Read later Audio version Summary: Pivoting off of last week’s Red Hat Summit, a look at its edge announcements and how Red Hat contributes to IBM’s broader growth strategy. The network edge is the new battleground for IT product vendors and service providers as the nexus of ubiquitous connectivity, particularly low-latency 5G wireless and smart, connected devices and sensors are moving IT’s center of gravity away from consolidated data centers. The resulting explosion of locally-generated data promises to redistribute enterprise infrastructure after years of centralization in private data centers and hyperscale cloud environments. The availability of computing hardware and analytical software capable of processing data in situ on compact, power-efficient systems at edge locations like retail stores, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers and wireless base stations promises to extract previously untapped value from the myriad smart sensors, connected machines and mobile devices spewing data at unprecedented rates. The changing architectural zeitgeist has also created a new competitive front in the war among IT product vendors and cloud service providers to capture enterprise spending for modern application infrastructure and development platforms.