Edge

Malaysia’s first 5G orchestration platform announced

Maxis has partnered with Singtel to introduce Malaysia's first all-in-one platform for 5G network, edge computing, cloud and services orchestration, built on Singtel’s Paragon for telco networks. The platform will make 5G-Advanced (5G-A) and 5G technology, edge and multi-cloud computing more accessible to Malaysian businesses and accelerate digital transformation across various verticals such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and public services. The partnership was formalised during the Malaysia Commercialisation Year (MCY) Summit 2024, an event organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to drive the national commercialisation ecosystem. The Summit was officiated by Guest of Honour YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange took place at the Maxis booth between Goh Seow Eng, CEO of Maxis, and Manoj Prasanna Kumar, Chief Technology Officer of Singtel Digital InfraCo. Made available in Malaysia through Maxis’ enterprise arm, Maxis Business, the platform will enable ‘on-demand’ edge computing services, providing customers with access to low-latency computing, GPU as a Service (GPUaaS) and storage. With its multi-access edge computing (MEC) capabilities, data from end-users and devices can be processed at the edge. This, combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), provides real-time processing and intelligent decision-making. Paragon offers a powerful marketplace available to both Maxis customers and partners, making it easy for enterprises to create network slices on-demand and deploy mission-critical 5G applications on MEC – all with the click of a button. Goh Seow Eng, CEO of Maxis, says, "Our collaboration addresses customer needs by providing a unified 5G platform that simplifies orchestration across network and cloud environments. The platform enables greater access, speed and flexibility for businesses to deploy and manage 5G and cloud computing solutions seamlessly. "This will help them to focus on their core business, further strengthening their competitiveness globally. As the country’s leading integrated telco, we look forward to accelerating 5G-A and 5G adoption and the digitalisation of Malaysian businesses as the preferred digital business partner.” Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel Digital InfraCo, adds, "We’ve seen a strong shift in demand from enterprises for 5G and edge computing capabilities to accelerate their digital transformation. Singtel has been leading the charge, forging various strategic partnerships with telcos globally with Paragon, being instrumental in this adoption. "Paragon enables faster monetisation of 5G infrastructure by reducing complexities for telcos to deliver and scale 5G use cases. We are pleased to partner with Maxis to mutually expand and deepen the service opportunities of 5G and edge monetisation in Malaysia.” The platform’s capabilities can benefit businesses through a wide range of enterprise applications across different verticals that require high-speed data processing, such as real-time analytics, mixed reality and autonomous systems. The platform will be locally hosted and deployed in Malaysia, to cater to the cybersecurity and data sovereignty requirements for Malaysian businesses. Platforms built and powered by Paragon have now successfully been deployed in four ASEAN markets. With Maxis bringing the capability exclusively to Malaysia, multinational companies will be able to operate with ease, with a common experience and unified architecture across the region. The deployment is timely given Malaysia’s upcoming ASEAN chairmanship in 2025, where the nation will play a more active role leading the regional bloc’s economic and digital aspirations. Maxis says that the partnership demonstrates its commitment to bringing innovation to the market and enabling Industry 4.0 transformation through real-world use cases. In addition to 5G and cloud-native solutions, this commitment includes leading the development of next generation solutions in Malaysia around AI and Generative AI, IoT, and 5G-advanced technology. Singtel Paragon is a comprehensive solution that enables enterprises to connect with the 5G network and securely deploy their edge computing applications and services rapidly on the telco’s infrastructure, thus reducing time-to-market and shortening the innovation curve. Paragon will also lower the barriers for adopting MEC services, unlocking efficiency and business innovation for enterprises. For more from Singtel, click here.

