With Equinix officially sunsetting its Metal platform, many engineering teams are suddenly facing a difficult challenge: How to find a new home for their automation, performance requirements, and global network footprint, without rebuilding everything from scratch.
For companies that relied on Metal’s automation workflows and its strategic location inside Equinix facilities, the question isn’t just “where do we move?” It’s “how do we move without breaking the system?”
That’s where i3D.net fits in. Our Bare Metal Platform was built with a similar philosophy to Metal, and our presence inside Equinix data centers gives migrating teams the continuity they’re looking for. Here’s how we help companies transition with as little friction as possible.
Automation parity that doesn’t force rewrites
One of the biggest advantages Metal offered was its automation model. Many teams built provisioning workflows, scripts, and infrastructure-as-code patterns around the APIs and Terraform structures that originated with Packet.net. Rebuilding that foundation can take months and introduces unnecessary risk.
i3D.net’s Bare Metal Platform mirrors what Metal customers are used to: API-driven provisioning, Terraform support, predictable provisioning behavior, and fast global server turn-ups. Parts of our platform were originally modeled on the architecture and server profiles that Metal used, which means the way you deploy today will feel familiar tomorrow.
The goal is simple: preserve what works so your engineers don’t spend their migration re‑engineering existing logic.
Staying close to Equinix improves network continuity
Equinix Metal wasn’t valuable only because of its hardware. Much of its strength came from its location inside dense Equinix facilities, where connectivity to clouds, carriers, and internet exchanges is immediate. Recreating that network proximity elsewhere is difficult and often expensive.
i3D.net already operates in more than forty Equinix data centers worldwide, including many of the same IBXs that Metal customers use today. This means latency, routing patterns, and architecture remain consistent, and the migration creates fewer surprises.
i3D.net also provides native integration with Equinix Fabric. If you already use Fabric, setting up connectivity is as simple as activating ports on both sides and creating a virtual connection at the capacity you need. There’s no need to redesign your architecture or wait for physical cross-connects. Many Metal customers find this continuity reassuring because it preserves the network behavior they’ve fine‑tuned over the years.
Removing the cost pressure of double billing
Many teams say the hardest part of leaving Metal isn’t the technical lift but the timing. You often have to build the new environment while still paying for the old one, and that overlap can create the kind of budget pressure that slows down the entire project.
To remove that obstacle, i3D.net offers free bare metal capacity during the migration window, typically two to three months. Teams can stand up a parallel environment, validate automation and performance, and run controlled tests without worrying about two invoices at once. It keeps the focus on engineering work instead of financial juggling.
This approach has already helped organizations with complex global platforms complete migrations safely and predictably.
Real-life example of what a complex migration actually looks like
A global DNS provider recently approached us with a particularly sensitive challenge. Their architecture relied heavily on Metal’s environment: specific routing logic, anti‑DDoS layers, and automation flows that couldn’t simply be exported or replicated elsewhere without careful redesign. Some components needed to be rebuilt, while others had to be mirrored exactly.
The migration succeeded because it wasn’t forced into a single step. Both teams collaborated over several months, validating each component, recreating provisioning behavior, and tuning network paths within Equinix until performance matched the original environment. The result was a clean cutover with consistent performance and no service disruption.
This mirrors what we’ve seen in other transitions as well: the most reliable migrations come from iteration, testing, and strong collaboration.
Seeing similar patterns across high‑tech and telecom teams
Many of the companies leaving Metal fall into similar categories: high‑tech engineering organizations, telecom and networking vendors, edge applications, and platforms with global or latency‑sensitive deployments. These are also the workloads that our global low‑latency backbone and Bare Metal Platform were designed to support.
Because we offer a similar footprint and approach to automation, the transition often feels natural instead of disruptive.
Finding the smoothest path forward
For most companies evaluating alternatives, the priorities are clear: maintain automation and maintain network proximity. i3D.net offers both, along with dedicated migration engineering support and a transition process that eliminates the financial strain of double billing.
If you’re planning your own transition away from Metal and want help mapping out timing, scope, or technical risk areas, contact us. We’re always happy to walk through the details. Let’s make your migration predictable and painless!
