Imagine managing your remote industrial sites or branch offices with the same ease as your cloud or data center. That vision is now a reality thanks to a new partnership between ServiceNow and ZEDEDA. Introducing the ServiceNow Edge Appliance, a fully managed on-premises solution that brings ServiceNow’s powerful Now Platform capabilities out to the edge. In this post, we’ll explore what this appliance is, the benefits it offers, and how the combination of ServiceNow’s Operational Technology Management and ZEDEDA’s edge orchestration delivers a unified platform for IT and OT (Operational Technology) infrastructure.
Introducing the ServiceNow Edge Appliance
The ServiceNow Edge Appliance is a plug-and-play, on-premises device designed to run ServiceNow applications and services outside the cloud or data center — think factory floors, oil rigs, retail stores, or any remote site. What makes it special is that it’s fully managed. In other words, you get the convenience of a cloud service in a box that lives at your edge location. There’s no need to worry about manually updating operating systems or fiddling with complex networking – it’s all handled for you as part of the service.
ServiceNow’s Now Platform has long been the engine for enterprise workflows and IT service management in the cloud. With this appliance, those same capabilities can now be deployed on-site. Why is that important? Because many industries have critical systems on the edge that can’t always rely on continuous cloud connectivity or have strict data locality and security requirements. The ServiceNow Edge Appliance addresses this by bringing the Now Platform on-premises in a reliable, self-contained unit. It’s like having a mini ServiceNow data center that sits right where you need it, whether that’s in a factory basement or a remote substation, all while being monitored and maintained remotely by experts.
Key Benefits at the Edge
What can enterprises expect from the ServiceNow Edge Appliance? In short, a lot of automation, simplicity, and savings. Here are the key benefits of this new solution:
- Fully Managed and Hassle-Free: The appliance is a managed on-premise solution for running ServiceNow (“Now”) applications. This means ZEDEDA and ServiceNow take care of the heavy lifting for you — from deployment to updates — so you can focus on using the applications rather than maintaining them. It’s essentially ServiceNow-as-a-service, but hosted at your site.
- Seamless Deployment & Scalability: Need to roll out a new workflow app to 50 factory sites or upgrade an on-site ServiceNow module? The Edge Appliance automates and scales ServiceNow application management across distributed locations. With orchestration technology inside, it can deploy applications at the edge seamlessly and even supports building modern, next-gen applications on the edge platform. This automation and scalability translate to faster time-to-value and the ability to grow your edge operations without a linear increase in effort.
- Reduced IT Overhead and Cost: One of the biggest benefits is cost reduction. The appliance eliminates the need for dedicated IT, networking, and security infrastructure at each edge site. There’s no on-site IT staff required to keep it running – it’s designed to work autonomously. By removing the typical overhead of managing servers in the field, organizations can save on staffing and equipment costs while still reliably running their critical services. In short, you get cloud-like efficiency and centralized management, which dramatically lowers the total cost of ownership for edge deployments.
- Highly Secure, Trusted Environment: Even though it runs outside the traditional data center, the ServiceNow Edge Appliance is built with security in mind. It provides a highly secure, trusted operating environment for your ServiceNow applications. With built-in security controls and a Zero Trust architecture inherited from ZEDEDA’s edge platform, enterprises can be confident that data and workflows on the appliance are protected. The appliance is hardened to address the unique security challenges of edge computing, where a perimeter might be remote or even non-existent.
- Simplified OS and Application Lifecycle Management: Say goodbye to manual patching and updating of edge systems. This solution simplifies management of both the operating system and application lifecycle on the device. Everything from OS procurement and provisioning to patching, upgrades, and application updates is handled through automated orchestration. This ensures that your edge appliance is always up-to-date with the latest features and security fixes, without requiring you to send a technician on-site. In practice, it means less downtime and far fewer “middle-of-the-night” site visits to fix issues – the platform keeps itself healthy.
- Extensibility and Flexibility: The ServiceNow Edge Appliance isn’t limited to just ServiceNow’s own applications. It’s an open, extensible platform that supports third-party and custom applications as well. This flexibility is crucial at the edge, where you might need to run specialized workloads (for example, an IoT data collector, AI/ML inferencing module, or a local analytics dashboard) alongside your ServiceNow workflow processes. With support for both Now Platform apps and other edge apps, the appliance can serve as a unified edge computing hub. You can think of it as your edge app server – capable of consolidating various functions on one device, reducing the need for multiple dedicated systems at remote sites.
