The edge has become a crucial place to implement the benefits of a DevOps model. Are you ready to get started?
The world of IT is a fast-paced whirlwind, always evolving and picking up speed. This relentless acceleration has propelled IT operations to become more proactive and adaptive. A prime example is the rise of DevOps, a partnership that creates harmony between IT operations and application developers. DevOps helps IT operations maintain agility, reacting promptly and effectively to the ever-changing technological landscape.
However, with the rise of edge use cases, the game is changing yet again. These new edge computing structures introduce fresh challenges to the way IT delivers technology and applications. The most noticeable change? The user persona. Traditionally, IT professionals have been the ones in control of the infrastructure that supports the business, running clouds and data centers, administering storage, server, and network capacity. With the arrival of edge deployments, we are seeing non-IT experts step into the IT fold. These edge users can be anyone from cashiers and warehouse workers to truck drivers and home healthcare providers, generating, capturing, and analyzing data at the edge.
Adding to this shift is the massive scale edge computing brings. Imagine managing a vast network of 10,000 hardware devices across as many sites, each hosting a myriad of applications from various ecosystems. This dramatic increase in scale and complexity, combined with limited IT expertise among end-users, forces us to reconsider the application of the DevOps model for edge applications. The edge has become a crucial part of where we need to implement the benefits of the DevOps model.
These shifts lead us to rethink how the enterprise model of DevOps can apply to the edge. The goal now is to automate the full stack solution of an application across the infrastructure, including edge targets, while making it manageable for everyday end-users.
This is where Developer Relations (DevRel) or developer advocates come in. These experts foster community and help users navigate the open-source world, using tools like social media, blogs, videos, and training. They are the bridge between “ops in the enterprise” and the edge end-users, providing easy-to-understand code samples and simple explanations on how to leverage products and solutions through open-source channels like GitHub.
As an example, let’s consider a retail store using edge computing and DevOps for smart inventory management. The store deploys dozens of IoT devices that generate vast amounts of data to track inventory in real-time, predict future needs, and alert staff when restocking is needed. This “smart shopping” application is developed and updated using DevOps practices, such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automated testing in a cloud environment. Post-development, the application containers are dispatched to edge devices located on the store premises. This blend of edge computing and DevOps allows for rapid and reliable application updates, real-time data processing, and the generation of immediate data insights. This results in more efficient inventory management and enhanced customer and end-user experiences.
In essence, the IT world is transforming into a more integrated and agile model, fueled by the power of DevOps. The rise of edge computing promises to revolutionize this landscape even further, forming a seamless link between the cloud, the core, and the edge. It is an exciting journey filled with challenges, but it holds immense opportunity for learning, innovation, scalability, and operational efficiency.
To learn more about this perspective, watch my new vlog on the topic: Driving the Future of Edge Computing with Developer Relations.
Learn more about Dell Technologies solutions at the edge.
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