US start - ups Packet and Vapor IO are betting that the model of huge out - of - town datacentres will soon become outdated - and that their own micro datacentres will be the bridge to the future . The standard 100 millisecond latency time for customer requests will not likely be tolerated by self - driving cars and mixed - reality smartphone applications , which need a lot closer to the seven degrees of human eye - head coordination if perceivable lag is to be detected . Smaller , smaller data centres that are physically closer to the data nodes can provide this - a fact not lost on Google , which is considering incorporating compute technology into its cell towers .
US start-ups Packet and Vapor IO are betting that the model of huge out-of-town datacentres will soon become outdated - and that their own micro datacentres will be the bridge to the future. The standard 100 millisecond latency time for data requests will not likely be tolerated by self-driving cars and mixed-reality smartphone applications, which need a delay closer to the seven milliseconds of human eye-head coordination if perceivable lag is to be avoided. Smaller, optimised data centres that are physically closer to the network nodes can provide this - a fact not lost on AT&T, which is considering incorporating compute technology into its cell towers.