Private Clouds, Virtualization and Server Management Support

Overview of Private Cloud Hosting
Cloud computing allows organizations to use the Internet, or cloud, to access IT resources located outside their own premises. In the case of public clouds like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS), thousands of organizations share globally dispersed resources in a carefully metered pay-as-you-go model that provides on-demand scale but allows relatively little flexibility in controlling how IT resources are configured and allocated. Private clouds also provide remote infrastructure but restrict access to a single organization and typically allow far greater flexibility than public clouds for supporting custom server configurations, security architectures, and computing styles

Progent's Private Cloud Hosting service offers small and mid-size businesses the advantages of a world-class data center to host mission-critical servers and applications at a low, predictable monthly cost and with as-needed access to Progent's seasoned team of information technology experts. This cost-effective outsourcing solution delivers the reliability of an enterprise-quality data center with the versatility of an on-premises environment. Provide provides full hardware maintenance as well as replication and offsite backup and Progent supports hybrid deployments that integrate on-premises resources with both private and public cloud infrastructure and services.

Progent's virtualization consultants can help you maximize the availability, performance, expandability and manageability of your IT system while minimizing hosting costs. Progent's information assurance experts can design and validate a private cloud solution that meets your security and compliance requirements, and Progent's OS and application specialists can help you integrate any mix of Windows and Linux operating systems and apps. In Progent's private cloud model, you own all operating systems and application licenses, and Progent owns and maintains the server and storage hardware. This eliminates the need to invest in computer equipment and data center facilities and avoids the so-called "cloud bursting" problems that can arise in other cloud models when and if you decide to move to another host.

For details about Progent's cloud hosting services, see Features of Progent's Private Cloud Hosting Services.

An IT Outsourcing Alternative Designed for Small and Midsize Businesses
Small and midsize organizations do not have the means to create a Tier III data center, which can run into the tens of millions of dollars. This puts their on-premises data centers at greater risk of power outages, fires, physical break-ins, HVAC failures, regional natural disasters, ISP disruptions, and other events that high-end colocation facilities are designed and situated to avoid. Smaller businesses also can't afford to hire and retain in-house IT staffs that have the range and depth of knowledge to handle every network issue that can impact productivity. Compared to large enterprises, this means that smaller companies face more IT crises and have less ability to deal with them.

Progent's Private Cloud Hosting services are designed to allow small and midsize businesses to realize the advantages of enterprise-grade facilities and advanced IT support at a price well within their budgets. For details about the Tier III data center in Sacramento, California where Progent hosts private clouds, see the QTS data center for private cloud. For information about the Tampa, Florida data center where Progent offers private cloud hosting, visit Progent's private cloud hosting service at the Flexential data center in Tampa, Florida.

Progent's Hybrid Cloud Planning, Integration and Support Services
Many businesses use both on-premises infrastructure and cloud-based resources to create their IT solution. This computing model is referred to as a "hybrid cloud" and allows organizations to leverage many of the benefits of cloud computing while adhering to security and compliance requirements, accommodating special hardware dependencies, maximizing throughput for performance-critical applications, aligning with a disaster recovery/business continuity plan, etc. Progent's offers the skills of Microsoft-certified consultants and Cisco CCIE infrastructure experts to help you design, integrate and manage an efficient hybrid cloud ecosystem that meets your special requirements and provides seamless access for all users to all critical IT resources.

How Progent's Cloud Hosting Differs from Typical Application Hosting Services
With Application Service Provider (ASP) or Software as a Service models of cloud hosting, clients retain ownership of their data but operating system and software application licenses are owned by the service provider. Since cloud bursting, or moving from an ASP or SaaS provider to another service, is complex and time consuming, organizations with limited budgets and in-house technical resources can become locked in by their service provider.

Under Progent's Private Cloud Hosting model, the client owns the data as well as the software licenses. The virtualized environment is easy to move to a new hardware host without requiring you to reconfigure servers. With Private Cloud Hosting, you are a guest, not a captive.

An additional advantage of the virtualized structure of Progent's Private Cloud Hosting service is that virtual machines can be restored immediately following a catastrophic event. Your virtual environment is replicated and backed up on a regular basis and archived at a geographically separate data center. If needed, your environment can be hosted by any intact server. Progent's DR/BC planning specialists can help you design and test a recovery plan that includes your private cloud assets as well the other critical resources incorporated in your hybrid-cloud solution, which can include on-premises and public cloud infrastructure.

Progent's Private Cloud Hosting service also gives you the latitude to configure operating systems and applications according to your computing style. This is a major difference between private clouds and typical public clouds, which tend to impose relatively strict rules for standardization. This allows you to run legacy applications or custom configurations that are not supported on cookie-cutter public cloud environments. Since you own your software licenses, you can migrate to current software releases at your own pace while still benefiting from the dependability and security of a world-class data center.

Common Uses for Progent's Private Cloud Service
Progent's private cloud is an attractive choice for organizations who need a more customized system and a less fragmented professional relationship than is possible with public clouds like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google, and Rackspace. Typical use cases for Progent's private cloud service include:

• Windows or Linux VMs hosted on Progent equipment with total backup and emergency restore standard
• Complete VDI/hosted application environments for businesses who intend to "move everything" to the cloud
• Low-cost/low-commitment colocation of customer-owned server hardware and infrastructure from a 1U server to a server farm
• Failover replication of on-premises servers to disaster recovery host site
• Remote backup and replication. Progent is particularly competitive for requirements greater than 10TB.
• Client-hosted VoIP servers for nationwide/regional multi-location businesses
• Centralized VPN communications hubs for nationwide or regional businesses
• Temporary virtual or physical servers required for short-term projects, testing, solution piloting, evaluations, etc.
• Physical servers provided and maintained by Progent restricted to a single client. Managed/controlled either by customer, by Progent, or co-managed.
• Emergency servers needed to get back online quickly after unscheduled incidents like ransomware assaults, hardware failure, natural disasters, fires, etc.
• Migrate servers for mergers or acquisitions, change of ownership, etc.

Get Started with Progent's Private Cloud Hosting Service
To learn more about Progent's Private Cloud Hosting service and to find out how Progent can help you streamline server management, call 1-800-993-9400 or visit Contact Progent.