It seems like these days; you cannot get through a conversation in IT without hearing something about the cloud. It continues to be one of the fastest-growing areas of technology and is part of the IT infrastructure of most enterprises today.
If you’re looking to migrate to the cloud, it can be a complex landscape to navigate given the many cloud solutions being offered by providers. So how do you choose? The answer is defined by your unique set of needs, goals, and objectives. Once this is outlined, it is time to do some serious research since not all cloud solutions are the same.
To help with this research, I’ve provided key definitions and insights into one of the more customizable cloud models you should be familiar with. Read on to learn what Bare Metal Cloud is and why it could be the right choice for your organization.
What is Bare Metal Cloud?
Cloud services are typically categorized into 3 main buckets:
- IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
- PaaS: Platform as a Service
- SaaS: Software as a Service
Bare Metal Cloud is a subset of the IaaS cloud services bucket. It is essentially a service that incorporates dedicated server hardware along with the data center networking, storage, and facility that houses it. It is sold on a monthly recurring basis or in finance terms, as an OpEx or Operational Expense.
Other IaaS services will typically include a managed Hypervisor and management portal, but Bare Metal Cloud only includes the hardware and only limited portal capabilities. Bare Metal Cloud allows customers to control the hypervisor or operating system installed directly on the hardware.
Licensing, management, and configuration of that software is all the end-user’s responsibility. Bare Metal Cloud is for IT professionals that want the flexibility, predictability, and scalability of a cloud service, but want to maximize their control.
Why Choose Bare Metal Cloud?
- Dedicated servers – Physically discrete with added security and compliance, along with exclusive control
- Power – Optimize your workload type: Memory, Heavy I/O, Maximum Compute
- Hybrid Enabled – Deploy bare metal and easily add or integrate other clouds and services to meet future needs
- Compliance – Physically separate hardware for HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance
- Managed – LightEdge data centers are ISO 20000 & 27001 validated with all operations following ITIL best practices
- Monitored – Superior informatics, dashboards & alerts
- Cost – Delivers better cost predictability of pay-as-you-go consumption by reducing bandwidth cost overages
Benefits of Bare Metal Cloud
Some key benefits of Bare Metal Cloud included in the service are –
- Lifecycle management
- Hardware maintenance
- Pre-built IT architecture
- Certified staff maintaining the various hardware components
- Proven/tested installations
- Repair and availability Service Level Agreements (SLA)
Without a Bare Metal Cloud service, internal IT staff would typically spend months handling lifecycle activities. Much of their time would be spent replacing old systems and setting up new systems. This time is of little benefit to the business as it takes those IT resources away from core business objectives that provide direct business impact through innovation or optimization efforts.
Of course, the underlying assumption is that cloud providers can perform these tasks better and more cost effectively than in-house IT resources. One common sense approach to understand if this is true is the simple fact that cloud providers have staff dedicated to deploying and maintaining these systems. They are performing these tasks daily whereas most in-house IT teams only implement these systems once every 3-5 years.
As with anything, practice makes perfect. To a business, using IaaS translates to less risk, and more predictable costs.
Operational Expense vs Capital Expenditure
Another key point about lifecycle management that is commonly overlooked is the difference between an OpEx vs Capex model for IT spend. With IaaS, the business never owns the technology assets and thereby is not stuck with them when they become obsolete or under-powered for their needs. Most businesses that own IT gear have experienced negative impacts due to this very fact.
With IaaS lifecycle models, service providers are consistently adding the latest hardware models to their offerings every few quarters. This means that businesses can take advantage of technological advances sooner by simply updating to the new capabilities when needed. Another common mistake of Capex purchasing mentalities is over-buying capacity.
With the unpredictable nature of technology and business needs, I have yet to meet someone who can reliably predict how much of any IT asset is needed 3-5 years from today. Even the most seasoned professionals are simply guessing on this point. IT vendors are all too eager to push for grossly oversized purchases and the fear of negative user feedback when a system becomes slow.
IaaS puts more financial control back into the hands of the business by simply allowing them to buy what they need when they need it. Bare Metal Cloud helps organizations avoid the costly mistakes of owning technology that does not meet their needs all while preserving capital.
Additional Benefits
The benefits that come with Bare Metal Cloud are also true for private clouds where service providers manage the hypervisor layer for their customers. Your organization’s IT staff will still maintain control of how those resources are consumed while gaining back valuable time spent evaluating hardware options or dealing with hardware lifecycle events. Businesses generally experience fewer performance issues or outages with IaaS Clouds.
Compliance and security are two other major benefits of private cloud solutions. Research by Ixia shows that 90 percent of IT professionals are concerned about their data and application security in the cloud. These benefits are particularly valuable for businesses in heavily regulated industries or those that have predictable workload requirements. Private cloud virtualization provides its users with improved resource utilization, as workloads can be deployed to a different server as their resource demands change.
