Smart Industry 1/2019

stages of development,” he believes.
“To get out of the pilot stage they
will need robust security like the kind
Netscout provides.”
Ideally, he says, an edge-based security
solution should identify outgoing
communication attempts to
suspicious IP addresses, domains,
and individual URLs. This can help
stop malware from entering the
company’s network, where it could
start draining off sensitive data. In
case of attack, Arbor Edge Defense
collects information about the type
and scope of the attack so IT professionals
can react fast. The solution
comes equipped with a host of preconfigured
connectors and interfaces
to hook up with existing security
systems within the company.
The Packaged Edge
Besides various service or hardware
options for existing edge infrastructure,
enterprises can choose to purchase
preconfigured “edge containers,”
or even a complete edge data
center with built-in security. A leading
vendor in this field is Rittal, a German
provider of industrial enclosure systems,
including power distribution
and climate control as well as for IT
infrastructure and software and services.
Rittal sees itself as an industry
leader in this field, explains Andreas
Keiger, executive vice president of Rittal’s
Global Business Unit IT.
photo ©: Rittal
“In order to facilitate the creation of
data centers we have chosen a modular
design that is like a set of building
blocks, enabling clients to construct
their own facilities to their own specifications,”
he says. To that end, Rittal
has partnered with leading global
solution providers such as Swiss-
Swedish multinational ABB, Hewlett
Packard Enterprise (HPE), and IBM.
Services are hosted in Germany by
Innovo, a leading cloud service provider
whose job is to bundle all this
into turnkey, edge solutions including
hardware, software, and services.
A good example of a Rittal deployment
in the field of manufacturing
is Thyssenkrupp Steel, the German
industrial giant. It has installed edge
data centers connected to the cloud
at all its production facilities in order
We expect
to see many
enterprises
decentralizing
their IT infrastructure
in 2019.
Andreas Keiger,
executive VP
at Rittal
Cloudpark Höchst
is a data center for
companies located
in the Rhein-Main
region of Germany.
Prefab IT containers
supplied by Rittal
provide a wide
range of IT services.
to facilitate the digitization of dayto-day
manufacturing processes. The
amount of data being transferred
back and forth has grown enormously,
as has demand for shorter latency
and seamless data access.
Thyssenkrupp installed its very first
IT containers as production units
back in 2017. These were designed
by Rittal to fit the exact needs of the
company and realized through Rittal’s
partner network. The containers are
assembled on site and are configured
as edge data centers with direct access
to the cloud.
Another example is the edge data
center located at Cloudpark Höchst,
near Frankfurt, which was developed
by Rittal with Innovo. It was designed
specifically for local companies
around Frankfurt and provides them
with fast, secure IT services through
standardized edge containers.
This goes to show that there are a
number of possible paths to the edge
from which companies can choose.
Finding the right one will depend on
the business case. As a rule of thumb,
it can be said that in the coming years
the closer you are to the customer, the
more important edge computing will
become. To secure edge installations,
calling on edge service providers may
be best but if speed and simplicity are
key, special edge containers or whole
edge data centers will probably be
right for you.
photo ©: Rittal
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