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Eaton Debuts Modular Data Centers for Edge Computing, AI

The new product line could help public agencies and other organizations embrace edge computing and its faster data-transmission speeds. Public-sector spending on edge computing is set for significant growth.

Blue data streams against a black background.
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Eaton, which sells power management technology, has launched modular data centers that could help governments trying to embrace edge computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The company recently debuted its SmartRack modular data centers.

Through a spokesperson, Eaton said the new product line is “designed for rapid deployment in facilities like colocation data centers, manufacturing facilities and warehouses.”

Edge computing refers to deploying servers close to data sources, which increases the speed of communications. Doing so can help public agencies and other organizations improve services via real-time data analysis and other features.

Activities that could benefit from edge computing include utilities, public safety and smart city projects, according to backers of the technology.

State and local governments are set to increase their spending on edge computing by more than 100 percent, at least according to one estimate. Most of the spending will come from the U.S.

According to Eaton, the rise of edge computing — and improvements in the tech infrastructure via these new data centers — also will lead to improvements in AI and machine learning, among the hottest trends in government technology.

“The race is on as the rapid growth of AI and edge computing increases the demand for small data centers with shorter development cycles, lower costs and optimized capacity,” said Jose Medina, director of product management at Eaton, in the statement. “While deploying new data centers has traditionally been a costly and time-intensive effort, we’ve simplified the process with an innovative solution operators can have up and running in days, not weeks or months.”

Eaton said its new modular data centers are available in 13 standard configurations.