Shopping for private cloud solutions can be a huge chore. While you definitely need private cloud solutions to effectively run your company in the digital age, the problem is that there are simply so many options out there to choose from. There’s also no end to the different services each one offers. This can turn the hunt for an amazing solution into a chore you’d rather avoid. Of course, the longer you put off choosing, the more your company suffers.
In this article, we’re going to make things a lot easier by taking two of the most popular options on the market – Oracle and IBM SoftLayer – and help you better understand which would be best.
Oracle
According to Larry Ellison, Oracle’s private cloud solution is based on the same technology they used for their customer data centers. This combines VM with either Solaris or Linux operating systems. Exadata, Exalogic and Exalytics storage and compute services are thrown in the mix, too, which are all linked with InfiniBand.
The end result is many things, but it’s definitely unique, which has helped Oracle stand out from an overcrowded field of private cloud solutions.
A good example of this is their procurement model and the way it pre-configures the compute stack. Oracle’s private cloud includes the option to simply rent the “Engineered Systems” while it resides in your datacenter for a monthly fee. The rental period lasts for three years, so this isn’t a monthly service. At the end of those three years, Oracle takes the hardware back.
You may have also heard “Engineered Systems” referred to as the “Red Stack.” Either way, it was engineered to simplify IT management and improve computing performance by forcing the numerous technology layers to perform together in the most efficient fashion.
Perhaps the most material benefit of choosing Engineered Systems, then, is its ability to reduce the complexity that often haunts IT solutions. It’s tightly integrated, pre-configured and vendor-managed. This makes it ideal for all kinds of companies but especially those that don’t have a lot of IT personnel they can spare for monitoring and maintaining a private cloud solution.
IBM SoftLayer
Obviously, IBM is another company that needs no introduction. Still, the company may have outdone itself with SoftLayer. For one thing, it boasts more data centers than any other provider in the entire world. While you may not need this kind of overkill, if you’re a large company concerned with redundancy and resiliency, that’s a pretty comforting statistic.
Of course, that kind of data center armada also lends itself to high-speed intranet connections, which is something any company will find attractive. However, if your business relies on complex applications, SoftLayer may be the only way to get the most of them. If you’re currently relying on a lesser option, you might even be surprised to see what IBM’s solution can do.
As a hybrid service, SoftLayer brings together a number of different features. These granular options have made this service popular across industries. You can choose from network types, storage options, memory sizes, different processors and much more to create the perfect offering for your company.
IBM’s IMS (Infrastructure Management System) is used to control your SoftLayer setup, no matter what you decide to do with it. It’s extremely user-friendly, but the fact that the API is exposed means you can take things several steps further if you have specific requirements for your company.
While you should take plenty of time when deciding between private cloud solutions, the above list hopefully made things much easier. IBM and Oracle are two huge names in the industry for good reason, so you can trust that their cloud offerings are worth every penny.