Cloud infrastructure is a collective term used to refer to the various components that enable cloud computing and the delivery of cloud services to the customer. This includes hardware, software, network devices, data storage and an abstraction layer that allows users to access virtualized resources.
Since virtual resources need to be accessed through applications in the cloud, the internet, or wide-area networks, cloud services have become a necessary component for most organizations’ long-term strategic growth plans. Some of the benefits the cloud offers include the ability to store and access huge amounts of data, lower costs, improved efficiencies, and its scalability.
An edge data center is a small data center that is located close to the edge of a network. It provides the same device found in traditional data centers but is contained in a smaller footprint, closer to end users and devices. Edge data centers can deliver cached content and cloud computing resources to these devices. The concept works off edge computing, which is a distributed IT architecture where client data is processed as close to the originating source as possible. Because the smaller data centers are positioned close to the end users, they are used to deliver fast services with minimal latency.
Once created, virtual resources are then abstracted, meaning that they are separated from the physical asset that they are linked to and re-provisioned in the cloud.
Automation software and other tools are then used to create an interface that allows users to access cloud resources on demand via the internet.
