Explore the Agenda

9:00 am Check-In & Morning Coffee

10:00 am Workshop A

Defining the Edge to Understand the Market Opportunity

Mission Critical Business Unit Lead, Arup
  • Establishing a practical definition of edge infrastructure across the industry to align stakeholders around a common understanding of the market opportunity
  • Examining real-world edge deployments across carrier hotels, micro data centers, enterprise campuses and telecommunications infrastructure to translate industry definitions into practical applications
  • Distinguishing how edge differs from hyperscale facilities in terms of size, location, customer base, and deployment objectives to better position infrastructure strategies for future growth
  • Exploring the evolving edge ecosystem of developers, operators, enterprises, telecommunications providers, and infrastructure investors to understand who is shaping the future of the market and where partnerships are forming

12:00 pm Lunch & Networking

1:00 pm Workshop B

Understanding Why Edge Matters Now to Capitalize on the Next Wave of AI Infrastructure

Chief Executive Officer & President, Metro Edge Development Partners
  • Examining why AI inference, real-time analytics and latency-sensitive applications are creating demand for distributed compute infrastructure
  • Evaluating how factors like power constraints and permitting challenges for hyperscale campuses are accelerating interest in smaller, more distributed edge deployment models
  • Exploring how edge deployments support faster speed to market and revenue generation to demonstrate clear ROI and secure stakeholder buy-in for edge projects
  • Understanding how edge infrastructure enables organizations to maintain control of sensitive data to strengthen security and improve data sovereignty

3:00 pm Afternoon Refreshments

3:30 pm Workshop C

Panel Discussion: Navigating Community Pushback to Change the Narrative, Build Public Trust & Accelerate Project Approvals

Chief Executive Officer & President, Metro Edge Development Partners
Director of Development, Available Infrastructure
Vice President - Product Marketing & Cloud Evangelist, Akamai Technologies
  • Identifying how the industry can collectively address concerns around power, water, sustainability, and community impact to improve stakeholder confidence in distributed edge infrastructure and reduce opposition to local Edge deployments
  • Exploring how edge deployments can help reshape perceptions of data centers by demonstrating smaller-scale, community-oriented infrastructure that delivers tangible local and economic benefits
  • Developing engagement strategies that clearly communicate the local value of edge infrastructure to build trust with policymakers, regulators, and local communities to accelerate future deployment opportunities

5:30 pm End of Pre-Conference Workshop Day