Introduction: The Great Cloud Debate
As someone who has witnessed the rapid evolution of cloud computing over the years, I can’t stress enough how important it is for managed IT service providers to stay ahead of the game. But in the vast world of technology, there are a million different areas you could choose to put your effort and dollars behind.
The biggest one we’d recommend? Cloud technology.
I’ve always been intrigued by the ongoing debate between public and private cloud providers. With prominent players like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure dominating the market, businesses are often led to believe that going public is the only logical choice for their cloud computing needs.
But is that always the case? And should you consider private, hybrid, or open source cloud solutions instead?
Grab yourself a coffee and let’s dive into this subject together.
The Allure of Private Cloud Solutions
One of the reasons I love private cloud solutions is the level of control and customization they allow businesses to have over their infrastructure.
The Reliability Factor
Ever heard the saying: “Only trust someone as far as you can throw them”? Well, in the world of business IT, trusting public cloud providers might not be the best idea (not to mention how hard they are to throw). By switching to a private or hybrid cloud solution, managed IT service providers can ensure that their clients’ data and applications are stored and accessed securely, with much greater control over the environment.
Did you know? Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a significant outage in 2017, impacting numerous websites and apps. In just about every year since then, they’ve frequently suffered from multiple major outages in a single month.
The Security Advantage
Security becomes more and more important each day, especially as an MSP where you may be held responsible for any customer mishaps. With cyberattacks and data breaches becoming increasingly common, managed IT service providers must take every precaution to keep their clients’ information safe.
Private and hybrid cloud solutions offer a level of security that public providers simply can’t match. Customizable cybersecurity features and dedicated infrastructure offer better control and protection for client data.
Private clouds provide enhanced security since you can isolate your data from other organizations and the public internet. This is especially important for businesses dealing with sensitive information or strict compliance requirements.
Remember when: In 2021, Kaseya fell victim to a large-scale ransomware attack? As one of the leading IT vendors, dozens of their MSP customers were affected, and, by extension, managed IT providers’ clients, too. “The Kaseya VSA supply chain cyberattack hit roughly 50 MSPs on July 2, 2021. The REvil ransomware attack spread from the MSPs to between 800 and 1,500 businesses worldwide.” (MSSPalert)
The more you rely on outside providers, the more risk you bring to yourself and your clients. While we can’t all be completely self-sufficient in the digital age, it’s smart to reduce security risks wherever possible.
Flexibility Matters
By leveraging open source technologies in private and hybrid cloud solutions, managed IT service providers can tap into a wealth of innovation from the global developer community. This helps them avoid vendor lock-in and enables them to create tailored infrastructure based on the unique needs of their clients. This level of adaptability simply isn’t possible with a public cloud infrastructure. Here at OpenMetal we offer everything from nearly instant-on hosted private cloud systems to custom levels of managed private cloud.
And you won’t be locked into only using the provided features of your open source solutions like you often are with proprietary platforms. If you love certain pieces of software, like Active Directory, here’s how you can integrate it with OpenStack!
Saving Money
At the end of the day, we all know that money matters. Contrary to popular belief, private and hybrid cloud solutions can actually save managed IT service providers some serious coin! This is due to the pay-as-you-grow models that reduce upfront costs and provide more accurate billing based on actual usage.
Hybrid and Alternative Clouds: Best of Both Worlds
There’s an age-old saying: “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” (yes, I like quotes). But in the case of hybrid clouds, you can. Hybrid and alternative cloud solutions combine the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of public clouds with the security and control of private clouds, making them an attractive option for businesses looking to optimize their cloud services.
One thing that struck me during a chat with a cloud colleague was the concept of ‘cloud bursting’. Cloud bursting is when an application runs on a private cloud but ‘bursts’ into a public cloud to access additional resources during peak periods. This approach allows businesses to scale their resources smoothly, depending on their needs, without the costs associated with permanently increasing their private infrastructure.
Hybrid cloud and multi-cloud solutions allow businesses to mix and match their cloud infrastructure to meet every sort of need. Maybe you run your consumer-facing services in a public cloud, and have an internal private cloud for research and development. Or perhaps you use the burst model mentioned above. Whatever the requirements, there are hybrid and alternative cloud options to meet your business needs.
Open Source Solutions: Collaboration at Its Finest
Open source solutions are like a breath of fresh air in the world of cloud computing. What sets them apart is their collaborative approach, enabling developers worldwide to contribute to and improve the software.
OpenStack, for example, is an open source cloud platform that offers a flexible solution for businesses seeking modularity and the freedom to customize their cloud environment without being locked into a specific vendor.
Did you know? LibreOffice, an open source alternative to Microsoft Office, has been downloaded over 200 million times. This just goes to show that open source solutions are not only feasible but embraced by users across the globe.
Where OpenMetal Comes In
OpenMetal was founded on the principles and vision of open source. The heart of open source is that an individual contributor can make a meaningful difference with a logical amount of work that is not painful to accomplish.
When an open source system reaches a certain level of complexity, it becomes increasingly difficult for an individual to learn, acquire all the necessary components to make the system, then work on the individual item they mean to improve.
This leaves the most powerful systems, the ones that can bring incredible value, in the hands of large organizations or a handful of small organizations specific to the software at hand. Think systems like OpenStack, Apache Spark, Cassandra, and Kubernetes, to name just a few that have reached significant startup difficulty.
OpenStack has, historically, been known as incredibly complicated and time-consuming for users to set up. Without a team dedicated to its implementation, it hasn’t been accessible to most. So, we decided to change that! Our mission is to make highly complex open source systems available on-demand to increase accessibility for smaller teams.
With the mission established, the first major challenge our engineering team addressed was to take OpenStack, a highly complex open source cloud system, join it up with Ceph, another complex open source storage system, hyper-converge it, and then deliver it as-a-service. And now, we’re proud to say our OpenMetal Cloud platform allows users to deploy their own OpenStack + Ceph cloud in just 45 seconds.
Gain the Benefits of Open Source With OpenMetal Cloud
Companies like MSPs that notoriously juggle low margins and increasing technology costs can benefit immensely from shifting to private and open source solutions. Based on our current data from OpenStack-based businesses, we can lower cloud costs for almost all providers with the scale we have.
Learn more about how our solutions specifically benefit the MSP business model
Time to Set Sail: Choosing Your Cloud Adventure
Private, hybrid, and open source cloud solutions offer managed IT service providers unparalleled control, customization, and security. While public cloud providers may have had their place in the growth of the cloud industry, it’s clear that the future lies in more secure and flexible environments.
Private, hybrid, and open source cloud solutions each have their unique benefits for anyone offering IT and cloud-based services to their customer. Custom cloud setups can provide tremendous value to businesses willing to think beyond public cloud providers. I, for one, am always excited to explore new and emerging technologies that challenge the status quo. As the great Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” (Last quote, I promise)
So what are you waiting for? Embark on your cloud adventure today and discover the possibilities on your own hosted private cloud.
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