Singtel and Hitachi partner to accelerate industrial AI solutions

Singtel, a communications technology group in Asia, and Hitachi Digital, representing Hitachi’s broad end-to-end digital transformation services and technology capabilities, have announced a new collaboration that will pair Hitachi’s deep AI expertise with Singtel’s Paragon platform, the all-in-one orchestration platform for 5G, edge computing and cloud. Hitachi Digital will deploy Paragon at the Hitachi Americas’ Santa Clara R&D Labs, followed by a pilot in a US factory for Industry 4.0 use cases. The pilot will aim to validate the interoperability of Hitachi AI applications on quality assurance, workplace safety, immersive training and pre-emptive maintenance on Paragon. The trial will also enable the integration of Paragon with Hitachi industry cloud applications and digital services to enable enterprises to transcend the limitations of complex, low-latency connectivity and productivity experiences. Hitachi’s pre-built Industrial AI applications, together with the Paragon platform’s network and multi-cloud orchestration capabilities, will be used to create multiple Paragon-related offerings to help clients improve and accelerate their cloud operations. Subsequently, Hitachi Digital Services will go to market with these offerings as a Singtel Paragon authorised System Integrator – presenting a unique value proposition to enterprise customers looking to leverage multiple network protocols in delivering digital transformation in industrial settings. Bill Chang, CEO of Singtel’s Digital InfraCo, says, “Enterprises in the fast-growing Industry 4.0 sector depend on high quality, reliable connectivity to ensure smooth operations. We are pleased to collaborate with Hitachi Digital, leveraging Paragon to manage its connectivity and cloud needs across Hitachi’s manufacturing facilities. Integrating Hitachi’s advanced AI applications with Paragon’s ecosystem will enhance our suite of solutions for manufacturing enterprises and enable them to seamlessly transform their operations powered by AI.” Frank Antonysamy, Chief Growth Officer, Hitachi Digital, adds, “Hitachi has invested heavily in combining decades of digital, data, cloud, AI, cybersecurity, and connectivity expertise to establish transformative solutions for Industry Cloud deployments. Our applications and consulting services in this area have been an integral part of the digitalisation movement impacting businesses around the world. We anticipate that this partnership with Singtel will enable us to once again increase the capabilities of next gen technologies in enterprise environments, enabling a new level of productivity for customers." Organisations have often struggled with industrial 5G deployments because of complex and fragmented solutions. AI has added a new layer of complexity to this equation as organisations now also attempt to accelerate AI adoption in these scenarios. Singtel Paragon is a comprehensive solution that enables them to connect with the 5G network and securely deploy edge computing and AI rapidly on telco infrastructure, thus reducing time-to-market and shortening the innovation curve. The collaboration between Singtel and Hitachi will bring together interoperable solutions with expert delivery services, which will greatly benefit organisations seeking to address industrial AI complexity. For more from Singtel, click here.

Serverless edge computing platform now widely available

Gcore, a global edge AI, cloud, network, and security solutions provider, today announced that FastEdge, its serverless edge computing platform, is now widely available. Designed to deliver serverless application execution at the edge, the low-latency, high-performance product now features a user-friendly graphical interface (GUI) and flexible pricing plans, offering free, Pro and Enterprise options. FastEdge takes advantage of Gcore’s robust CDN, allowing applications to be compiled to WebAssembly, enabling fast, efficient deployment without the need for server configuration or infrastructure maintenance. For developers, this means the ability to conduct multiple web development and network optimisation tasks, including request modification, frontend serving, user authentication, flexible image optimisation and custom DNS resolving, leveraging the 180 edge PoPs on Gcore’s network. The user experience has been optimised for developers thanks to the new GUI, which developed during the transition from beta to general availability. The Gcore Customer Portal provides a simple and accessible front end with the ability to use pre-configured application templates. Users can also track application stats and easily modify their deployments as their requirements evolve. As well as offering lightning-fast speeds to launch applications, the isolated sandbox environment of FastEdge delivers enhanced security, protecting against malware and ensuring a consistent, high-performance experience. Dmitry Samoshkin, CPO at Gcore, says, “FastEdge has been designed to elevate the edge computing experience for developers. It provides real-time responses to user interactions, making it the best choice for deploying distributed applications and adding custom logic to a CDN in the modern, fast-paced environment. It also works as a serverless execution environment, which serves to streamline the processes of building, testing and deploying apps. Using FastEdge means no longer having to maintain server infrastructure, rapidly cutting the time to market in the fast-moving web development industry.” Gcore offers flexible FastEdge pricing plans to suit different needs. The free plan is aimed at enthusiasts and hobbyists who want to experiment with and explore the solution’s capabilities. The Pro plan is designed for more intricate projects, offering enhanced capabilities including increased runtime duration and memory allocation, for just €5 (£4.25) per month. Finally, the Enterprise plan suits businesses with high volume usage, allowing them to craft a bespoke service for their specific needs. Available now, FastEdge offers the tools and support needed to build, deploy and manage applications at the edge. For more from Gcore, click here.

