US-based Vapor IO, a provider of networking, colocation, and interconnection capable of supporting the most demanding low-latency workloads at the edge of the wireless and wireline access networks, has teamed up with Cellnex Telecom to expand its network edge to Europe. In addition to the 36 American locations that Vapor IO presently serves, their first deployment in Europe will be in Barcelona.
As Cellnex manages a sizable infrastructure for digital services, deployed at more than 138,000 sites, it is anticipated that Vapor IO’s edge grid will spread throughout Europe during the next years.
By reducing data traffic to the wireless and fiber network core, enhancing data sovereignty, and enabling the development of stable, low latency services like real-time computer vision for public safety, smart retail, industrial robotics, autonomous vehicles, medical imaging, and online gaming, this collaborative project seeks to improve the delivery of new, monetizable services. Additionally, the project will make it possible to operate virtualized radio access network technologies effectively (Open RAN or vRAN).
Cellnex is making a variety of small edge data centers and tower ground space available for housing the required edge computing hardware by Vapor IO. Additionally, a number of fiber lines offered by Cellnex and/or its mobile network operator clients will connect these edge data centers, forming an edge node ‘grid.’
“Vapor IO and Cellnex share a common commitment to neutral host infrastructure. Vapor IO’s Kinetic Grid is both cloud-neutral and carrier-neutral, meaning it is one of the few locations at the edge where both carriers and clouds can meet on equal terms,” said Cole Crawford, Founder and CEO of Vapor IO. “We invite cloud and technology providers to leverage our edge and grid computing infrastructure to deploy new classes of high-performance applications that cannot be serviced by today’s cloud infrastructure.”
Multi-Tenant Colocation, Software-Defined Interconnection
By bringing networking and automation software that enables micro modular data centers, software defined networks, and hyperscale backbones to operate autonomously in highly distributed edge locations, such as cell tower sites and edge data centers, Vapor IO’s global Kinetic Grid platform brings next generation internet and communications capabilities to metropolitan regions.
Vapor IO’s Kinetic Grid, which provides flexible, highly-distributed Internet and communications infrastructure at the edge of wired and wireless networks, would serve the largest wireless carriers, cloud providers, web-scale businesses, and other innovative enterprises. It combines neutral, multi-tenant colocation with software-defined interconnection and high-speed networking.
“Cellnex is delighted to enable Vapor IO’s neutral host Kinetic Grid to Europe, starting in Barcelona. We invite our anchor tenants and global telecom service providers to leverage this partnership to virtualize the computing infrastructure in such a way that it will allow the federation and optimization of the use of computing resources and of the network itself by third-party applications on a neutral host model,” said Eduardo Fichmann, Global Director of Innovation and Product Strategy at Cellnex. “This agreement with Vapor IO strengthens Cellnex’s strategy of leveraging infrastructure in locations co-located with operator equipment at the towers or edge data centers, that will give rise to organic revenue growth for the company. It is expected that in the coming years there will be an explosion in applications and services that require computing in places physically closer to the end user, which implies an increase in the demand for this type of infrastructure. Vapor IO´s track record of building dozens of markets at scale using a just-in-time delivery model, and Cellnex’s industrial model of deploying and managing distributed telecommunications infrastructure at scale in Europe, will allow the roll-out of edge nodes in European locations over coming years.”
Edge and Grid Computing Infrastructure
The future of edge and grid computing infrastructure for businesses is likely to be characterized by increased adoption as more companies look to take advantage of the benefits these technologies can provide.
Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the devices and users that generate and consume that data. This can help to reduce latency and improve the efficiency of data transmission. Grid computing, on the other hand, is a distributed computing architecture in which resources are shared among multiple users and applications.
Some of the benefits of edge and grid computing include the following:
- One of the key benefits of edge computing is improved performance. By bringing computation and data storage closer to the edge, edge computing can help to reduce latency and improve the performance of applications and services. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses that rely on real-time data, such as manufacturing and logistics companies, as it can help to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their operations.
- Another benefit of edge computing is increased scalability. On the other side, grid computing enables companies to share resources among several users and apps, making it simpler to scale up or down as necessary. This may make it easier for organizations to manage their IT resources, cut expenses, and make sure they have the tools they need to adapt to changing operational demands.
- Edge and grid computing can also help to improve the reliability of applications and services. By distributing computation and data storage across multiple nodes, these technologies can help to improve the reliability of applications and services, as well as reduce the risk of a single point of failure. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses that rely on critical applications and services, such as e-commerce and financial services.
- Security is yet another important benefit of edge computing and grid computing. Both technologies can help to improve security by reducing the attack surface and increasing the ability to detect and respond to security threats. This can help businesses to better protect their sensitive data and assets, and reduce the risk of data breaches and other cyberattacks.
- Finally, edge and grid computing can help businesses to reduce costs. By reducing the need for expensive, centralized infrastructure, these technologies can help businesses to lower their IT costs and make more efficient use of their resources. This can help companies to improve their bottom line and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.
