Top 10 Managed Private Cloud Solutions for 2023

Businesses like to mind their businesses. Private clouds offer them the isolation and control they need, enabling them to secure data and applications under a single-tenant architecture managed by one or multiple cloud providers. 

72% of businesses use private clouds in some capacity. Trends like remote working made moving to a private cloud environment even more attractive, as employees rely on technology to do their daily tasks and access any information they need – sensitive or not. 

But private cloud infrastructures can be a pain to manage and maintain, particularly if you have limited IT resources. And if you’re not monitoring it properly, security risks or compliance gaps will knock on your door eventually. 

Managed private cloud solutions alleviate these maintenance and monitoring challenges. In this article, we explore the top 10 managed private cloud solutions for 2023, assess their key features and provide insights into each solution’s capabilities. 

What is a managed private cloud?

Often termed a “hosted private cloud,” a managed private cloud denotes a computing framework wherein a distinct software instance operates on a dedicated server and caters solely to a single client organization. An external third-party entity oversees this setup, provides the server hardware, and handles the initial maintenance requirements. 

This arrangement sharply contrasts with a multi-tenant architecture where a single server is allocated among multiple client organizations and also deviates from an on-premises deployment where the software instance is hosted internally by the client organization. 

The solution to your private cloud problems 

Despite its appeal, managing a private cloud is not for the faint of heart. It demands technical expertise, round-the-clock monitoring, and a relentless commitment to maintenance. Luxuries that your busy DevOps team may not be able to afford. Small to mid-sized organizations, often strapped for IT resources, find this particularly daunting.

Managed private cloud solutions can be game-changers, as they remove most of the complexities from cloud deployment to managing and securing a private cloud. Automation becomes a powerful ally by handing over the reins to a third-party provider, taking over repetitive tasks, and increasing efficiency. Reliability is no longer a nagging concern, as third-party providers ensure uptime with robust SLAs. Lastly, organizations gain greater control over their infrastructure, enabling customization, better security measures, and cost reductions due to optimized resource utilization. 

Key features your managed private cloud solution should offer

1. Performance: High performance is non-negotiable. You need a solution that guarantees rapid processing and seamless operation of your applications. Cloud solutions employing SSD storage and advanced caching can reduce latency and bolster performance.

2. Customizability and Integration: The solution should offer flexibility in configuring the environment to meet specific business needs and support both hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Whether connecting with third-party APIs or customizing the storage solutions, the more adaptable the solution, the better.

3. Scalability: As your business evolves, so do its demands. The managed private cloud solution should scale effortlessly with your growing needs. Whether handling spikes during high-traffic periods or expanding storage capacities, the tool should provide seamless scalability options without requiring significant overhauls.

4. Security and Compliance: Robust cloud security features entail physical and virtual security of data centers, including firewalls, encryption, and intrusion detection systems. In addition, the solution should facilitate adherence to compliance standards relevant to your industry, be it GDPR, HIPAA, or others.

5. Customer Support: When the going gets tough, reliable customer support makes all the difference. Look for a solution that offers extensive support, preferably 24/7. It’s also beneficial if the support team has a solid technical background to address complex issues swiftly.

Top 10 managed private cloud solutions for 2023

1. Rackspace Private Cloud

Rackspace Private Cloud runs a Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) on top of a single-tenant infrastructure, creating a complete cloud-like experience. It supports goals such as transitioning from a capex to an opex IT cost model, scaling transaction capacity in minutes, moving out of the data center while keeping applications and data nearby, and addressing compliance and security mandates. It also offers custom options ranging from colocation to bare metal and supports industry-specific applications. 

Best for: Modernizing your IT infrastructure for industry-specific applications.

Customer review: “Once Rackspace is set up, it’s practically maintenance-free. I love their tech support! Any time I have reached out with an issue, even if it did not entirely pertain to Rackspace, they were able to offer a solution. Top-notch support!”

2. Control Plane

Control Plane is a multi-cloud, native app platform (PaaS) that allows you to build, deploy, and run microservices apps faster and easier. It enables you to decide where their code gets run – on-premises or in the cloud – through cloud repatriation. You can use any AWS, Azure, and GCP resource, regardless of where your application runs. Its intelligent DNS routing system ensures that your users get 99.999% availability and extremely low latency. 

Best for: Businesses prioritizing scalability and reliability while wanting to reduce costs. 

Customer review: “We’ve reduced our AWS spend by 75% using Control Plane. We spend less for compute because we can scale to zero with Capacity AI, but the big savings is that with Control Plane, many of the extras we had to pay for in AWS are built in for free.”

3. IBM Cloud Private

IBM Cloud Private is an application platform for developing and managing on-premises, containerized applications. It is an integrated environment for managing containers, including the container orchestrator Kubernetes, a private image registry, a management console, and monitoring frameworks. 

Best for: Refactoring and modernizing heritage enterprise applications.

