Fall in Love with Cloud Again

Bare metal deployments have skyrocketed in popularity recently, and with good reason. Bare metal solutions offer significant benefits, including better security, lower costs, ease of upgrading, reliability, and speed. Also referred to as a dedicated server, a bare metal server is a physical computer server that only one consumer or tenant uses. Its free from any virtualization, and the consumer can optimize the server according to their performance needs.Choosing the right server infrastructure is a critical decision for any business. Making the wrong decision can lead to purchasing IT equipment thats not fit for purpose. Moreover, choosing the right solution today can secure your success in the future.While we can apply bare metal deployments to a bunch of scenarios, there are some areas where they drive the most significant impact. With this in mind, lets look at the use cases for bare metal in gaming, media, and companies with an international presence.Bare Metal for GamingToday, more and more gaming companies are using bare metal to create robust and compelling gaming platforms, but why? Game developers are under immense pressure to deliver increasingly innovative, immersive, and powerful gaming experiences. This is especially true for graphically intensive multiplayer games that require fast response times. For example, esports, valued at $1.08 Billion in 2021 but expected to grow to $2.8 Billion by 2028, can only function due to high performance and low latency servers.In simple words, bare metal deployments are ideal for CPU-intensive and latency-sensitive gaming workloads. By using a single-tenant environment (with no one else sharing the same resources), bare metal servers offer higher performance and more stability. Additionally, these servers can be configured to the exact specifications of the game. Lastly, bare metal also provides fast deployment. This means gaming companies can spin up a new machine or de-provision another as business needs evolve.Bare Metal for Organizations With an International PresenceOrganizations with an international presence are increasingly choosing bare metal solutions to help achieve their goals. Bare metal allows you to utilize all of the servers processing, memory, and other capabilities while being highly scalable and free from any OS constraints.This makes bare metal an excellent fit for high-availability systems like enterprise applications with considerable security or performance requirements. Similarly, since bare metal servers are isolated from the operating systems vulnerabilities, they are also considered much more secure. This is crucial for large international companies that are often lucrative targets for cybercriminals.Maintaining consistent performance across sites is vital for international organizations with offices across multiple regions. These companies often need to provide functionality to users across the world with ultra-low latency. Moreover, high performance and low latency are often significant elements of their future growth plans. International organizations can gain a competitive advantage by investing in bare metal infrastructure that can securely connect locations, people, clouds, and data, allowing their business to thrive.Bare Metal for Online MediaCompanies that offer online media, like Twitch, YouTube, Netflix, Disney, and Paramount, need server infrastructures that can handle enormous volumes of data on an hourly basis. At the same time, they need to be able to scale as demand grows and effectively safeguard their data from ever-increasing and more severe cyber threats. And in the online media industry, bare metal deployments have become a popular choice for meeting these goals.For example, senior director architect of Verizon Media, James Penick, said, Weve understood that we need to build a foundation before building the house. Bare metal servers form the basis of our infrastructure. Its like hardening the building using concrete and reinforcing bars.[1]Essentially, bare metal servers help maximize performance by avoiding the virtualization tax, thereby allowing the server to cope with resource-heavy tasks more efficiently.Bare metal servers also help online media companies manage the bandwidth needs of their growing audiences and keep up with their competitors. For example, a rough estimate for 2021 is that Twitchs servers handled 46.5 million gigabytes daily throughout the year, serving around 2.76 million average concurrent users. And while popular, Twitch isnt even the largest online media company out there by a good margin.Naturally, any online media company that wants to compete or even overtake a platform like Twitch needs to at least match but more likely exceed the companys server capabilities. Bare metal deployments are the most reliable and efficient way of doing this. They allow content providers to meet extraordinary user demand without having to worry about bandwidth fluctuations as demand scales.Moreover, managing demand will only become more vital as the online media market continues to grow. For example, a 2018 Cisco study predicted that online videos will account for 82% of internet traffic by 2022 and that 1.1 million minutes of video will be streamed or downloaded every second by 2022. While we dont have the 2022 data just yet, video traffic already accounted for 73% of all consumer internet traffic in 2017[2].As the online content market grows, content providers will be under even more pressure to provide maximum performance to hold users attention. Moreover, providing consistently high performance at peak load times, like during major sports broadcasts or significant calendar events, is made much easier with bare metal infrastructure that is highly configurable and flexible.In addition, bare metal deployments can offer significant cost savings due to their ability to optimize the companys resources effectively. This helps smaller media platforms get off the ground more quickly and compete with the industry giants.Lastly, server performance is more predictable with bare metal servers. This means online media companies can make better decisions over their technology stack today and in the future.Final ThoughtsPublic cloud, private cloud, and bare metal all have their place. And bare metal servers are the clear winner when it comes to resource-intensive workloads that require ultra-low latency and fine-tuned control. Whether its gaming, online media, or international enterprises, bare metal offers several key advantages that other infrastructure solutions cant meet.