- Works Anywhere (Designed for Challenging Environments): Perhaps one of the most impressive benefits is that this appliance is built to work literally anywhere – including in challenging environments with limited connectivity, air-gapped networks, or remote locations. Even if a site has little or no internet, the appliance can operate independently and continue to deliver services. It’s engineered for rugged, distributed settings where traditional IT equipment struggles. Whether it’s an offshore platform or a factory in a location with spotty network coverage, the ServiceNow Edge Appliance keeps critical workflows running. And when connectivity is available, it will securely sync and update as needed, without requiring hands-on intervention. This resiliency means edge deployments stay functional and reliable regardless of local network conditions.
Each of these benefits is geared toward one thing: making edge computing as simple and dependable as cloud computing for IT leaders. By eliminating the usual pain points (management overhead, security concerns, lack of skilled staff on site, etc.), the ServiceNow Edge Appliance allows organizations to extend their digital transformation to the edge with confidence.
Built for the Edge – Even Off the Grid
Running technology at the edge often means dealing with harsh realities: Power stations with air-gapped networks, wind farms with limited connectivity, or retail stores in regions where internet outages are common. ServiceNow and ZEDEDA designed the Edge Appliance explicitly for these scenarios. It’s not just marketing speak – the appliance truly supports deployment in difficult environments.
For example, in an air-gapped setting (completely isolated from the public internet for security reasons), the appliance can operate as a self-sufficient node running your ServiceNow applications. Updates or new workflows can be delivered via approved methods (such as through a secure USB import or a temporary connection) in a controlled manner. In areas with intermittent or low bandwidth connectivity, the appliance will continue to function and queue up any data or events until it can sync with the central ServiceNow cloud. This resilient design ensures that a shaky network link won’t halt your field operations or leave you blind to what’s happening on site.
From an enterprise perspective, this is a game-changer. It means you don’t need to compromise on digital workflow automation just because a site is hard to reach or off the network grid. Field technicians won’t need to constantly tend to the system; it’s built to run with minimal to no on-site intervention. Essentially, the ServiceNow Edge Appliance extends the reach of your IT organization to anywhere you have business operations. You get the benefits of centralized cloud management combined with the local reliability of on-premises hardware, all in a package robust enough for industrial environments.
Unifying IT and OT – The Power of ZEDEDA + ServiceNow
A core strength of this partnership is how it bridges the traditional gap between IT and OT systems. ZEDEDA’s edge orchestration capabilities combined with ServiceNow’s Operational Technology Management (OTM) platform create a unified experience for managing technology across the enterprise – from cloud to edge.
Let’s break down what each brings to the table:
- ZEDEDA’s Edge Orchestration: ZEDEDA is a leader in edge computing orchestration and management. This cloud-native solution simplifies how distributed edge infrastructure and applications are handled at scale. In fact, “ZEDEDA makes edge computing effortless, open and intrinsically secure — extending the cloud experience to the edge”, reducing the cost of managing distributed edge sites while increasing visibility, security, and control. In practical terms, ZEDEDA provides the under-the-hood magic that keeps the edge appliance running smoothly: remote software updates, deployment of new application containers, security monitoring, and more – all done centrally through a SaaS-based controller. With thousands of edge nodes under management, ZEDEDA’s platform is proven to simplify the remote management of edge infrastructure and applications at scale. This means even if you have a vast fleet of appliances across the globe, you can orchestrate and update them all through one pane of glass.
- ServiceNow’s Operational Technology Management: ServiceNow OTM is an extension of the Now Platform, specifically geared towards operational technology (think industrial machines, sensors, OT networks) and integrating them with IT workflows. It provides a “complete and contextual view of OT systems”, enabling organizations to gain full visibility into their OT environment and keep those systems secure and running optimally. Crucially, ServiceNow OTM allows OT devices and data to be managed in the same platform as IT assets, breaking down silos. It includes features like OT asset management, OT visibility (mapping devices to processes), OT incident management, and even vulnerability response for OT equipment. In short, it brings the principles of IT service management to the operational technology world.
