John Garrett, vice president of the Department of Defense and intelligence at Dell Technologies, said DOD leaders should deploy secure, resilient and reliable IT systems at the tactical edge to enable warfighters to rapidly analyze data and glean insights for fast decision-making.
“From an IT perspective, the tactical edge is where the mission is executed. It is where technology meets people to deliver an outcome,” Garrett wrote in an article published on Carahsoft.com.
According to Garrett, DOD leaders should consider the heating, cooling and power requirements of IT systems that will be fielded to tactical edge environments to support mission-critical capabilities.
Addressing Tertiary Needs
The Dell Technologies executive said defense leaders should also address tertiary requirements when deploying edge computing systems. To help leaders make informed, data-driven decisions at the edge, an inventory of all people, processes and systems that generate data is needed.
“Tertiary considerations include ensuring that the data is valid, protected and usable for effective analysis,” he noted.
According to Garrett, the speed of analysis is another key tertiary element that DOD officials should consider when designing computing systems for edge environments.
“Systems must have the capabilities to ingest, collate and analyze data to provide actionable outcomes while operating in challenging environments,” he wrote.
Leveraging Latest Edge Technologies
Garrett cited technology platforms like PowerEdge servers and Dell NativeEdge that could support military personnel at the tactical edge.
He noted that PowerEdge servers come with scalable power and cooling systems and are designed to deliver low-latency performance for edge workloads.
Meanwhile, the Dell NativeEdge software platform could help users centralize the management and deployment of diverse edge applications and infrastructure.
Garrett also highlighted the need for systems that incorporate zero trust security, multicloud orchestration and artificial intelligence to strengthen military operations at the tactical edge.
He noted that combining AI with edge computing could help DOD “enhance situational awareness, improve response times, and maintain a strategic advantage in complex and fast-paced scenarios.”