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Should startups ignore the never-ending debate over server infrastructure? Up to a point, yes: the investors we spoke to are giving their blessing to entrepreneurs not to pay too much attention to the cloud in their early days. But the rise of machine learning makes us suspect that answers will soon change. – Anna
Bare metal, redone
If you had a sense of déjà vu this week when David Heinmeier Hansen (DHH) of Basecamp and Hay’s parent company 37Signals announced it was leaving the cloud, you’re not alone: the debate over the pros and cons of cloud infrastructure sometimes seems stuck together. An endless cycle.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard 37Signal’s main argument: “Leasing computers is (mostly) a bad deal for medium-sized companies like us with stable growth.”
In fact, it reminded me of the debate over the years when the DHH cause and its detractors defended expense management company Expensify’s choice to go bare-metal.
However, it would be a mistake to think that the parameters of the cloud and space debate have remained unchanged.
As Boldstart Ventures partner Shomik Ghosh points out in our cloud investor survey, there’s a lot more to on-premises than running your own servers these days. Arguments aside, I think most of us can agree that bare metal isn’t for everyone, which is why it’s fun to see the middle ground emerge.
“In terms of terminology,” Ghosh said, “I think on-prem should also be called ‘modern on-prem,’ which is coined Replicated, because it’s not just bare metal self-managed servers, but virtual private clouds, etc.” “
