Reverse cloud migration: Why companies move away from the cloud

cloud reverse migration: Why companies move away from the cloud
10 July 2023
In recent years, businesses across industries have witnessed a significant shift in their approach to IT infrastructure. While cloud computing has been touted as the go-to solution for scalability and flexibility, a growing number of companies are now exploring alternatives such as bare metal servers and network infrastructure providers and relying on more hybrid solutions for the best cost-to-performance ratios. This is particularly the case for Real-Time Communication (RTC) application developers. In this blog post, we will explore the reasons behind this shift and shed light on why companies are increasingly moving away from cloud computing in favor of bare metal solutions.

Table of Contents

Performance and predictability

One of the key advantages of bare metal servers is the unparalleled performance they offer. With cloud computing, businesses often share resources with other users, leading to potential performance variations and occasional latency issues. On the other hand, bare metal servers provide dedicated resources, enabling companies to achieve consistent and predictable performance levels. This reliability is crucial for resource-intensive workloads and applications that demand high throughput, low latency and maximum efficiency. Real-Time Communication (RTC) applications, for example, require high-performance compute services without any noisy neighbors, which is what bare metal offers each time. 

Enhanced security and compliance

Security has always been a top concern for businesses when it comes to their IT infrastructure. While cloud service providers implement robust security measures, the shared nature of cloud environments can still leave some businesses wary. Bare metal solutions provide an added layer of security by offering isolated environments that are not susceptible to potential vulnerabilities arising from multi-tenancy. This isolation ensures greater control over security protocols, regulatory compliance and data privacy, particularly for organizations operating in highly regulated industries such as finance, healthcare and government.

Cost-effectiveness

The cloud is often (mistakenly) associated with cost savings, because of the initial costs being low due to low usage. However, it may not always be the most economical choice for certain workloads. Cloud computing operates on a pay-as-you-go model, which can result in unpredictable costs, especially if resource utilization fluctuates significantly. These can end up rising astronomically once the application starts onboarding more users, requiring more computing resources.

Avoiding vendor lock-in

While cloud computing offers numerous benefits, the risk of lock-in can limit flexibility and hinder a company’s ability to adapt to changing needs or explore alternative solutions. This ‘lock-in’ refers to the dependency businesses develop on a particular cloud service provider due to proprietary tools, APIs and platform-specific features. Businesses running compute-intensive applications should seek to avoid vendor lock-in by adopting infrastructure-agnostic approaches. By utilizing bare metal servers and open-source technologies, companies can maintain the freedom to migrate workloads, negotiate better pricing and select the best-fit solutions for their evolving requirements.

Flexibility and customization

One of the drawbacks of cloud computing is the limited control businesses have over their infrastructure. Cloud services typically come with limited predefined configurations, with restrictive customization options. In contrast, bare metal solutions offer businesses more control over their hardware, allowing for greater flexibility and customization to meet specific requirements. From high-end compute resources to GPU servers, network providers can go the extra mile and provide a solution that truly works for you.

Conclusion

While cloud computing continues to play a significant role in the IT landscape, the shift towards bare metal solutions is gaining momentum among businesses. Enhanced performance, improved security, cost-effectiveness, flexibility and data sovereignty are some of the compelling reasons behind this migration. By leveraging the power of bare metal servers and network infrastructure providers, companies can optimize their IT operations, mitigate risks and achieve the levels of control and performance needed to drive their business forward in today’s competitive landscape.

Main Take-Aways

The increasing popularity of bare metal servers for RTC use cases is predicated on a number of reasons such as high performance, lower costs, flexibility, security and customization.  

Get in touch with our experts and discover what our network can do for your game.

This site is registered on wpml.org as a development site. Switch to a production site key to remove this banner.