Finally, private cloud users typically spend less than public cloud users, finds a recent study from 451 research. Experts have found that this is due in large part to hidden charges with public cloud services, including network bandwidth. Many businesses that use public cloud services are unaware of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their solution until they receive a bill. A Private cloud solution has also been known to save money over the traditional on-premise environment.
How Does Bare Metal Stack Up Against Other Private Cloud Services?
Private cloud spending is increasing year over year, new studies find. A new International Data Corporation (IDC) study has found that private cloud spending is increasing by 28 percent year over year. If your organization is considering a private cloud solution, you may be wondering how Bare Metal Cloud stacks up. What are the differences between other services? There are definite use cases for each, and they rely heavily on your organization’s core objectives.
If your business is prioritizing a more cost-effective solution and needs compute and storage resources fast, then Virtual Private Cloud may be the best selection. If security is a top concern and you want a controllable and isolated environment with high performance, then take a look at a Dedicated Private Cloud solution.
On the other hand, if you are looking to achieve high performance with ongoing scalability, then take advantage of a Bare Metal Cloud service. Our Bare Metal Cloud offering is developed on dedicated servers for the utmost performance and customization.
Here is a look at ideal use cases for the different types of private cloud services.
Bare Metal Cloud
Bare Metal Cloud services meet major industry compliance standards, including HIPAA and PCI DSS. Not only is this service compliant, but LightEdge’s Bare Metal Cloud offers additional support to ensure businesses are secure and compliant by including a risk-free assessment.
Single-tenancy on physically isolated servers is simply the easiest way to leverage the scale, efficiencies and security at our ISO 20000-validated, ITIL-operated data centers. Bare Metal Cloud is ideal for companies that:
- Have high performance and/or workload objectives
- Need fast deployment and ongoing scalability
- Want to avoid CapEx for next equipment lifecycle
- Need to move skilled IT staff off hardware
- Require HIPAA or PCI-DSS level security
- Want reference architecture with no obsolescence
Dedicated Private Cloud
A Dedicated Private Cloud service offers customers a predictable monthly price and provides physically discrete compute, storage, and network resources. A Dedicated Private Cloud environment also offers a single-tenant environment for those that want to maintain higher control and security. Dedicated Private Cloud is ideal for companies that:
- Have high performance and/or robust workload objectives
- What to avoid CapEx spending for their next equipment lifecycle
- Need to move skilled IT staff away from worrying about hardware
- Need to meet strict compliance and security standards
Virtual Private Cloud
A Virtual Private Cloud service is designed for flexibility and scalability. It takes advantage of a cost-effective tenant model for infrastructure and virtualization, while maintaining business-critical performance and top security. Combine compute, network, and storage options for today and tomorrow’s workloads. Virtual Private Cloud is ideal for companies that:
- Need compute and storage resources QUICKLY or for a short amount of time
- Do not have the staff to maintain your own Dedicated Private Cloud
- Require resources close to traditional IT but do not have enough need to justify a large investment
- Need a cloud option that can be used for business continuity and disaster recovery purposes.
Ready to Deploy Bare Metal Cloud?
LightEdge Bare Metal provides physically discrete, high performance, dedicated servers, storage and network uniquely configured for each customer. Dedicated servers mean added security and compliance, along with exclusive control. You also have the option to create a hybrid environment as your needs evolve. Add speed, extensibility & cost advantages to your deployment. You can choose from top-of-the-line servers, operating systems, RAM, network, and storage options.
Take advantage of our Bare Metal Cloud offering developed on dedicated servers for the utmost performance and customization. LightEdge’s bare metal services meet major industry compliance standards, including HIPAA and PCI DSS. Not only are our services compliant, LightEdge’s Compliance and Security Professionals offer additional support to ensure your business is secure and compliant, including a risk-free assessment.
In addition, from a dedicated physical infrastructure to a virtual delivery model, we have got the compliant cloud and hosting solution for your organization. Retain the level of control you want, and the amount of data isolation you require.
From simply ordering-up capacity in fully managed environments to private clouds that are a customized configuration of infrastructure into any layer of the stack, LightEdge’s world-class facilities built to Tier III standards and talented engineers are ready to accommodate your business’ requirements.
Want to learn more about LightEdge’s Bare Metal Cloud? Contact one of our cloud experts to get started or to schedule your private tour of any of our seven data centers. We have security, compliance and cloud experts standing by to answer any of your questions and to show you how our Dedicated Private Cloud works, so you can benefit from it yourself.
What to learn more about cloud deployment? Download any of our free resources including, Guide to Assessing your Move to the Cloud, How to Deploy a Secure Compliant Cloud for Healthcare, and Redefining you Network Strategy.
