TECHunplugged was at the A3 Communications Technology Live! event in London on 14th November 2024. During the event, StorMagic presented their solutions portfolio (including SvSAN and SvHCI) and provided a perspective on the challenges of edge deployments, and how StorMagic helps achieve these.
Challenges of Edge Deployments
Edge deployments address a wide range of industries and needs, including retail and ROBO sites, manufacturing, and healthcare. Edge use cases also extend to rugged environments such as ships, offshore platforms, and remote terrains, providing resilience where traditional solutions fall short.
As an outcome, Edge deployments have fundamentally different requirements from traditional hybrid or cloud-based infrastructures, often operating under severe constraints that demand a specialized approach to infrastructure design and deployment. Edge deployments need local processing power to handle data directly where it is generated. Minimal latency is critical: industries relying on edge infrastructure cannot afford the delays inherent in sending data to a distant data center for processing.
Additionally, data sovereignty and regulatory compliance are major drivers; many sectors mandate that sensitive information remains on-premises or within national borders. Furthermore, edge environments usually must do more with less: limited budgets, minimal on-site IT expertise, and restricted physical space for hardware are common issues that make traditional enterprise-grade solutions a poor fit.
StorMagic: Built for the Edge
StorMagic was among the early pioneers in virtual SAN technology for edge environments, focusing on compact, efficient infrastructure designed to support local processing with minimal hardware. Today, StorMagic solutions power a range of industries, from retail to rugged and remote deployments, with a major U.S. retailer managing 6,400 locations and deploying 250 new sites weekly using StorMagic.
SvSAN: Lightweight Virtual SAN Technology
StorMagic’s SvSAN is a streamlined, virtual SAN solution created specifically for edge deployments. SvSAN’s lightweight 2-node cluster provides high availability without the complexity of traditional infrastructure, making it ideal for locations with limited resources and no on-site IT support.
Figure 1 – StorMagic SvSAN Architecture – Source: StorMagic
To ensure resilience, SvSAN includes features like ransomware protection, data immutability, and built-in replication, all essential for robust data protection at the edge.
SvHCI: Integrated Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
StorMagic’s SvHCI (StorMagic Hyper-Converged Infrastructure) builds on SvSAN by integrating compute, storage, networking, and virtualization into a single, easy-to-manage package. Worth noting, the solution is based on open-source Linux/KVM/QEMU technology and Open vSwitch.
SvHCI is specifically engineered for distributed edge sites with minimal or no on-site IT resources, simplifying deployment and management for businesses operating in remote or rugged environments.
SvHCI includes centralized monitoring and management tools, allowing IT teams to oversee thousands of edge sites from one interface. Updates, maintenance, and troubleshooting can all be handled remotely, cutting down on operational costs and eliminating the need for on-site support.
Built for simplicity, SvHCI eliminates the need for dedicated IT staff at each location. It provides a cost-effective way to deploy and manage infrastructure at scale, making it a practical choice for edge environments with tight budgets and limited resources.
Figure 2 – StorMagic SvHCI Architecture – Source: StorMagic
StorMagic’s edge solutions are built around three core principles: reliability, simplicity, and cost-effectiveness:
- Reliability: StorMagic provides proven uptime for continuous business operations, even in challenging edge environments.
- Simplicity: StorMagic’s solutions are optimized for edge simplicity, supporting scalable deployments across 1,000+ sites without the need for specialized on-site IT staff.
- Best TCO: With reduced hardware, software, and maintenance costs, StorMagic delivers lower total cost of ownership (TCO), making it a practical choice for Edge and ROBO scenarios.
Conclusion
Deploying infrastructure at the edge comes with inherent constraints, from limited budgets and IT support to data sovereignty requirements and the need for low-latency processing. For organizations in industries like retail, manufacturing, and healthcare, these challenges demand solutions that are lightweight, resilient, and purpose-built for edge use cases—qualities that traditional enterprise IT solutions rarely offer.
StorMagic is specifically designed to address the needs of Edge deployments. With compact, highly available infrastructure that minimizes dependency on cloud resources, StorMagic’s SvSAN and SvHCI provide efficient, reliable alternatives to traditional edge solutions, with a focus on cost-efficiency thanks to the use of open-source virtualization and networking.
For organizations seeking to simplify and scale their edge operations, StorMagic delivers solutions purpose-built to meet the demands of the modern edge.