"The cloud isn't evil—it's just unnecessary for most businesses. Modern tools have changed the game."
The Cloud Illusion
For over a decade, companies have blindly migrated to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, treating them as the holy grail of IT infrastructure. But after managing enterprise-grade systems for years, I've discovered a hard truth: the cloud is often a costly crutch. Unless you're operating at hyperscale (think Netflix), on-premise solutions with modern tools deliver superior performance, cost efficiency, and control.
The Only Cloud Expense We Recommend
Need a public IP? Rent a single cloud instance ($300/month max) as a WireGuard VPN gateway. That's it. No bloated subscriptions, no vendor lock-in.
The Modern On-Premise Stack
1. Rust: The Efficiency Multiplier
Our 80 microservices written in Rust consume just 10MB of RAM each, compared to 3GB+ for equivalent Python services. This efficiency allows us to run production workloads on a single 2-core server—hardware that would gather dust in most data centers.
2. Immutable Operating Systems
With tools like Micro SUSE, OS maintenance is now atomic. Updates apply in seconds, rollbacks are trivial, and crashes are extinct. Our servers haven't needed a reboot in 18 months.
3. Containerization Without Complexity
Using Podman/Docker, even junior developers deploy and manage infrastructure. No Kubernetes overengineering—just simple, reproducible containers.
Our Infrastructure: By the Numbers
- Production: 3 rack servers (98 cores each, 294 total cores) handling databases, apps, and backups.
- Development: 6 apps running on refurbished laptops.
- Uptime: 99% over 2 years (without cloud redundancy).
- Cost: 98.5% lower than equivalent cloud setups.
The Serverless Deception
Serverless computing markets itself as cost-effective simplicity. In reality:
- Hidden Costs: Execution fees balloon as traffic grows, often exceeding dedicated server costs.
- Unmaintainable Spaghetti: Even seasoned developers abandon serverless projects due to debugging nightmares.
- Vendor Lock-In: Your code becomes inseparable from AWS Lambda/Azure Functions.
One Fortune 500 client spent $2.1M unwinding a serverless migration—a cautionary tale.
The Bigger Picture
Beyond cost savings, on-premise infrastructure lets you:
- Fund employee raises instead of subsidizing Bezos' space ventures.
- Future-proof your architecture against cloud price hikes.
- Reduce energy waste (our setup uses 90% less power than AWS).