According to Flexeras State of the Cloud Report 2022, an eye-watering 89% of organizations currently use a multicloud strategy. In simple words, multicloud is skyrocketing in popularity, and with good reason. By strategically leveraging multiple providers, companies can achieve greater efficiencies, become more agile and innovative, take advantage of the economies of scale and boost resiliency and performance in their virtual infrastructure.As the name would suggest, multicloud environments are where an enterprise uses more than one cloud platform to achieve its goals. A multicloud environment can consist of public, private, and edge clouds, combining on-premise operations with applications offered by multiple public cloud providers. Doing this allows enterprises to experience the benefits of each platform while mitigating their drawbacks.Choosing a multicloud platform can deliver significant business benefits, so lets get into them.A Single Pane of Glass ViewWe live in a world where the average employee uses 36 cloud-based services daily, and the average enterprise uses almost 1,300 cloud services. And while these cloud services offer many benefits, many companies have found managing these environments challenging.This is largely due to the rapid adoption of cloud services over the last five years. Essentially, when multicloud deployment is happening seemingly weekly, more resources get directed to implementing these individual applications than managing their place within the broader IT ecosystem.A sprawling, ill-configured, and complex multicloud setup leads to poor visibility, control, and governance challenges. With this lack of visibility, IT workers struggle to make informed decisions on how to best manage the enterprises operations in the cloud. At the same time, cybersecurity robustness (how well a company can predict, prevent, and respond to cyber threats) becomes increasingly challenging.Thats why the best multicloud platforms today offer a single pane of glass view over the multicloud environment. These platforms enable organizations to monitor and manage applications and workloads across multiple clouds through a single interface, thereby boosting efficiencies. And in recent years, managing complex multicloud architectures has become even more practical and efficient with the introduction of new tools like Kubernetes multicloud. Large enterprises in particular greatly benefit from a single pane of glass multicloud platform.Competitive PricingAs the number of multicloud providers continues to grow yearly, organizations have more choice than ever before. This means enterprises can compare providers and secure the best available rates for their specific IT needs. In addition, and critically, since theyre not locked into any single providers terms, they can choose the vendor that offers the most payment flexibility, customizable capacity, and adjustable contracts. The result? Enterprises can focus on their core activities and exploit market opportunities.Boosted Security and Enhanced ResilienceWe touched on this briefly in the first section, but with todays rapidly evolving and increasingly severe cyber threat landscape, cybersecurity needs a section of its own. Having a centralized view over a multicloud environment allows granular control and comprehensive visibility into IT resources.At the same time, adopting a multicloud strategy (and platform) can offer more robust security in the form of knowledge sharing. Essentially, since cloud providers are responsible for managing the security of their own infrastructures, they can guide enterprises on how to best align their capabilities and protect their data while using the cloud service.Using multiple cloud services also boosts resiliency because individual cloud services offer backup and recovery capabilities. This provides much-needed continuity and reliability in the event of a disaster, power outage, or cyberattack.Avoiding Vendor Lock-InAdopting a multicloud platform means casting a vote for a dedicated multicloud strategy. And organizations that commit to a multicloud strategy become shielded from the gloomy vendor lock-in.Vendor lock-in happens when it becomes too complex for a company to transfer its business away from one cloud provider to another. Organizations trapped in this cycle find themselves developing solutions that rely heavily on the unique offerings of one particular vendor. And as they invest more heavily in that vendor, switching providers becomes almost impossible due to the high costs, sky-high complexity, and costly time investment.Fostering InnovationMulticloud platforms allow organizations to align workloads with the cloud service that best fits the specific use case. As a result, organizations can dramatically reduce or even eliminate pain points in their day-to-day operations and development projects. At the same time, intelligent multicloud platforms utilize multi-region capabilities to offer ultra-low latency and near 100% availability of cloud services.Faster DeploymentOne of the fastest-growing multicloud trends is to use containers to deploy applications faster, and leading multicloud platform providers are responding to this trend. These container technologies like Kubernetes and Docker enable developers to build, package, and deploy applications at breakneck speed.Since containers are self-contained environments, developers can focus on application logic and dependencies and spend less time worrying about configurations and platform versions.Reducing