As the technology for data centers advances, they are able to serve different, more particular, purposes. This means while it used to be easy to pick a data center to work with, customers must now consider the variations in data centers more thoroughly in order to make an informed, economical decision. Spending on information technology, or IT, was predicted to amount to $208 billion in the year 2020. Enterprise and Edge data centers are two choices presented to consumers that, on the surface, have some similarities but are actually very different types of facilities.

Enterprise Data Centers

Enterprise Data Centers are privately-owned facilities that are used only by one organization. They are sometimes wrongly referred to as or compared to hyperscale data centers, though Enterprise data centers are characterized by their purpose and ownership, as opposed to the size of the facilities or number of servers they contain. These data centers can be found on or off an organization’s premises, depending on the needs of the customers. Larger companies often benefit from Enterprise data centers — an example of one being Facebook. One of the pros of these centers is that companies have increased visibility into their own power usage, meaning they may have quicker insights regarding future scaling. A few cons associated with these centers are that the costs are higher than its alternatives and the latency created by having users far away from a data center.

Edge Data Centers

Unlike Enterprise data centers, Edge centers are more defined by their size and location. They are local to the consumers they serve, meaning there is minimal latency created and information can flow efficiently. Speed is a main factor that customers consider when involving themselves with Edge data centers. Companies attempting to crack local markets benefit from using Edge data centers. Edge applications serve to better a company’s data collection and processing needs, as well as reducing monthly recurring costs of long-haul transport of data to a regionally located main data center. They also are integral to the rise of the Internet of things (IoT). Edge centers are notoriously reliable in terms of reducing traffic and lag.

To learn more specifics about data center services, or to get help determining what types of centers would suit your organization’s needs, contact LDP Associates. The experts at LDP provide data center installation, data center maintenance, data center management, and multiple other products and services.