employees. This has impacted the market demand in terms of hardware, software, cloud and datacentres.

Hardware 

Many tech giants are now making their own Application Specific Integrated Chip (ASIC) chips designed specifically for their products. This gives them more control over the integration of software and hardware while differentiating themselves from their competition.

Taking into consideration certain brands like, Amazon is now using its in-house Graviton processors. Likewise, Google just unveiled its new Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro Phones that leverage Tensor, the first chip designed by Google that brings AI capabilities to its mobile phone line-up. And more recently, Apple’s new 2021 MacBook Pros were based on the company’s in-house-developed M1 chips. These companies believe they can achieve technology differentiation through custom-made chips fitting their applications’ specific requirements rather than using the same generic chips as their competitors.

“The upcoming opportunities in cloud and software solutions take place if any update is given from the Windows side and the process generation changes very frequently. Other than that there are no other changes that are going to take place on a bigger aspect. The prices of the commodities are already in the peak stages. Any changes in the market will take place only when there is any fluctuation in the prices. Like for a good minimum hardware system, a customer has to spend around Rs. 40,000”.

--Sakthi, Owner, Sakthi Computers, Chennai

Even non-tech companies are getting into the chip business, with Ford announcing a deal with Global Foundries to collaborate on research and development for new chips for electric vehicles, autonomous driving systems, and other cars.

Software

Security at the edge requires broad preparation. Availability of resources, such as network connectivity, electricity, staff, equipment and functionality vary widely but are far less than what would be available in datacentres. These limited resources limit the capabilities for ensuring availability and security. Besides encrypting local storage and connections to more centralised systems, confidential computing offers the ability to encrypt data while it is in use by the edge computing device.

According to the Confidential Computing Consortium’s (CCC) report by the Everest Group, Confidential Computing - The Next Frontier in Data Security, “Confidential computing in a distributed edge network can also help realise new efficiencies without affecting data or IP privacy by building a secure foundation to scale analytics at the edge without compromising data security.” Additionally, confidential computing “ensures only authorized commands and code are executed by edge and IOT devices. Use of confidential computing at the IOT and edge devices and back end helps control critical infrastructure by preventing tampering with code of data being communicated across interfaces. Confidential computing applications at the edge range from autonomous vehicles to collect sensitive information.

“The upgrading opportunities are always taking place in the IT industry mainly in the hardware area like upgrading from Generation 11th to 12th. New products and features comparable to next-generation are already there in movement. Product shortages are still in the market with no price changes. If this shortage still in the market the prices will also get an increase this shall totally affect the section of upgrading”.

--Jayashankar, Owner, Sharp Logic Computer Shoppe, Thrissur

Diverse applications across industries

The diversity of these edge computing trends reflects both the diversity and scale of edge workloads. There are some common threads: multiple physical footprints, the use of cloud-native and container technologies, and the increasing use of machine learning. However, telco applications often have little in common with industrial IoT use cases, which in turn differ from those in the automotive industry. But whatever industry you look at, you’ll find interesting things happening at the edge in 2022.

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic made remote working a top priority for many organisations, which were forced to enable employees to work from home to maintain productivity. As a consequence, these organizations began to heavily invest in on-demand computing resources for remote employees.

As 2021 draws to a close, a wave of companies such as Liqid, Equinix and Aryaka are developing solutions to support organisations in hybrid cloud setups, so they can move beyond the limitations of traditional datacentres technologies in order to optimise throughput and performance. And today saw three announcements that suggest how these companies intend to help enterprises become more streamlined.

Today, digital infrastructure provider Liqid announced it had raised $100 million in series C funding from Lightrock and affiliates of DH Capital to further develop its composable infrastructure software platform, which enables businesses to configure and manage bare-metal servers with a software-defined approach. Digital infrastructure builder Equinix announced that it would be adding support for new hardware to its Equinix Metal service, essentially making a range of new Arm-based architecture and AI technology available to enterprises on-demand. And Aryaka announced new product options designed to support organisations in hybrid cloud environments.

“Currently every latest product is launched with Windows 11 after the final trial. Users with older versions of configuration are getting websites clashes like GST Filing, railway booking which is presently showing in most of the government laptops, and these are expected to be scrapped in the coming year because it is not upgradable. Generally, If the need is not there also, we have to migrate to the next generation of hardware. In terms of cloud features, the upgrading opportunities will be mainly concentrated on the security side. New features and add on’s like checking the workability and monitoring the usage which is expected to be added in the coming year”.

--Sridhar K, MD, TechnoGenie Services Chennai

Liqid’s software-defined datacentres platform is designed to enable users to configure and deploy bare-metal servers in a matter of seconds, so they can allocate resources and increase operational efficiency. This software-driven approach means that users can reallocate resources in a way that’s much more flexible than the more rigid deployment options that traditional data center architectures offer.

The release comes at a time when traditional data centers have struggled to manage AI-centric workloads in a sustainable way. The intensive power and cooling requirements of AI workloads lead to excessive power consumption and generate high carbon emissions that are not only costly for enterprises but damaging to the environment. In fact, researchers anticipate that by 2025, datacentres will account for the largest share of global electricity consumption in information and communications technology at 33%, almost as much as smartphones, networks, and TV combined (at 34% of electricity consumption). Software-defined innovations by providers like Liqid aim to make data centers more sustainable by increasing utilisation rates and using more efficient resources that require less power and cooling.

Cloud and Datacentres

Latest Hybrid cloud tools from Equinix and Aryaka. Equinix will provide enterprises with access to the latest AMD Milan, Ampere Altra, and Intel Ice Lake chipsets (anticipated to reach the market in early 2022), providing organizations with on-demand access to the most powerful hardware on the market.

The service will enable organizations to build scalable-as-a-service offerings and gain immediate access to more processing power than they’d be able to with traditional data center technologies. The technology is already used by companies including Human, Solana Foundation, and Super League Gaming, which are leveraging it to build future-proof hybrid infrastructures and fulfill sustainability initiatives.

“Taking in terms of the IT industry, it can be segregated into two segments which are before and after the covid-19 pandemic. The season right after the second wave was booming with new features and products. Presently if you see it is an off-season, there isn't much sales or demand happening for the products and services. People are moving towards professional use rather than personal use for which they use mobile phones. 80 percent of the people prefer mobile phones for working out their productivity. In the IT sector, the services they look for are mainly on the quality rather than the price factor. In the Cloud platform more adaptations and new features will be mainly concentrated on the security side of the cloud in the coming year”.

--Jahfar Ali, Puffin Computers, Malappuram

It’s worth noting that Equinix’s on-demand AAS hardware approach is also helping to address supply chain challenges, like the global chip shortage that’s expected to continue until 2023 and is preventing many organisations from moving to next-gen hardware. Similar innovations are coming from providers like Aryaka, which today announced a range of new products designed to support organizations in hybrid cloud environments, including Aryaka SmartConnect Pro, a performance-optimized SD-WAN, and Aryaka SmartConnect, a cost-optimised SD-WAN.

--By Vishal SS

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