Micro-Edge computing developments in the UK digital economy

StonesThro and Cornerstone complete a micro-edge computing Proof of Concept exploring distributed infrastructure for UK digital systems, with testing focused on performance, deployment, and sustainability outcomes.

StonesThro, an edge cloud technology company, has partnered with Cornerstone, a mobile infrastructure services provider, to complete a Proof of Concept (POC) for micro-edge computing. The initiative is intended to explore approaches that could support the UK’s digital economy through edge-based infrastructure.

The collaboration focused on integrating high-performance data centre technology into external infrastructure environments, with trials conducted across Southampton, Solihull, and Milton Keynes. The tests indicated that distributed architectures can support sub-10ms latency, which is relevant for IoT applications such as drone and autonomous vehicle technologies. The approach is also being examined for its potential impact on the energy use and carbon footprint of AI and data processing workloads.

The partnership combines StonesThro’s edge cloud capabilities with Cornerstone’s infrastructure network. Cornerstone operates approximately 16,000 sites across the UK, providing power, cooling, and security capabilities typically associated with centralised data centres. Through the POC, these capabilities have been extended to more localised environments.

The POC involved testing with several SMEs and produced results across three main areas:

  • Speed of Deployment: Fabstir moved from initial engagement to customer demonstrations within one week.
  • Performance: The platform supported AI-GPU workloads while maintaining sub-10ms latency, relevant for motion dynamics use cases.
  • Capacity: The system supported storage, GPU resources, and multiple virtual machines, with security aligned to Cyber Essentials+ and ISO9001 standards.

Following the completion of the POC, the partnership has begun planned deployment across 10 to 20 sites, with longer-term plans to scale to around a thousand sites across the UK. The initiative is positioned as an alternative model to traditional cloud approaches, focused on distributed infrastructure, performance, and security considerations.

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