Customer review: “The overall experience was great. We got IBM Cloudbox, and storing and fetching files at a great speed was great. We store the data, metadata, and almost everything on this cloud box.”

4. Cisco Managed Private Cloud

Cisco Private Cloud Solutions provide an integrated foundation for your private cloud, including an on-demand infrastructure, network optimization, an intent-based data center, and simplified operations. The solution offers an on-demand infrastructure for consistent, repeatable, automated deployments, unified workload control, container management, and application performance management.

Best for: On-demand infrastructure and network operations.

Customer review: “Cisco Private Cloud provides a single platform to manage workloads across public and private clouds and on-premises infrastructure. It includes cost optimization features, such as rightsizing recommendations and the ability to track and allocate cloud costs.”

5. Red Hat Openshift

Red Hat OpenShift is a unified platform for building, modernizing, and deploying scaled applications. It delivers a consistent experience across public cloud, on-premise, hybrid cloud, or edge architecture and supports workloads such as AI/ML and edge. Its operations, developer services, and tools, including built-in Jenkins pipelines and source-to-image technology, enable companies to go straight from application code to container.

Best for: Demanding workloads like AI/ML and edge computing.

Customer review: “Whether in a public cloud or a private data center, OpenShift keeps you productive. While most PaaS environments are just now moving to a Polyglot platform, OpenShift has been doing it from day one.”

6. Dell APEX Private Cloud

Dell APEX Private Cloud focuses on automating the entire cloud management lifecycle across multiple cloud environments. It offers a range of as-a-service and subscription solutions, including on-premises cloud resources, elastic file, block, and backup storage services, downtime mitigation, and data recovery services. 

Best for: Combining the agility of the public cloud with the control of the private cloud.

Customer review: “It’s a great Cloud solution. The implementation is elegant, and the system is perfectly safe with fast deployment.”

7. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) GreenLake

HPE GreenLake for Private Cloud Enterprise streamlines and modernizes your multi-gen IT with a fully managed cloud experience for bare metal, containers, and VMs in your private environment. It brings a cloud operating model to your apps and data across your locations — data centers, colocation facilities, or at the edge — delivering more security and scalability.

Best for: Flexibility and speed of cloud services with the security and control of on-premises IT.

Customer review: “One of the most valuable features of HPE GreenLake is that it provides clients with the security of having their data on-site while still having the convenience of having someone else take care of the infrastructure. Some customers prefer this as they feel more secure with their data on-site.”

8. SAP Business Technology Platform

SAP Business Technology Platform integrates data and processes, enabling businesses to build intelligent technologies into their applications and maintain control over their IT landscape. The platform combines database and data management, analytics, application development and integration, and smart technologies. It also offers flexibility with multi-cloud and hybrid deployment options, and it’s built on open standards, allowing for seamless integration with existing systems.

Best for: Businesses aiming for data-driven decisions and rapid application development.

Customer review: “SAP Business Technology Platform offers a variety of integration options, making it easy to integrate with other systems and applications. This helps businesses streamline their processes and improve data consistency.”

9. VMWare

VMware Dedicated Private Cloud provides businesses with a foundation for anything-as-a-service. It is built with industry-leading computing, storage, and cloud network security. Plus, it allows seamless cloud migration capabilities from customer premises or VMware Cloud on AWS to your data center.

Best for: Businesses that require high security and customizability.

Customer review: “VMware Cloud Foundation automates cloud implementation processes, and we deployed it for running business applications privately and for integrated cloud storage.”

10. Microsoft Azure Stack

Microsoft Azure Stack helps organizations deliver Azure services from their own data center while balancing the right amount of flexibility and control  — for truly consistent hybrid cloud deployments. Azure Stack offers many features, including running hybrid applications across data centers, edge locations, remote offices, and the cloud. It also provides a cloud-native integrated system, hyper-converged infrastructure, and a cloud-managed appliance.

Best for: Keep data on-premises for compliance or security reasons.

Customer review: “Best Part of Azure Stack is its capability to scale. It is also very simple to easily set it up. Also, its cost is cheaper than the VCE.”

Head in the private clouds 

There isn’t a lack of managed private cloud solutions in the market – but you need to find one you can trust to control your entire cloud infrastructure. Most private cloud solutions will offer you similar basic features required to run your private cloud, and that’s fantastic. But which solution goes above and beyond? And which solution suits not only your current needs but your future plans? 

Flexibility to use different cloud providers when and how you want, scale your infrastructure up and down as needed, and move your workloads from the cloud to on-premise are essential benefits to consider. 

Control Plane’s Universal Cloud Identity technology makes your workloads portable, so you can use any combination of AWS, GCP, and Azure services, even if you move to on-premises infrastructure. Plus, it gives you low latency by connecting each request to its nearest workload and enables you to scale up and down, only paying for what you consume. Sign up here.