Zella DC partners with Halo to reinvent edge data centres

Zella DC, an Australian provider of micro data centres, recently announced a new collaboration with Laser Light Communications (Laser Light-US) and its Australian affiliate, The Halo Network Company, on an ambitious project which seeks to redesign the Edge data centre. The partners agree that the consumption of data services must get closer to the consumer – government or commercial – at the point closest to its consumption. Those customers farthest from the big data centres, however, are underserved in their view; and as a result, Laser Light, Halo and Zella DC now want to change that shortcoming. Zella DC's micro data centre innovations are designed to be energy-efficient, robust, and adaptable to a wide range of environments, from urban centres to the most remote and harshest locations on the planet. Zella DC also expects this collaboration to include other Australian entities, which will contribute to this cooperative research and development project to create a new innovation – a micro data centre pod which can operate in extreme, remote, and hostile environments without sacrificing capabilities. Laser Light and Halo are bringing to market a global networking platform that seeks to transform accessibility to high-volume data services for under-served communities. Their goal is to deploy a multi-domain, all-optical global platform – comprised of satellites, terrestrial fibre, subsea cable, micro data facilities, and AI-patented operating software - providing customers unparalleled, highly secure, high-capacity, environmentally efficient, low-latency data services on demand. By co-locating these modular data pods as an extension of its multi-domain platform, Laser Light and Halo will be able to expand its service portfolio to deliver personalised, data products and services to all communities at the near and far edge of the network. The Zella DC Edge modular data centres will serve as the focal point for Laser Light services. As a part of their collaboration, the partners intend to produce these modular data centres in Australia for use domestically, as well as the export market to over 300 planned locations across the globe in the coming years. The scale of this project will drive employment at Zella DC’s facilities in Perth, as well as Sydney through Halo. More importantly, Australian designed, built and exported next-generation modular data centres will be distributed to Far Edge communities worldwide. Angie Keeler, CEO and Co-Founder, Zella DC, comments, “This collaboration with Laser Light and Halo is a testament to our commitment to driving technological advancements in Australia, supporting global demands for innovative approaches to bridge the 'data gap'. We are extremely proud to contribute our expertise to this ground-breaking project, creating new solutions that meet the highest standards of performance and reliability required for extreme conditions.” Bob Brumley, Chairman and CEO of Laser Light Companies, adds, “With AI and other application latency requirements increasing needs of businesses to extend their clouds to the far edge of the networks, this extension of our service portfolio levers our investment in next-generation data infrastructures to include not just networking, but also computing resources. Zella DC’s micro data pods will be good for our customers, the environment, and our business. “By collaborating with an industry leader, Zella DC, we are able to take advantage of its unique experience and expertise as well as to extend commitment – investment, and staffing – to the Australian market.” For more from Zella DC, click here.