CostsMulticloud environments can quickly become costly, but opting for a dedicated multicloud platform provider can dramatically cut costs. For example, many providers allow you to pay for only what you consume (CPU/RAM/egress workloads) and the tools you use. At the same time, AI is increasingly leveraged in multicloud solutions and especially multicloud platforms to scale and manage multicloud deployments. This can lead to further cost savings by reducing runtime costs.Reducing or Eliminating Shadow ITShadow IT (the use of devices, applications, and services not approved by the IT department) is a top concern for enterprises today, and with good reason. Alarming studies by Gartner have found that up to 40% of IT spending in large enterprises goes to Shadow IT. And research by other firms has put this figure even higher, close to 50%[1]. Shadow IT expands the digital attack surface and leaves organizations vulnerable and powerless to cyberattacks. Luckily, multicloud platforms can significantly reduce this risk with their single pane of glass view.Final ThoughtsIts no surprise that multicloud solutions dominate the modern IT landscape. However, many companies embarking on a multicloud strategy are spending too much money and adding needless complexity to their IT environment. Multicloud platforms help overcome these challenges and empower enterprises to cut costs while boosting performance, security, and control.Multi-cloud systems are becoming increasingly popular, and this trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. As multi-cloud strategies grow more entrenched in all businesses, it is more important than ever to ensure that you can optimize your multi-cloud strategy while protecting and securing your most strategic resource: your data.Contact Datacenters.com today for a free demo to see how easy a multicloud deployment can be for your organization. Dont have time for a demo? Spin up servers in a matter of minutes and customize your environment.

Cloud computing has been adopted by virtually every company, albeit to varying degrees, for use inside their operations. On the other hand, increased adoption of cloud computing makes it necessary to ensure that the organizations cloud security plan is adequate to protect against the most significant dangers posed to cloud security.Here are five of the most common security issues in cloud computing and how multi-cloud solutions can help resolve them.Issue #1: MisconfigurationThe most common cause of cloud data breaches is still misconfiguration. According to a recent analysis, human error was responsible for 88% of all data breaches in 2020.As a result, IT operations workers must receive support and training, and defense teams must be well-versed in cloud computing. Monitoring for typical misconfigurations, including storage bucket concerns, using cloud-native technologies can also be beneficial.Issue #2: Data BreachesThe cloud has been blamed for several recent data breaches.In the event of a data breach, a companys reputation, financial stability, and market value can all get ruined, resulting in an irreparable loss of value.A good and well-tested incident response plan can help firms in this area, as can an understanding of the value and effect of their data.Issue #3: EncryptionEncryption does not prevent breaches per se, but it adds an extra assurance that data will not be easily compromised if there are any threats. This feature is merely an additional layer of protection, but it plays an important part in multi-cloud security. You can determine cloud storage buckets encryption status with the help of automated programs.Ultimately, it is in everyones best interest to use encryption for data stored in the cloud by default.Issue #4: Insufficient Cloud-based Architecture and Strategy for SecurityToo many companies are rushing toward the cloud without establishing a solid foundation in design and strategy. Customers considering moving to the cloud need to know what risks they are taking, how to do it safely, and how the shared responsibility model works. Customers risk financial losses, reputational damage, and legal and compliance difficulties if they do not plan.As a result, firms can and should ensure that their security architecture aligns with their business goals and establish and apply a security architectural framework.Issue #5: Insider ThreatsEmployees and others working on an organizations network pose various dangers, not just those linked with the cloud. Employees, contractors, and partners, whether negligent or malicious, can lead to data loss, system outages, diminished customer trust, and data breaches.It is necessary to manage consumer accountability, insider threats involving leaked or stolen data, credential issues, human errors, and cloud misconfigurations, among other things. Moreover, companies must undergo security awareness training, fix cloud servers that have gotten misconfigured, and restrict access to important systems to protect themselves from cyberattacks.ConclusionWhile the cloud has many benefits, risks, and concerns, traditional security technologies and tactics cannot usually secure cloud-based infrastructure effectively since it differs significantly from an on-premises data center.You may have the best of both worlds by implementing a comprehensive and unified security strategy for hybrid and multi-vendor cloud environments. This option will allow you to have a secure cloud environment that is easy to construct, administer, and maintain.