Now, when you combine ZEDEDA’s edge orchestration with ServiceNow’s OTM, you get a powerful synergy: the Edge Appliance becomes a natural extension of your ServiceNow ecosystem. Edge devices and the applications on them become visible and manageable in ServiceNow just like any server or software in your data center. This integration effectively “expands the visibility of OT assets alongside traditional IT assets”, giving you a unified, panoramic view of your entire technology landscape within ServiceNow. An operations team can monitor edge applications, receive alerts, and even trigger workflows (like incident or change requests) for edge systems through the familiar ServiceNow interface. In other words, your industrial IoT devices and edge computing nodes show up as first-class citizens in the configuration management database (CMDB) and dashboards, right next to your IT assets.
For IT leaders, the benefits of this unified approach are significant:
- Enhanced OT Visibility: No more blind spots at the edge. You gain complete visibility into operational technology deployments across all sites. Whether it’s a sensor network on a factory floor or a set of AI cameras in a remote warehouse, you can see their status, performance, and any issues in real-time. This visibility enables better risk assessment and faster response because you have context for OT events just as you do for IT events.
- Simplified Operations & Workflows: By bringing edge/OT systems into your central IT service management platform, you simplify operations. Teams don’t need separate tools and processes to handle issues at the edge. For example, if an edge appliance in a wind farm goes down or an application on it throws an alert, it can generate a ServiceNow incident or task just like any IT system alert would. Your IT staff can follow the same playbooks to address it, or even let ServiceNow’s automation resolve it if possible. This unified workflow reduces training needs and chances of error, and it standardizes how issues are managed enterprise-wide, which boosts efficiency.
- One Platform for IT and OT: Perhaps most importantly, you are getting a single platform to manage both IT and OT infrastructure. ServiceNow’s Now Platform is often described as a “single system of action” for the enterprise, and now it truly can be just that for all technology realms. Operational Technology Management is built on the Now Platform so you can optimize OT and IT processes together, transforming your business with a single, unifying platform. The edge appliance is a tangible manifestation of that philosophy – it allows the Now Platform to physically reside in OT environments. The payoff is a cohesive strategy: you can enforce compliance and security policies uniformly, generate unified reports on uptime and performance across all sites, and accelerate digital transformation initiatives knowing that the edge is not a disconnected island.
By leveraging ZEDEDA’s orchestration, the ServiceNow Edge Appliance also inherits an open and extensible approach. This means the solution can integrate with third-party OT systems and sensors (through connectors or the marketplace) and feed that data into ServiceNow. The partnership effectively creates a robust edge computing ecosystem under the ServiceNow umbrella, where adding new capabilities (AI analytics, predictive maintenance apps, etc.) at the edge can be as simple as deploying a new container via ZEDEDA’s platform, which then immediately becomes part of your ServiceNow-managed environment. It’s a unified, cloud-to-edge continuum.
Closing Thoughts
The ServiceNow Edge Appliance marks an exciting development for enterprises who have been grappling with the challenge of extending modern IT services to remote and operational environments. By teaming up with ZEDEDA, ServiceNow is delivering a solution that blends the best of both worlds: the convenience and power of the Now Platform with the ruggedness and autonomy of a purpose-built edge device.
For organizations, this means you no longer have to choose between functionality and practicality at the edge. You can run your critical ServiceNow applications anywhere – from the heart of a data center to a mountaintop communications tower – with minimal overhead and maximum confidence. Security is baked in, management is simplified, and the user experience remains unified across your entire infrastructure.
This partnership and the resulting appliance are a strong signal that the future of enterprise IT is distributed and borderless. ServiceNow and ZEDEDA are empowering IT and OT teams to work hand-in-hand, using a common platform to drive innovation and efficiency. The ServiceNow Edge Appliance is more than just a piece of hardware; it’s a strategy to bring digital transformation to every corner of your operations.
As edge computing continues to grow in importance, solutions like this will be key for staying ahead. With enhanced visibility into OT assets, streamlined edge operations, and one platform to rule them all, IT leaders can deliver better outcomes faster – even in the most challenging environments. The edge is no longer the “final frontier” of your IT landscape; with ServiceNow and ZEDEDA’s collaboration, it becomes just another integral part of a well-oiled, modern enterprise. In short, the ServiceNow Edge Appliance lets you take ServiceNow everywhere your business needs to be, and that’s a win for everyone involved.
