Understand how virtual private cloud as a service is built, tiered and priced

For infrastructure buyers and solutioning teams comparing VPC-as-a-service offers from providers.

Engagement type: Solo Pod
Experts: 1 lead · 1 consulted
Hours: ~25
Duration: 2 weeks

What the client needed

A firm needed to understand the construct of virtual private cloud as a service: what VM and OS support includes on private cloud and on-prem (servers, blades, switches, hyperconverged infrastructure), the storage-as-a-service tiers and what separates them, the resource unit most commonly used and whether it is priced per VM or per vCPU and vRAM, and the pricing and solutioning trends of the last year.

The experts engaged

Previously at HCL Technologies, Hitachi Vantara, DXC Technology, Capgemini, IBM · 19 years

Roles heldglobal solutions leader, cloud transformation and migration · DGM, presales and solution design · senior solutions architect, private and public cloud

Cloud transformation, migration and managed-services deals of $10M–$50M
Owns the bid process end to end: RFP/RFI, SOW, final negotiation
Presales and solution design across retail, BFSI and healthcare

Atlas Verified · Tier B

Previously at Carrefour, IBM, Kyndryl, L&T Infotech, Panasonic · 17 years

Roles heldsolutions architect, global IT services · solutions architect, cloud infrastructure and resiliency · cloud architect

Solutioning and implementation for a global retailer: public and private cloud, SaaS and PaaS, managed services, infrastructure security
RFQ creation, vendor evaluation and managed-services contracting

Atlas Verified · Tier C

A exceptional · B strong · C competent — the tier is derived from the whole assessment, not a single score. The transcript and report are open to you before you engage. How verification works →

The brief

The questions on the table

As the client wrote them, lightly shortened. Client and respondents are not named.

Q1
On private cloud and on-prem VM/OS support, does the scope include the servers, blades, switches and the converged infrastructure underneath?
Q2
What storage-as-a-service tiers are common, and how do they differ by storage type and IOPS?
Q3
What is the most common resource unit in VPC as a service — per VM, or per vCPU and vRAM?
Q4
What pricing and solutioning trends have appeared in the past year?

The hours

What the work involved

01
Scope boundaries
What is inside VM/OS support on private cloud and on-prem, and where infrastructure management starts, as providers actually write it in SOWs.
02
Storage tiers
The typical tiers, what separates them — media, IOPS, replication, backup — and the price relativities between them.
03
Resource units and pricing
Per-VM versus per-vCPU/vRAM units, where each is used, and how providers bundle; the trends of the last year, with examples from bids the expert had solutioned.
04
Cross-check and session
An infrastructure and resiliency solutions architect checked the tiers and units; one working session with the client.

Deliverables

What the client received

Scope-boundary noteWhat VM/OS support includes, by deployment model.
Storage-tier tableTiers, characteristics, price relativities.
Resource-unit and pricing noteUnits, bundling, trends.
One working sessionWith notes.

The terms

What an engagement like this costs

You buy hours in blocks and can change the expert at the end of any block, at no extra cost. Longer projects run in stages: pause after a block, pick up the next stage when you are ready.

Pricing in full →

Rate band: $65–$250 /hr; Senior specialists can be up to $500
Hour blocks: 1 · 2 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 50 · custom
This engagement: Solo Pod · ~25 hours · 2 weeks

Comparing private-cloud offers?

Describe what you need

For example: “We have three VPC-as-a-service proposals with different units and storage tiers and need to compare them like for like.”

We aim to come back with matched experts within 24 to 72 hours.