It’s predicted that by 2025, there will be 55.7 billion connected devices worldwide, which will be transmitting 73.1 zettabytes (ZB) of data – a leap from the 18.3 ZB transmitted in 2019.
This analyst prediction continues by estimating that 75 percent of those will be connected to an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The IoT is going to be one of the key drivers in creating this vast ecosystem of connected devices, in both the enterprise and consumer sectors.
Which begs the question – who will be handling all of this data traffic and storage? That’s where hyperscalers come in. Hyperscalers refers to very large companies that account for the majority of cloud services. The top five providers, as identified by Synergy Research, are AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba, and IBM, which account for 80 percent of the public cloud market.
The concept of hyperscalers is coming into sharper focus as key trends are emerging in IoT – such as edge computing and 5G. Essentially, data is becoming more prolific, and the need to decentralise computing – even from the cloud – is growing.
The first iteration of decentralising computing was moving from on-site data centers to cloud computing. Cloud computing is having an on-demand delivery of typical IT resources, such as data transmission and storage, without the burden of physical data centers and servers.
The pay-as-you-go pricing modeled from cloud computing and the freedom from the physical requirements has not only allowed enterprises to build larger IT projects in-house, but it’s enabled a suite of new uses cases.
One example of innovation through cloud computing is Netflix. According to AWS, Netflix leverages AWS with computing, storage, and infrastructure, which has allowed the organisation to scale securely, anywhere in the world.
The ability to scale accordingly to usage and demand with virtual access to data hosting, storage, analytics, and more means that businesses can make more agile decisions. The cost of scaling through the cloud compared to building a new data infrastructure is significant difference.
Data computing is undergoing another transformation with edge computing. With the high bandwidth and low latency of 5G – particularly advanced 5G standalone networks – moving data computing away from the cloud and closer to the edge device is an attainable and attractive solution. The less distance data has to travel to be computed, the faster decisions can be made. The types of applications for edge computing range for autonomous vehicles, robotics in manufacturing and healthcare use cases, and within enterprises.
Hyperscalers have also been involved in the sale of 5G, with AWS creating its own private 5G network, which creates competition in the telco environment, which is limited to a slower growth due to regulations.
But what do hyperscalers have to do with me – you might be asking yourself. Hyperscalers for the here and now, offer cloud computing that is highly prevalent in enterprise and consumer applications. They make it easy – as their name implies – to scale through the use of virtualised computing.
As 5G matures and the use cases for edge computing are more clearly defined, hyperscalers will play a significant role in that and have already begun building their offers in that area. The hyperscalers have staked their claim in offering infrastructure as-a-service (IaaS), pay-as-you-go models for data computing and storage, making technology solutions easier to deploy and scale.
Many businesses and enterprises are adopting IoT, which means they are using an IoT platform to run those applications. According to IoT Analytics, the market for IoT platforms was $5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $28 billion in 2026.
Hyperscalers are a significant role in IoT platforms and data computing but selecting providers and platforms can be challenging. KORE has key partnerships with hyperscalers to make sure you’re getting the right platform, connectivity, and data computing, storage, and infrastructure you need to help you deploy, manage, and scale.
Want to learn more? Reach out – we are here to help. Check out our webinar, "5G, AI, the Edge, and The IoT Impact", for more insight.
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