With organizations rapidly adopting cloud environments, the need to boost flexible and scalable IT infrastructure while minimizing costs has become a top priority.
Projections show that the IT industry will reach $1,420 billion in 2024, with the United States generating the most revenue at $522 billion. But how are organizations expected to keep up with the IT infrastructural growth while still optimizing costs?
This is where Flexential comes in with its solution – the FlexAnywhere platform. This platform is a digital toolbox aiming to provide organizations with a comprehensive set of tools applicable in multi-cloud environments, helping them scale up their IT infrastructure while maintaining flexibility and optimizing costs.
This article tells you everything you need to know about FlexAnywhere by Flexential, including what it is, some of its key features, benefits, and use cases.
What is the FlexAnywhere Platform by Flexential?
FlexAnywhere is a comprehensive collection of IT services and capabilities that provide flexible and scalable solutions to meet an organization’s IT infrastructure requirements.
It’s a highly connected platform developed by Flexential, a North Carolina-based IT service management company that delivers tailored infrastructure capabilities with automation, a pay-as-you-go model, and high-density scalability for an organization’s operational needs.
FlexAnywhere combines colocation, cloud services, connectivity, data protection, and professional services to present a holistic solution that helps organizations best optimize their IT operations and boost innovations.
The platform is equipped with the capabilities to support hybrid IT environments, allowing organizations to seamlessly integrate on-premises and cloud-based resources. This helps them devise customized solutions to meet an organization’s unique specific needs.
How does Flexential’s FlexAnywhere Platform work?
Flexential’s FlexAnywhere has a user-friendly interface enabling users to easily navigate the platform and manage their IT infrastructure. Organizations can integrate their cloud environment with FlexAnywhere through key solutions including colocation, cloud services, interconnection, data protection, and professional services.
Organizations can use the platform for a variety of tasks such as requesting and configuring new servers, storage, or networking elements. They can also modify settings, scale resources up or down, and monitor performance. Users can track system performance, how well the resources are optimized, and check performance metrics. The platform enables troubleshooting issues where users can detect and resolve problems with the IT infrastructure. In case of additional challenges, users can request support by submitting and tracking support tickets.
The exact navigation and functionalities may vary depending on the specific services being used and the level of access granted to different users. However, the overall goal is to provide a user-friendly experience that allows users to easily manage and optimize their IT infrastructure.
Key solutions of Flexential’s FlexAnywhere Platform
1. Colocation
FlexAnywhere is powered by Flexential’s key solutions. Colocation is a major solution that helps organizations secure and provide a reliable environment to store their servers and equipment in Flexential’s data centers.
Colocation offers a scalable and flexible solution for organizations that need to expand their IT infrastructure or require a more secure environment for their data and applications. Organizations can benefit from professional management, reliable power and cooling, high-speed connectivity, and enhanced security by allowing Flexential to house their necessary IT infrastructure.
Flexential’s colocation footprint features over 40 data centers across 19 high-growth markets and over 300 on-net carriers. Organizations can secure, and use redundant, and efficient high-density power without the cost or responsibility of an in-house data center.
The platform enables 24/7 surveillance, managed access controls, and biometric authentication of these data centers. It also ensures redundant power supplies and cooling systems for undisrupted operations and also enables high-speed network connections to connect to the internet and other networks.
Flexential ensures climate-controlled environments to maintain optimal operating conditions for IT equipment and provides a dedicated staff to manage the data center facilities and provide support to customers.
Overall, the platform is integrated with colocation capability which allows complete freedom of deployment design and connectivity options and supports 80+ kW per cabinet to meet high-density power demands. It also provides access to hundreds of carriers and international markets through subsea cables, enables cloud connectivity to hyperscale providers—Oracle, Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud and tracks a broad national data center footprint putting data closer to an organization’s users for efficient high-performance computing.
2. High-density colocation
FlexAnywhere platform integrated AI to help an organization accommodate high-performance computing workloads, usually requiring large amounts of processing power. It boosts support for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics. This is why Flexential is equipped with advanced infrastructure that delivers large amounts of power to IT equipment.
The facilities support advanced cooling systems to handle the heat yielded by such high-performance equipment and ensure high-speed connectivity for data-intensive applications. It also provides specialized hardware such as high-performance computing clusters and GPU servers, helping organizations best optimize their IT infrastructure for demanding workloads.
FlexAnywhere platform runs AI, ML, and GPU workloads that require high-compute power, robust scaling potential, and always-on stability. It provides rich connectivity that handles data-intensive applications with high transfer speeds at low latency. The platform also supports key business initiatives with tremendous data and resourcing requirements to stay ahead of the market.
3. Interconnection
FlexAnywhere’s interconnection capability aims to meet every reliability, redundancy, and efficiency requirement by allowing the ability to connect and interact with other IT resources or networks.
Flexential flexible transport solutions provide connectivity to other networks including on-premises data centers, peering exchanges, carriers, partners, and public clouds. Flexential Interconnection also enables a dedicated, private connection to public cloud providers, providing high-performance and low-latency connectivity.
The centerpiece of Flexential Interconnection is Flexential’s high-speed, private, secure network backbone, built to connect all of the data centers in the Flexential portfolio, as well as strategic carrier hotels. With scalable, industry-leading interconnection options, Flexential provides access to a powerful ecosystem of clouds and partners, enabling customers to grow and scale their businesses.
Connectivity to data centers, the internet, and top cloud service providers is at the core of this solution. Flexential fits every requirement to deliver superior network performance and interconnection.
Overall, Interconnection aims to reduce costs and eliminate the need for complex deployments with a comprehensive range of carriers and cloud services. It builds and grows with high-density capable connectivity options, is easy to order, and is backed by service-level agreements. Through this solution, an organization can gain access to a user-friendly self-service portal to view bandwidth information, analyze usage details, and order additional services.
4. Cloud
FlexAnywhere enables organizations to execute private, public, and hybrid cloud solutions. The cloud solution capability enables an organization to maintain control over its infrastructure while offering flexibility and scalability that help meet different requirements.
The platform seamlessly integrates with multiple public cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, GCP, and on-premises environments, supporting hybrid and multi-cloud support. This allows organizations to optimize cost, performance, and flexibility.
FlexAnywhere also facilitates the migration of existing applications and workloads to the cloud, reducing downtime and ensuring a smooth transition. Equipped with a comprehensive set of tools, the platform boasts cloud resources for provisioning, scaling, and cost optimization. This helps organizations maximize the value of their cloud investments.
To protect sensitive data, the platform prioritizes security features to ensure compliance with industry standards. It offers centralized governance capabilities to maintain control over cloud environments. It also supports the development and deployment of cloud-native applications, leveraging containerization and microservices for scalability and agility.
Flexential offers Multi-tenant Cloud, Hosted Private Cloud, and> Hosted Private Cloud – Advanced Access, the industry’s only hosted private cloud with full administrative control over the VMware vCenter server.
FlexAnywhere’s cloud solutions aim to elevate business responsiveness, quickly scale in any direction, as per demand, and retain and expand visibility, control, and security.
5. Data Protection
FlexAnywhere offers organizations a set of tools to meet their specific needs by designing a custom and comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution. This enables the platform to protect an organization’s data, increase resiliency, and allow faster recoveries.
FlexAnywhere also reduces application downtime elevates availability, protects valuable business data, and avoids data loss. It also decreases the impact of the incidents and duration.
Users can easily create backups of their data and store them in a secure, off-site location. In case of data loss or system failure, the backup can be used to restore data quickly and efficiently.
The platform offers advanced security features to protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, and other threats. Overall, this solution aims to protect essential data and disaster recovery services that keep vital systems and applications protected and available.
Key benefits and features of Flexential’s FlexAnywhere Platform
1. Pay-as-you-go model
The FlexAnywhere platform enables cost efficiency, helping organizations pay for the resources they’re actually using. As a result, the upfront costs are considerably reduced and long-term commitments can be avoided. It equips an organization with flexibility, refocusing on scaling up infrastructure up or down depending on the need. The pay-as-you-go benefit can also help them optimize IT expenditure by aligning your costs with an organization’s operational performance, relieving the worry of over-provisioning, and commercial flexibility to shift to different services.
2. Real-time visibility into capacity and performance
FlexAnywhere offers real-time visibility into capacity and performance allowing organizations to track and manage their IT infrastructure efficiently. The benefit provides the users with the latest insights on the optimization of resources including CPU, memory, storage, and network bandwidth.
Having real-time visibility can help organizations detect and address issues before they affect performance or availability and allocates resources effectively to meet demand and avoid overprovisioning. It also makes necessary adjustments to boost application and system performance. The benefit helps forecast future needs and proactively scale resources to accommodate growth and enhances decision-making by making data-backed decisions based on real-time insights into infrastructure performance.
3. Enhancing Customer Success and Loyalty
FlexAnywhere goes beyond merely improving customer outcomes; it elevates retention rates and drives revenue growth through its robust, scalable, and secure IT infrastructure. Focused on optimizing application performance, minimizing downtime, and fortifying data security, this platform empowers businesses to cultivate unwavering trust and loyalty among their clientele. With its unmatched flexibility and scalability, FlexAnywhere enables businesses to pivot swiftly in response to evolving market dynamics, unlocking new avenues for growth and revenue expansion.
4. Standardized and built for scale: empowering business growth
Flexential's innovative approach not only offers standardization but also provides the foundation for scalable growth. With the agility to expand in any direction, their comprehensive range of cloud, colocation, and connectivity options ensures that businesses can adapt seamlessly to evolving needs. By leveraging these versatile solutions, organizations can confidently navigate the complexities of scaling their infrastructure, unlocking new possibilities for innovation and advancement in today's dynamic business landscape.5. Interoperable and complementary services
5. Interoperable and complementary services
Flexential's cutting-edge solutions empower businesses to elevate their performance, bolster reliability, and enhance agility through seamless third-party service and API integration. By seamlessly incorporating external services and APIs into their workflow, organizations can optimize operations, boost efficiency, and stay ahead of the curve in today's fast-paced digital landscape. This strategic integration not only improves overall system performance but also enhances reliability and flexibility, enabling businesses to adapt quickly to changing market dynamics and drive sustained success.
Use cases
1. Priority Ambulance
Priority Ambulance, Knoxville-based 9-1-1 and interfacility private ambulance services managing 600,000 patients yearly needed unwavering uptime and low-latency data delivery to meet a high level of care for patients and healthcare partners. The service relies on IT infrastructure due to its phone systems and 9-1-1 interface, the capability to receive urgent calls and respond to urgent calls impacted the downtime.
This is where Flexential comes in. The private ambulance service deployed the FlexAnywhere platform to enable emergency responses rapidly. The platform provided reliable and scalable IT infrastructure through its hybrid cloud-based solutions, enabling Priority Ambulance to quickly deploy new applications, improve data management, and enhance communication systems.
Particularly, Priority Ambulance utilized the Flexential FlexAnywhere solution blueprint for “Improved Application Performance and Reliability” to achieve the availability and resilience its 24x7 emergency service operation requires. The solution’s blueprints are designed to address common business challenges and deliver business-enabling solutions that fast-track IT transformations and drive competitive advantages.
Priority Ambulance was able to migrate its Florida data center to the Nashville - Franklin site, entrusting Flexential to support its critical phone lines, 9-1-1 interface and more than 100 SD-WAN devices across the country that demand seamless communication with the data center to provide emergency services to various communities.
This ultimately led to more efficient operations, reduced response times, and improved patient care.
2. American Residential Services (ARS)
American Residential Services (ARS) based in Memphis (TN), a network of plumbing, and home and commercial heating and air conditioning businesses needed a flexible and controlled IT environment to support its high-performance enterprise solution. FlexAnywhere platform’s Hosted Private Cloud - Advanced Access solution and DRaaS services provided the organization with a flexible and controlled cloud environment and interconnected services
The platform's cloud-based solutions enabled ARS to deploy new applications quickly, optimize resource allocation, and enhance data management. This ultimately led to more efficient workflows, reduced response times, and improved customer satisfaction. FlexAnywhere's disaster recovery capabilities ensured business continuity and reduced downtime, further contributing to ARS's operational performance.
For more information, visit the Flexential homepage.
About Flexential
Flexential boosts organizational operations with the most complex IT journey by offering tailored hybrid IT solutions delivered via the FlexAnywhere platform of integrated colocation, cloud, connectivity, data protection, and managed and professional services. It’s backed by three million square feet of data center space in 19 highly connected markets.
The FlexAnywhere solutions allow customers to solve their most complex hybrid IT infrastructure requirements, such as reliability and performance, agility and scalability, and interconnection, seamlessly connecting applications and users.
