Organizations commonly setup hypervisors in colocation data centers to maximize server efficiency while simultaneously virtualizing their workloads. What if businesses could take this a step further and use server colocation as a way to build a private cloud?
When enterprises begin talking about moving to the cloud, many CIOs blindly assume that public cloud infrastructure is the only way to build their cloud. Many CIOs shy away from cloud for this reason alone.
Some industries have found that public cloud is not a viable solution for their business model. As a result, private cloud is surging in popularity with both open source and enterprise solutions available to businesses.
Examining Popular Private Cloud Solutions
The idea of private cloud has been around for the past decade, although some organizations are slow to adapt.
With private cloud solutions, your organization can automate the deployment of infrastructure, making it simple to spin up a new virtual machine, provide more storage or dedicate more computing resources to a particular app.
Let’s take a look at two of the most popular private cloud infrastructures used by enterprises today.
OpenStack: Free Open Source Private Cloud
It is impossible to have a conversation about private cloud without mentioning OpenStack. When modern cloud computing first hit the scene back in 2005, organizations such as RackSpace, NASA and others were contributing to the OpenStack project.
Since OpenStack’s inception, it has become the gold standard for open source private cloud computing. According to a survey conducted by Talligent, OpenStack has made significant progress in breaking through on the enterprise level. Talligent says:
- 61% of OpenStack enterprise implementations were motivated by cost savings.
- 59% of OpenStack deployments were motivated by the allure of streamlining IT service delivery.
- 54% businesses using OpenStack anticipate their workloads to be private, not public, in the next 5 years.
OpenStack also provides automation within different hypervisors that you may already have in your environment. OpenStack can orchestrate complex private cloud environments which includes Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi and other various hypervisor ecosystems.
With these motivating factors in mind, enterprises are rushing to implement OpenStack as method of automating their IT infrastructure.
Microsoft Azure Stack
Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to purchase a Microsoft Azure subscription to use the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure inside of your colocated datacenter.
With Microsoft’s Azure Stack, you can manage the workloads in your colocated datacenter using a robust resource provisioning suite that allows you to deploy resources on the fly. When your enterprise uses Azure Stack, your IT team will gain access to the robust Microsoft Azure private cloud infrastructure.
Although Microsoft Azure Stack has upside for organizations wanting to implement private cloud, businesses must carefully weigh the downsides of using this relatively nascent technology. Currently, Azure is being bundled with specific vendor hardware.
There was speculation that Azure Stack would only be available those who purchased servers from Dell, HPE and Lenovo. The rumor proved to be false as Microsoft has clarified their position saying they would allow customer owned hardware to be used in final releases of Azure Stack.
Azure Stack is currently in technical preview, however, the final release could become available enterprises in mid 2017.
Which Is Best For My Enterprise?
Organizations that exclusively use Microsoft products may already be tinkering with the Azure Stack technical preview in their dev environments. If your enterprise is vendor agnostic or sensitive to infrastructure costs, deploying OpenStack could be the best bet.
There is no true solution that is superior to the other. With Microsoft Azure Stack, your organization may want to keep its core services collocated inside of a data center, while simultaneously being able to expand into a hybrid cloud when needed.
OpenStack is rapidly becoming adopted in large industries all around the world. In fact, OpenStack is being used by popular corporations such as Walmart, BMW and BetFair.
With so much evidence pointing towards enterprises adopting private cloud at a rapid rate, IT decision makers should also consider which data center colocation partner is right for their private cloud workloads.
ColoCrossing is a highly rated data center colocation provider that has private data center facilities located in all across the USA in 9 cities. Call ColoCrossing’s toll free hotline at 1-800-518-9716 for a free, no-hassle consultation regarding server colocation, dedicated servers and managed services for your growing enterprise.
