FedEx plans to house technology hubs throughout its network. Here's what they'll do.

FedEx plans to house small technology hubs at locations throughout its network that will better handle its computing needs, its chief information officer says, with the first being installed in Memphis inside an air-transport container. The team-up with Dell Technologies and data center company Switch will support FedEx's growing technological requirements for its highly automated facilities, its in-development delivery robot Roxo, SenseAware ID tracking devices and more, CIO Rob Carter said in an interview. "We see a world coming where you need ultra-high availability, ultra-low latency compute – much closer to the action than what traditional data centers or even cloud data centers provide," he said. The three companies announced the collaboration Nov. 12, with a news release saying the technology hubs will allow customers "to make real-time decisions using capabilities like artificial intelligence, machine learning and 5G." The localized approach will give its consumers "faster access to their workloads and data for greater flexibility and speed" as businesses rely more and more on near real-time connectivity, Dell Technologies Global Chief Technology Officer John Roese said in a statement.