CMC Cloud to take Africa to the edge

CMC Networks, a global Tier 1 service provider, has launched CMC Cloud to deliver high-performance edge computing across Africa. CMC Cloud is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) solution designed to bring workloads closer to the end user and improve the performance of applications and services, without the need to invest in physical hardware. CMC Cloud provides a decentralised edge infrastructure to reduce latency and bandwidth use, helping to enhance the performance and reliability of digital services across Africa. This is essential for real-time applications using transactional data, video streaming, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The IaaS model provides businesses with access to virtual servers, storage, and networking infrastructure on a flexible, scalable and agile basis. “CMC Cloud has been purpose-built for the African continent. We understand local needs and challenges across markets, and our new IaaS offering is providing tailored solutions to address the specific requirements of African businesses,” says Marisa Trisolino, CEO at CMC Networks. “We want to remove the barriers to cloud adoption, simplifying and accelerating the growth of Africa’s digital economy. CMC Cloud is making this a reality with a flexible, scalable and cost-efficient model.” CMC Networks makes it simple for both local and international businesses to enter and expand across African markets by overcoming data sovereignty laws which can otherwise limit cloud adoption. It offers cloud services that store and process data within country borders, helping organisations to comply with country-specific legal and regulatory requirements regarding data storage and privacy. These privacy and security measures are crucial for sectors such as finance, healthcare, and public services with sensitive data handling protocols. “CMC Cloud, on top of our vast network footprint and ‘application-first’ AI core routing capabilities, delivers a holistic approach to digital transformation,” notes Geoff Dornan, CTO at CMC Networks. “Customers can easily adjust computing resources to meet changing business demands while optimising performance with smooth and responsive access to applications and data. The flexibility of CMC Cloud helps in scaling resources in accordance with demand, making it a cost-effective solution for start-ups, SMEs, and large enterprises alike. With CMC Cloud, we’re making it easier than ever for businesses to thrive in today’s digital economy.” CMC Cloud provides various compute, storage and networking solutions including Virtual Machines, memory, block storage, object storage, IP addresses, Firewall as a Service (FWaaS), IP Premier Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), Distributed Denial of Service Protection as a Service (DDoSPaaS), Carrier Ethernet, MPLS and Multi Cloud Connect. CMC Networks’ Flex-Edge packages software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN), SDN, network functions virtualisation (NFV) and security into one solution, without physical presence required in-country. CMC Networks has the largest pan-African network, servicing 51 out of 54 countries in Africa and 12 countries in the Middle East. For more from CMC Cloud, click here.

Lenovo introduces purpose-built AI-centric infrastructure systems

Lenovo Group has announced a comprehensive new suite of purpose-built AI-centric infrastructure systems and innovations to advance Hybrid AI innovation from edge to cloud. The company is delivering GPU-rich and thermal efficient solutions intended for compute intensive workloads across multiple environments and industries. In industries such as financial services and healthcare, customers are managing massive data sets that require extreme I/O bandwidth, and Lenovo is providing the IT infrastructure vital to management of critical data. Across all these solutions is Lenovo TruScale, which provides the ultimate flexibility, scale and support for customers to on-ramp demanding AI workloads completely as-a-service. Regardless of where customers are in their AI journey, Lenovo Professional Services says that it can simplify the AI experience as customers look to meet the new demands and opportunities of AI that businesses are facing today. “Lenovo is working to accelerate insights from data by delivering new AI solutions for use across industries delivering a significant positive impact on the everyday operations of our customers,” says Kirk Skaugen, President of Lenovo ISG. “From advancing financial service capabilities, upgrading the retail experience, or improving the efficiency of our cities, our hybrid approach enables businesses with AI-ready and AI-optimised infrastructure, taking AI from concept to reality and empowering businesses to efficiently deploy powerful, scalable and right-sized AI solutions that drive innovation, digitalisation and productivity.” In collaboration with AMD, Lenovo is also delivering the ThinkSystem SR685a V3 8GPU server, bringing customers extreme performance for the most compute-demanding AI workloads, inclusive of GenAI and Large Language Models (LLM). The powerful innovation provides fast acceleration, large memory, and I/O bandwidth to handle huge data sets, needed for advances in the financial services, healthcare, energy, climate science, and transportation industries. The new ThinkSystem SR685a V3 is designed for both enterprise private on-prem AI as well as for public AI cloud service providers. Additionally, Lenovo is bringing AI inferencing and real time data analysis to the edge with the new Lenovo ThinkAgile MX455 V3 Edge Premier Solution with AMD EPYCTM 8004 processors. A versatile AI-optimised platform delivers new levels of AI, compute, and storage performance at the edge with the best power efficiency of any Azure Stack HCI solution. Offering turnkey seamless integration with on-prem and Azure cloud, Lenovo’s ThinkAgile MX455 V3 Edge Premier Solution allows customers to reduce TCO with unique lifecycle management, gain an enhanced customer experience and allows the ability to adopt software innovations faster. Lenovo and AMD have also unveiled a multi-node, high-performance, thermally efficient server designed to maximise performance per rack for intensive transaction processing. The Lenovo ThinkSystem SD535 V3 is a 1S/1U half-width server node powered by a single fourth-gen AMD EPYC processor, and it's engineered to maximise processing power and thermal efficiency for workloads including cloud computing and virtualisation at scale, big data analytic, high-performance computing and real-time e-commerce transactions for businesses of all sizes. Finally, to empower businesses and accelerate success with AI adoption, Lenovo has introduced with immediate availability Lenovo AI Advisory and Professional Services that offer a breadth of services, solutions and platforms designed to help businesses of all sizes navigate the AI landscape, find the right innovations to put AI to work for their organisations quickly, cost-effectively and at scale, bringing AI from concept to reality. For more from Lenovo, click here.

