Private cloud technologies have been instrumental in helping businesses build fully scalable databases. As these platforms age, attention turns to the next evolution; systems must continue to deliver improved performance and ROI, so the next round of investments is crucial.
The fact that your business has been using a private database cloud indicates that your workloads have been deemed too sensitive for public alternatives. This does mean that you have missed out on some of the additional benefits available when using public cloud though.
With Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer, the functionality and feature gap is narrowing. Which means that the next generation of private database cloud can deliver more for less. How much less? Oracle suggests a 47% reduction in the total cost of operations for starters, followed by a 256% return on investment over five years.
Simplified licensing
One of the biggest headaches associated with the private cloud has been licensing. Pooled resources allow for instant scaling according to need and application, but perpetual licenses are a fixed commodity – and you must have enough to cover usage at all times. This means buying additional licenses ‘just in case’ to meet occasional spikes in demand.
With Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC), licenses can be activated and released in line with demand – just like popular public cloud services. Your private cloud database can quickly scale from 2 to 400 cores and back again. You only pay for what you use, when you use it – and you never risk having the wrong number of licenses again.
Reduced management overheads
An in-house private cloud typically relies on a collection of technologies held together by custom scripts and management tools. Although they “work”, there is a lot of manual integration required to keep everything running.
Upgrading to ExaCC dramatically reduces management overheads. As part of the service, Oracle assumes full responsibility for managing infrastructure, reducing the burden on your IT team. Oracle clients report their management processes are 69% more efficient with EXaCC. This approach also ensures you are unaffected by the ongoing cloud skills shortage.
Cloud scale-out
Data storage and processing needs continue to increase year on year, placing an additional burden on the in-house infrastructure. You existing private cloud is still constrained by a finite pool of underlying infrastructure resources.
ExaCC provides optional automated scale-out capabilities, seamlessly linking on-premise private cloud with the hosted public cloud to extend capabilities for specified workloads. This allows you to increase resource usage beyond the constraints of your private database cloud as and when required, also billed on a pay-as-you-use basis.
Enhanced security
One of the key reasons for choosing a private cloud is the degree of control you maintain over applications and data. ExaCC helps to further de-risk the operating environment by bundling Oracle ‘defence in depth’ tools as part of the service.
Security safeguards are built into both hardware and software, with additional encryption included in the database engine. And it’s all a standard part of the ExaCC service.
Just scratching the surface
As public cloud feature sets continue to evolve, there’s no reason why the private cloud has to be left behind. Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer brings many of the very best features to the local data centre – and delivers incredible benefits in the process.
To learn more about ExaCC and how you can generate an ROI on your private cloud investments in as little as six months, please get in touch.