The growing focus on data collection and processing by “internet of things” devices is leading information technology executives to seek new solutions that can deliver results at the edge similar to what they know and love in the data center environment. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. believes it has found an answer for that in its Edgeline EL1000 and EL4000 solutions.

“Let’s not force our software partners to rearchitect like they used to in order to run at the edge. Let’s move the entire data center capability out to the edge,” said Dr. Thomas Bradicich (pictured), vice president and general manager of servers, converged edge and internet of things systems at HPE.

Bradicich visited the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and spoke with co-hosts Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Peter Burris (@plburris) during the HPE Discover EU event in Madrid, Spain. They discussed key features of the Edgeline systems, the importance of data analysis at the edge, and potential use of the technology in a galaxy far, far away. (* Disclosure below.)

Major functions in one box

The Edgeline series integrates compute, storage, control and data capture functions in one box. Data can be sent from the edge to the cloud or to the data center, in whatever increments a user desires.

“Because we have so much compute power and it’s open, it’s x86 [architecture based on Intel processors], it can run software like VMware, Microsoft products, even database products as well,” Bradicich explained.

Data analysis at the edge is another key component. Artificial intelligence and machine learning applications can be exported from the data center to HPE’s edge systems. “There’s seven reasons to analyze at the edge,” said Bradicich, citing latency, cost, bandwidth, security, reliability, geofencing and duplication as factors. “They’re also seven reasons not to send the data to the cloud.”

While HPE hopes to see strong customer acceptance of its edge processing solution, the company is also embarking on a mission to explore the challenges of edge connectivity at the most extreme: outer space. In a blog post in early November, Bradicich outlined a project to design edge systems that can address latency, bandwidth and performance challenges in space travel.

HPE is already pilot testing the technology in orbit around Earth. “We have the first supercomputer technology in a NASA spaceship now,” Bradicich said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the HPE Discover EU event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the HPE Discover EU event. Neither Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE