White Box Servers For Cloud Environments

Why Your Enterprise Organization Should Consider Using White Box Servers For Cloud Environments

Brand names have a powerful impact on the purchasing process. For the customer, a brand can instill confidence, quality, and even pride. Most of us are at least partially aware of the impact a brand has in the retail and consumer world. These feelings carry over into the enterprise world, especially when purchasing computing hardware. Why?

In the past, big-brand companies controlled much of the hardware and software components necessary to build reliable machines. Over the last decade, the commoditization of hardware, initiatives like Facebook’s Open Compute Project, and the emergence of open-source systems have changed that. It’s now easier than ever to purchase white box servers and with top tier components. But why should you consider these white box alternatives?

5 Compelling Reasons to Choose a White Box Server Company

As with many big-brand server parts, you pay a premium for the name. But paying extra for branded products doesn’t always get you added benefits. In fact, you may find some advantages adding white box hardware to your infrastructure. Let’s consider five of those benefits.

1. Save money. White box server companies can leverage a wider variety of components, which is useful for complex builds, and can help price/performance optimize configurations for specific applications. These factors result in cost savings, especially when deploying your solution at scale.

2. Better customization. White box servers are typically made to order, giving you more control over your build. Additionally, since these servers aren’t tied down to branded products, they are built with a wider variety of components allowing you to create unique products not found anywhere else. 

3. More energy-efficient. White box server customization allows you to build servers to your exact needs. Since you don’t run hardware that’s more powerful than needed for the job, the result is lower energy consumption and reduced cooling costs. 

4. Accessible maintenance and support. The fact that white box server companiess use readily available components with industry-standard interfaces means that servicing your hardware is easier. You can even service hardware in-house or with a third-party vendor. 

5. Shorter lead times. Using standardized hardware and components streamlines procurement and purchasing. Additionally, parts that are hard to find can be substituted with readily available components to accelerate lead times. 

The cost savings and flexibility of white box servers are ideal for cloud, edge, and high-performance computing applications. However, one reason organizations tend to go with big-brand providers is the extended support and warranty options. How do white box hardware providers compare?

What About Enterprise Level Support?

Gone are the days when white box server companies would sell hacked-together hardware with limited support. Today’s solutions providers develop solutions that are on par or even exceed the products built by big-brand manufacturers. Add to that industry-standard warranty options, and large organizations can scale with flexible, high-performance hardware built to their requirements.

Intequus is a leading provider of edge and cloud computing hardware. Our team can help you design, develop, manufacture, deploy, service and support your compute and storage hardware no matter the brand. Learn how Intequus is helping leading organizations accelerate their digital services.