Packet Brings its Bare Metal Edge Cloud and Sprint's Curiosity IoT Platform to EdgeConneX in Detroit

• Published Month : Monday, 18 Nov 2019 07:00 pm

Access to high quality "in region" connectivity and bare metal cloud solution will energize region's autonomous vehicle sector with improved data collection capabilities and user experiences

EdgeConneX, the pioneer in Edge Data Centers, announces that Packet, a bare metal cloud service provider, will deploy its platform at the EdgeConneX Edge Data Center in Detroit, Michigan. The site will enable expansion of the Sprint Curiosity IoT platform, the first fully virtualized wireless Evolved Packet Core (EPC) deployment, which runs on Packet's bare metal edge cloud infrastructure. The combination of Packet's Edge Cloud and the proximal data center solutions provided by EdgeConneX will benefit Detroit's growing autonomous vehicle and manufacturing sectors. Digital disruptors now have a hyper-local, scalable cloud and wireless framework at their fingertips. 

Packet's flexible bare metal automation, rapid "go anywhere" deployment model, and carrier-grade networking has positioned it as a leader in the edge computing market. With EdgeConneX providing access to high quality "in region" connectivity in Detroit, enterprises will be able to take advantage of Packet's bare metal Edge Cloud, as well as Sprint's Curiosity™ IoT product and IoT ecosystem for low-latency compute and wireless for real-world edge applications.  

"EdgeConneX is an ideal partner to help Packet bring the benefits of edge computing to Detroit, as well dozens of key markets globally," noted Zachary Smith, Packet's co-founder and CEO. "What makes this deployment special is that we're able to activate three key elements at once: bare metal cloud, rich local connectivity, and end-to-end wireless IoT services. It's like an edge computing triple play!"

"Curiosity™ IoT puts intelligence at the edge of the network by combining Curiosity™ Core, the first dedicated, distributed and virtualized IoT network — a network built for software — with Curiosity™ OS, an integrated IoT operating system," said Ivo Rook, senior vice president of IoT & product development for Sprint. "We are proud to be working with Packet and EdgeConneX to expand the Curiosity™ Core to Detroit, providing capabilities for network edge computing in the backyard of a city that is pushing boundaries in various industries. We look forward to the innovation that developers and companies will drive by utilizing our network built for software."

By localizing data acquisition and control functions, as well as the storage and processing of high bandwidth content in close proximity to the device edge, users can experience a more elastic, flexible, relatively proximate Edge – minimizing distance and capacity constraints of traditional Internet architecture.

"Our research reveals that edge execution venues are rapidly growing in popularity for IoT workloads driven by security, cost, performance, or data sovereignty considerations," said Brian Partridge, research vice president, 451 Research. "When we compare the results from our Voice of the Enterprise: IOT surveys in 2017 vs. 2019, the number of respondents processing IoT data on nearby IT equipment has jumped from 22% to 39%, nearly doubling. This increasing demand can be met readily by new 'edge innovators' like Sprint, Packet, and EdgeConneX."

"Given the rapid surge in the volume, velocity and variety of data, we will witness rapid growth of infrastructure being built at the Edge," stated Phillip Marangella, Chief Marketing Officer at EdgeConneX. "Packet's deployment in Detroit is emblematic of the future demands at the Edge where emerging applications and workloads like IoT or Autonomous Vehicles are highly latency sensitive and require very proximate compute resources. We are honored to be selected by Packet to help support its customers' local requirements in Detroit and other Edge markets across our global data center platform."