Pulsant commits to edge partner ecosystem

Pulsant, a UK-based provider of data centre and edge infrastructure, has launched a partner programme designed to create a partner ecosystem enabling regional businesses and channel partners to jointly capitalise on rising demand for colocation, Edge, and IaaS solutions. Pulsant's new programme offers partners access to its platformEDGE digital infrastructure and aims to develop a collaborative ecosystem by providing Managed Service Providers (MSPs) with new commercial models, sales enablement resources, incentives and dedicated support staff. Not only will this facilitate digital innovation while accelerating hybrid cloud adoption, but it will also allow partners to deliver compelling solutions for their clients without major capital outlays. Wendy Shearer, Director of Partners and Ecosystems, comments, "The UK Digital Strategy emphasises the need for partnerships to drive innovation. As organisations seek to take advantage of AI, IoT and other transformative technologies, they require robust regional infrastructure supported by a strong ecosystem. "Regional firms often lack these resources to build successful digital infrastructure investments. Our interconnected ecosystem strengthens their ability to capitalise on high-growth markets such as AI or IoT, turning collaboration between enterprises, service providers, platforms and connectivity companies into competitive advantage." Pulsant's established environment already includes over 200 IT service providers, 100 SaaS platforms, 500+ enterprises, and connectivity providers including LINX and Megaport. Combined with its 12 regional data centres, this ecosystem provides the foundation for channel partners and their clients to fully leverage emerging tech capabilities. "The digital economy demands robust infrastructure combined with thriving partner ecosystems to foster sustainable growth and transformation," Wendy adds. "Our programme facilitates that collaborative environment regionally." To support the programme's expansion, Pulsant bolstered its channel team by hiring a Head of Partnerships and three Regional Partner Development Managers. For more from Pulsant, click here.

Gcore launches FastEdge, a serverless edge computing product

Gcore has announced the launch of FastEdge, a serverless product revolutionising application deployment and performance. Designed for cloud-native development, FastEdge is a low-latency, high-performance solution for creating responsive and personalised applications without the complexities of server management. FastEdge offers serverless edge execution, leveraging Gcore’s expertise in cloud technology, AI, and security. The service enables developers to deploy decentralised apps globally, bypassing the need for server configuration or infrastructure maintenance. This innovation is built on its robust content delivery network (CDN), distributing custom code across over 160 edge nodes worldwide. This ensures near-immediate response to user interactions for exceptional app responsiveness. The high-speed performance at the heart of FastEdge derives from the WebAssembly (Wasm) runtime environment. WebAssembly boasts an ultra-fast startup time, launching applications multiple times quicker than traditional container-based solutions. The isolated sandbox environment of FastEdge provides enhanced security, protecting against malware and ensuring a consistent, high-performance experience. FastEdge also supports lightweight AI model execution at the edge, streamlining the process of building, testing, and deploying gen AI apps. This feature eliminates the need for developers to create their own AI infrastructure, significantly accelerating the time to market in a rapidly evolving industry. The use cases for FastEdge are diverse, catering to frontend and full-stack developers, as well as network and infrastructure professionals seeking advanced network management solutions. Currently, in beta, FastEdge is available for free to JavaScript and Rust developers, with future plans for Go and other languages. Pricing details for the full release will be announced shortly. Read more latest news from Gcore here.

