Sixty eight percent of medium and large businesses are using edge data centres, yet many small and micro-sized companies have never even heard of the technology.

Small businesses in the UK are falling behind their larger counterparts when it comes to the adoption of new technologies according to a new report, with just 38% of smaller companies making use of edge computing systems compared to 60% of bigger businesses.

In total, 90% of small business owners said their company is not utilising edge data centres, according to the independent commissioned by Volta Data Centres, with just 17% saying they were likely to deploy the technology in the next five years compared to 51% of larger companies.

The ‘Data loss and downtime are putting hybrid and edge computing Strategies at risk’ report, produced by Sapio Research, highlights the growing technology gap between SMBs and large enterprises.

Although 45% of firms overall said they are using edge data centres, just 25% of companies with less than 100 employees are utilising the technology – this rises to 68% of 100-199 sized companies, 59% of 200-499 and 57% of 500+.

The report also highlights the reasons for edge data centre adoption, with security (68%) being the primary factor ahead of faster delivery (57%) and cost efficiency (56%).

Underlining the issue, Jon Arnold, managing director at Volta Data Centres said, “Companies investing in edge computing are seeing huge benefits from the collection of operational information from IoT devices at the edge. But this report highlights the growing gulf between small and large companies, revealing the need for an improved understanding of the IT infrastructure available to small businesses.”

“Education on and the witnessing of benefits around edge computing will be essential to help plug this gap, helped by the smaller businesses that plan on adopting the technology in the future.”