The Cloud has fundamentally changed the way organisations across a range of sectors design, manage, and scale their IT infrastructure. In many cases, this has allowed them to stay abreast of unexpected shifts in the digital landscape while retaining full control of ongoing costs and turning their growing volumes of data into a powerful source of business insights. But when it comes to digital transformation, there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. At Vysiion, we’ve seen this over and over again throughout our work with organisations operating in some of the harshest environments, with some of the most rigorous security and compliance requirements.
In many such cases, where critical applications and data need to be available in as close to real-time as possible, the only answer is to locate hardware at the edge, which naturally limits opportunities for Cloud transformation. However, now more than ever, technology tends to evolve to fulfil the most specific requirements, especially when organisations and their technology partners work in close collaboration to drive new innovations. In fact, we may already be seeing such solutions emerging in response to these singular requirements…
Hyperconverged Infrastructure opens the door to next-gen hybrid Cloud
Azure Stack HCI, for example, offers a new approach to Cloud transformation that enables specific systems to be maintained at the edge, where necessary – a true hybrid approach that allows Cloud platforms to be seamlessly integrated with edge computing environments to achieve the desired functionality.
The use of containerisation and virtual machines offers a level of control and flexibility that would be difficult, if not impossible, to execute exclusively with on-premises systems, while still ensuring data sovereignty and compliance obligations can be met. For additional layers of security and resilience, integration with Azure Security Center and Azure Defender is available, along with built-in redundancy.
All of this can be manged through a centralised control panel, allowing for complete visibility of operations and data flows, even for the most remote locations.
This approach has huge implications for AI and IoT projects at the edge, allowing for real-time monitoring and analytics, combined with intelligent automation of routine processes to maximise operational efficiency.
But, once again, this is not without its limitations, as standard hardware is rarely suitable for the harshest, most challenging environments – such as military zones, highly remote energy sites (e.g. oil rigs and offshore windfarms), or industrial conditions – which may make Azure Stack HCI challenging to implement.
Is ruggedised Azure HCI the ultimate edge computing solution for Defence, CNI, and Manufacturing?
It is clear that Azure Stack HCI’s potential across these sectors is enormous. We must therefore consider how it can be implemented in such a way as to access all the possible benefits, while still maintaining the security and resilience of critical infrastructure in situations when environmental conditions may lead to failures.
However, based on a range of ongoing conversations with our customers and technology partners, we would argue that such measures are already available. By combining Azure HCI’s full range of capabilities with high-quality, ruggedised hardware, true ‘always-on’ operations can be established, with seamless, highly secure flows of critical data between edge devices and the Cloud.
Whatever environments you operate in, and whatever your digital goals are at the edge, in the Cloud, or both, do not hesitate to contact us. Drawing on our deep experience designing bespoke digital transformation solutions to the most rigorous specifications, our teams will work closely with you to achieve your long-term goals, and so help establish a new standard of digital best practice across the most challenging sectors.
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