Think about healthcare, finance, energy, local government, and transport sectors, the list is fairly endless. Each sector isn’t just adopting digital tools, they’re becoming data-led ecosystems. For hospitals, fast, secure access to patient records and diagnostics is fundamental. Financial institutions are analysing real-time data to monitor transactions and mitigate fraud. Local authorities are modernising services for citizens, and transport and energy networks are leveraging IoT and automation to improve operations.  To underpin all of this, in the best way possible, there needs to be robust, flexible, and scalable, data centre infrastructure.

Throughout the UK, a rapid digital shift has been fuelled by major improvements in always-on Gigabit connectivity, from fibre broadband to 5G (our Clarke Telecom division is actively supporting these deployments), and the rise of cloud-native applications. What used to be managed on-site is now increasingly handled through secure cloud environments accessed via data centres. That shift has triggered a major expansion in data centre construction and capacity.

But it’s not just about scale. The emergence of AI and machine learning creates a new layer of demand. AI models require enormous computing power and specialised hardware, which consume vast amounts of energy and generate heat that must be carefully managed. As a result, power availability, cooling capacity, and environmental impact have become strategic concerns, hence why data centres are making headlines. They’re not just quietly running in the background anymore, they’re front and centre in dialogue and conversations around energy infrastructure, environmental responsibility, digital sovereignty, and economic growth.

At Clarke Connect, we’re working closely with industry leaders and key stakeholders to help them navigate this shift, from understanding the role data centres play in the UK’s digital strategy to assisting organisations to build the right architecture for resilience, compliance, and future growth.

That creates a level of architectural complexity. Edge locations need to interoperate with multiple cloud platforms while also integrating IT and OT systems, and that’s not always straightforward, especially when managing distributed environments that demand high levels of security, resilience and governance.

Another factor is variation in use cases. What workloads need to sit at the edge, and in what volume, will depend heavily on the industry and application. A hospital’s edge requirements are very different from those of a logistics provider or smart factory. That variation will shape the number of sites needed, their location, physical size, and power and cooling demands.

Speaking of location, that’s a big piece of the puzzle. Edge sites need to be strategically placed close to end users and operations whether they are near urban centres or industrial zones or in more isolated out-of-town locations. Finding the right site with suitable land, access to reliable power, and good fibre connectivity, mean the ability to negotiate leases, navigate planning considerations and rapidly deliver a complex construction programme become just as important as the technological design considerations.

Then there’s the matter of scale. In the UK, to truly support edge computing across sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, education, energy, and transport, we’ll need to deploy, upgrade, and manage hundreds or eventually even thousands of distributed nodes, and that calls for specialist engineering capability, infrastructure expertise and proven delivery skills to be brought to bear consistently across the UK.

We’re already helping our industry partners and clients to address these challenges, bringing the technical understanding, local knowledge, and deployment expertise needed to make edge computing practical and powerful for their operations.