Have Axellio Edge, Will Travel

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The Edge

I had the opportunity to talk to X-IO Technologies about their Axellio Edge product at Storage Field Day 13 (you can read about that here). They recently announced a “Portable Axellio Edge Computing System” that “can be quickly disassembled for travel and reassembled onsite” and fits in equipment cases suitable for commercial air travel. Here’s what it looks like.

[image courtesy of X-IO Technologies]

The main chassis is emptied and stored in your checked baggage, with the data packed in a carry-on case that fits within the size limits for US air travel (although I’m not convinced Air France would put up with it based on previous experience). The idea is that the important stuff (or potentially classified data) is within your sight / on your person at all times and there’s less scope for shenanigans.

 

Pigeon Powered

There are a bunch of scenarios where having a lot of processing and capacity at the edge makes a tonne of sense. But what do you do when you need to get it back to the core in a timely fashion for further investigation or analysis? X-IO aren’t the first to come up with portable (and ruggedised) solutions optimised for moving a lot of data by air rather than over the wire, but sometimes the only answer to physics is to fly the stuff where you need it to be.

My thoughts are with the fellow passengers who have to put up with the big case of NVMe that will occupy a bit of space in the overhead bins, but I’ve travelled enough in the US to know that it’s probably not the biggest thing people have tried to fit into those lockers. Heck, I had a manager once who took a 1RU server as carry-on luggage. Sure, he wasn’t popular, but he somehow convinced them it was in spec.

I like the idea behind this product, in much the same way I appreciate that the Edge product has a very specific use case and isn’t suitable for everyone. You can read more about the Axellio Edge here, read the press release here, and grab a copy of the data sheet from here. Justin also provided some typically insightful coverage over at Forbes.