Why regional internet exchange infrastructure is key to edge computing

By John Hall, Managing Director, Proximity Data Centres Edge computing pre-supposes ‘blink of an eye’ response times, which in turn, requires low latency networks for transmitting and processing large volumes of data and images as fast as possible. This puts huge emphasis on data centres being physically close enough to the network edge and their connection to local fibre and or 5G/6G networks. The good news is the UK’s regional fibre infrastructure is advancing at pace through the work of the major fibre providers, carriers and metro network specialists. Connecting to more strategically located edge data centres across the UK, this is ensuring much greater accessibility to high-capacity fibre and greater bandwidth availability, including, in traditionally underserved areas. Moreover, 5G is finally here and 6G is on the horizon.    However, there’s still a roadblock on the full potential of edge computing when it comes to delivering optimised latency and data transit performance, in any UK location. And that is the overly centralised internet exchange model which has been in place since the mid-90s. Simply put, there is already too much data going through a limited number of internet exchanges. And this is impacting on response times and data transit costs as data volumes grow exponentially. While the traditional centralised model of internet exchanges in the UK has served us well to date and port sizes have increased from 10Mb to 400Gb to help manage surging data traffic, it is no longer viable for all internet traffic to be routed via a handful of exchanges. In the same way that the early ISPs realised that keeping traffic local drove down costs and improved performance, we now need more regional internet exchanges complementing the existing infrastructure model. Together with edge data centres, regional exchanges play a key role by keeping traffic local, thereby helping ensure the lowest possible response times, while at the same time, preventing user data transit costs from rocketing. The availability of these resources at a local level will also support digital businesses, regional tech hubs and bring significant economic growth to the regions. These will in turn bring new opportunities to the benefit of local communities. Regional edge data centres are ideally placed to help accelerate the rollout of local internet exchanges and which will support the existing exchange infrastructure. This is why Proximity is in the process of equipping all its current and future regional edge data centres with internet exchange facilities. An approach such as this allows more data and applications to be deployed closer to the users and devices that really need them. Be this for ensuring a totally immersive experience when playing computer games, navigating the metaverse or performing remote surgery. Not to mention manufacturers and other industrial users who can expect major efficiencies and competitive advantage from acting in actual or near real-time from the vast amounts of data harvested from super-connected plant and production lines, all while leveraging AI technologies such as machine vision and learning.  Equally, in the rush to get data and applications closer to users and customers, it is also vital not to overlook power availability as the other edge data centre prerequisite. A continuing shift to decentralised edge computing is seeing more hybrid cloud and HPC deployment, both of which already have high density power to rack requirements. An immersive technology application, for example, such as a virtual 3D virtual reality modelling simulation will demand considerable power to rack to support it - it is already seeing as much as 25MW per rack. There is also the bespoke cooling requirements of many of the emerging IoT and AI-based edge applications to consider.

Pulsant supercharges connectivity to 126 Scottish businesses

Pulsant has championed Scottish business growth by powering up access to its edge compute infrastructure between The Crichton Trust's 85 acre campus, and the Pulsant South Gyle data centre. The infrastructure investment will ensure all local users and campus-based businesses can access Pulsant’s platformEDGE network free of charge, opening up the host of productivity benefits, solutions, and remote working capabilities that edge compute can deliver. By connecting users directly into Pulsant’s South Gyle data centre, the agreement will: Deliver edge infrastructure to the 126 businesses across the Trust site, including the academic institutions and The Crichton Trust itself, including the Ladyfield wellbeing sustainable homes project and The Crichton Quarter Smart Energy project. Encourage businesses across the South of Scotland to connect to high performance compute capability, and benefit from access to the onsite S5GC Hub to develop and test new products and services, helping them to trial new revenue streams at no additional cost. Enable an innovation partner ecosystem at The Crichton Estate to power future digital projects, underpinning the services and technical expertise of the wider campus community – including academia, ISPs, and satellite broadband providers – and improving access to 5G in rural areas across Scotland. The commercial partnership supports the SOSE Digital Strategy to improve connectivity and access to digital transformation opportunities across the region. Access to the latest technology can remove the barriers to opportunities and unlock the potential of local businesses, driving significant advances in sectors from agritech and healthcare to textiles and tourism.