JLL Research Says Edge IT Infrastructure Market Set to Soar
Based on a recent projection by real estate consultancy company JLL, the market value for edge IT infrastructure and data centres is expected to rise to $317 billion by 2026, more than double from $153 billion in 2020.
Strategically placed closer to data sources and users, edge data centers—which process and analyse data in real-time—are becoming more and more important. Faster decision-making and better operational efficiency across several sectors are made possible by this closeness.
The spread of technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), which demand fast data transfer and high-speed processing, is driving demand in edge IT infrastructure. Forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 9.8%, over the next five years, JLL expects the growth of edge IT infrastructure to match the proliferation of IoT devices.
Important sectors driving its expansion are mining, energy, public services, retail, and logistics. Further driving the demand for edge IT infrastructure are worldwide consumer and business sectors looking for goods and services with low latency and quicker computation rates.
This tendency is best shown by the video game sector, where advances like cloud gaming need edge computing solutions to improve gameplay without calling for hardware changes. Edge IT infrastructure also significantly helps to close the digital divide, especially in countries like Asia Pacific and Middle East North Africa where notable differences in internet and mobile adoption rates still exist between urban and rural areas.
Emphasising the vital role edge data centres play in enabling the general adoption of IoT and generative artificial intelligence technologies, Jonathan Kinsey, EMEA head and global chair of data centre solutions at JLL, notes. “Edge IT infrastructure will become essential component in the international economy by bringing computing infrastructure closer to the data source and user,” he says.
Growing demand for edge computing promises to transform data processing and analysis in many different fields, so fostering global innovation and efficiency as the demand grows.