Multi-Cloud storage combines the various services of cloud storage vendors in one area. You can merge native cloud services, MSPs, and third-party cloud services in one multi-cloud architecture. Cloud storage used in multiple clouds can enhance flexibility and the protection of your data by distributing the data between various locations and eliminating the risk of vendor saving in your data.In this article, we will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of multi-cloud storage and how it works.What is Multi-Cloud Storage?As its name suggests, multi-cloud storage is a way for businesses to use various cloud services to store their data. While this definition is easy to understand, it has a hidden difficulty as companies have to deploy the procedures to manage and distribute the data between various clouds. The clouds used can be all private, public, or maybe, a combination of both.Businesses may use different cloud providers for other business areas, like infrastructure, data, or software. Consumers can store data over various providers while getting the advantages of each provider separately and the benefits of having everything linked to each other.Multi-cloud storage allows you to use multiple cloud storage services, which can be hosted in a private cloud, as a standalone resource with abilities like a cloud or in a public cloud. It is a part of a multi-cloud architecture, which merges resources and services from various cloud providers and private cloud infrastructure.Your cloud storage services can include:Supplier-integrated ServicesThese can include MSPS, CSPS, and resellers of cloud services. These vendors provide services which are already integrated with your cloud provider. Services mostly provide improved performance and extra features as compared to the native service.Native Public Cloud ServicesThese cloud services are provided by cloud providers directly. Cloud Providers can include Azure, Google Cloud, and AWS. They typically support object, database, file, and block storage.Marketplace ServicesMarketplace services are the third-party services provided by the cloud providers marketplace. These services are pre-built machine images or applications that you can deploy.How does Multi-Cloud Storage Work?Multi-cloud storage is mainly managed with multi-cloud controllers. These controllers merge all resources under one API and namespace. This centralises the management and allows you to manage and observe the services from one dashboard. Multi-Cloud controllers mostly use a mix of security, storage, and cluster manager agents. There are also some specified multi-cloud Kubernetes services, such as Google Anthos.By merging services in one framework, multi-cloud controllers allow you to:Reduce expenses by using storage services only when required. You can personalise how data is moved between your services, ensuring it is still optimised and accessible.Maintain control over your data with centralised observing and logging. This allows you to eliminate the risk of your data getting lost or stolen as you know where your data is.Pros of Multi-Cloud StorageThere are various benefits of using multi-cloud storage, relying on your configurations. Most of the benefits are:More Data ProtectionAs data and applications are different across various services, a breach of one service influences a limited amount of data. This allows you to isolate attacks and store data backups in remote locations efficiently.More FlexibilityUsing cloud storage services from various vendors allows you to avoid vendor lock-in and enhance the data durability by using a duplication method. Merging services also gives you more access to specialised services.Cost OptimizationThe capability of piecemeal storage services allows you to customise the performance and cost options depending on your requirements. Multi-Cloud environments will enable you to benefit from the best pricing structures for every service.Cons of Multi-Cloud StorageEven though multi-cloud storage can give a lot of benefits, it can be complicated to protect, manage, and deploy storage in a united way. Some common cons of Multi-Cloud Storage are:Multiple APIsCloud services mostly communicate through APIs. Even though there is some similarity with RESTful APIs, various providers form various API structures. This includes different languages or rule structures. These differences need customisations to allow communication between these services.Compatibility ProblemsStorage services should be compatible across various clouds to merge smoothly into one environment. This means services should accommodate the exact data structures and allow integration with the same tools.Complicated ManagementEnsuring visibility across various cloud environments and services is difficult. It needs a centralised federation and monitoring of services, like access and identity controls. If there is no centralization, services will probably have configuration errors and enhanced vulnerability.Use Cases of Multi-Cloud StorageCompanies can use various clouds to make their storage infrastructures better. There are a lot of ways businesses can do this:ResiliencyStoring data in various locations can go a long way toward eliminating the risks related to data storage. An outage in a single cloud storage service should not influence the data stored elsewhere.Backup and ArchivingA crucial use of multi-cloud storage is backup and archiving. This approach makes this use case easier, more reliable, and cheaper. Data is duplicated off-site, making it more affordable than tape storage while improving recovery points and retention periods.ComplianceMore strict data privacy rules mean that data should be stored in geography to meet the standard requirements. This means that most data can be stored in one country with a single cloud storage service provider. Still, a subset replication of that data should be kept on another cloud in another country to comply with regulations in that region.ConclusionMulti-cloud systems are becoming increasingly popular, and this trend shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. As multi-cloud strategies grow more entrenched in all businesses, it is more important than ever to ensure that you can optimize your multi-cloud strategy while protecting and securing your most strategic resource: your data.Contact Datacenters.com today for a free demo to see how easy a multicloud deployment can be for your organization. Dont have time for a demo? Spin up servers in a matter of minutes and customize your environment.