For IT leaders, the 2020s will be defined by “The Edge.” The monolithic, centralized approaches of yesteryear will be replaced by a new architectural focal point, or “center” at the Edge, and the understanding that an Edge-first approach for distributed architectures — which starts at the Edge and then paints out the core and cloud — will become the new norm. The shift to this new digital future is made possible by multiple rapidly emerging technologies. In this series, we explore the impact of these technologies, including IoT, artificial intelligence and 5G networks.

For IT leaders, the 2020s will be defined by “The Edge.” The monolithic, centralized approaches of yesteryear will be replaced by a new architectural focal point, or “center” at the Edge, and the understanding that an Edge-first approach for distributed architectures — which starts at the Edge and then paints out the core and cloud — will become the new norm. The shift to this new digital future is made possible by multiple rapidly emerging technologies. In this series, we explore the impact of these technologies, including IoT, artificial intelligence and 5G networks.

If you were inventing the farm today, why would you put it outside, on a giant plot of land? OK, there's the sunlight thing, but then you get droughts and frosts and plant-munching insects that have to be battled with harmful pesticides. And because outdoor farms need so much acreage, they're usually far from most of their customers -- which means that by the time a tomato gets to you in a city, it tastes like a baseball. But now, upstarts such as Bowery farming, AeroFarms, and Lettuce Networks are doing something different. They're using data and artificial intelligence to operate more efficiently than traditional farms. The new generation of farming promises to feed more people while doing less environmental damage.

It's been a busy week for the Dell EMC Ready Solutions team here at Dell Technologies World! As you've seen, there's lots of news to discuss, from the update to our VDI Complete program to the work we're doing to advance artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. In fact, it's the latter topic that I want to focus on today. In my discussions with customers this week, I hear a common theme: our enterprise customers know they want to take advantage of these new technologies, but they don't know where to start. In a recent survey conducted by IT Pro Today and sponsored by Dell EMC, almost one-third of respondents said that their organization was either testing or considering a machine learning solution, which means that the vast majority have not yet figured out where and how to start.

We won't spend too much time belaboring some obvious points when it comes to feeding future Earth. Basically, we're pretty well screwed. Estimates from just a few years ago said we would need to increase agricultural production by 70 percent to feed nine billion people. A more recent estimate says we can expect closer to 10 billion mouths to feed by mid-century. You do the math (mainly because our MBAs flunked their pre-algebra classes).