Four cloud types  

The benefits of the cloud are beyond doubt – that much is clear. “But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to put any just workload in the public cloud,” warns Van den Steen. “At present, not every organization is prepared to move its entire data center infrastructure – including all the data and applications it serves – to that public cloud. Some organizations simply cannot or should not do so, for reasons both practical and regulatory."

As a result, the future of the cloud looks more hybrid than ever. Depending on the solution you want to put in the cloud, you can choose a mix based on four possible cloud types. The first type is the public cloud mentioned above. There, your solution runs on a hyperscaler infrastructure, such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS). With the second option, the regional cloud, your solution runs on an external partner’s infrastructure. “The Rcloud from Inetum-Realdolmen is a great example of this,” says Van den Steen.

Next, we come to two cloud types where your solution runs on local infrastructure. With a private cloud, it runs on the central infrastructure in your own data center. With an edge cloud, the solution runs close to or at the location where it is needed most, for example, in a production workshop or in a critical environment such as a hospital surgical suite.

Technology as a Service

Even today, many organizations still cling to their on-premises data center; in some cases, they are even legally obliged to do so. With our new managed services for private/edge cloud, Inetum-Realdolmen offers an innovative solution that responds to that situation while fully embracing the cloud story. “Specifically, we combine the benefits of the public cloud with those of our own on-premise data center,” says Van den Steen.

The new solution represents pure Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS). “You’re essentially switching from the former capex model for technology investments to the contemporary opex model that is so typical for the cloud,” explains Van den Steen. “That means shifting from capital expenditure or long-term investments to short-term operating costs.” For example, you, yourself no longer buy the servers and storage you need in your on-premise data center: Inetum-Realdolmen provides and manages that infrastructure for you. You can then use them – in your own data center – according to the public cloud consumption model.

The best of all worlds

With this solution, you can enjoy the best of all worlds. You get all the benefits of an on-premise infrastructure, such as low latency, local data storage and processing and local collaboration between your systems. “But because we now offer this infrastructure as a service (Infrastructure-as-a-Service, IaaS), it also acts as a private cloud that we manage entirely for you.” This offers all the related advantages, including capacity-management and lifecycle-management automation and ensures that your infrastructure is always up-to-date.

“Furthermore, with these managed services for private cloud, we guarantee you all the flexibility you can expect from the public cloud," Van den Steen continues. First of all, there are flexible costs, depending on your consumption and tailored to your revenue. This means large upfront investments in infrastructure are no longer necessary. In addition, there is flexible provisioning, which ensures that you can easily expand, contract or downsize your infrastructure, so that it never has to be too big or too small. Finally, we also provide flexible infrastructure management, which allows it to evolve effortlessly with your business needs.

The Inetum-Realdolmen menu

“This solution also saves significant time for your own IT staff,” notes Van den Steen. “In the time gained, they can focus more on innovation, thus creating more added value for the business.” At the same time, it also reduces the need to attract and retain hard-to-find infrastructure specialists and other scarce IT profiles. After all, Inetum-Realdolmen’s professional service desk provides around-the-clock support for your own IT team, ensuring a guaranteed service quality level tailored to your specific needs via SLAs. “Our menu also includes 24/7 monitoring and event handling,” concludes the cloud consultant.

More info about this new offering?

Contact us without obligation at info@inetum-realdolmen.world. By the way, we will tell you more about it on December 15 during the IDC Infrastructure online event. Our specialist will tell you how to bridge the gap between maximum control/performance on the one hand and speed of innovation/scaling on the other hand with this new offering. Via our VIP code INE22F you can participate for free. Click here for the full agenda and registration.