Nick McDonald, Senior iGaming Account Director at Fsas Technologies, on how organisations can future proof their infrastructure for today and tomorrow, and without breaking the bank.

You’re fresh off an interesting panel, Scalability – Building Tomorrow’s Systems on Today’s Budget, which took place at the inaugural Tech in Gaming Conference. What made this such an important event for Fsas Technologies to attend?

Fsas Technologies not only attended the conference, but we also sponsored it. Technology is the engine that drives this industry forward, so it’s important to have a dedicated expo where technology leaders can come together to discuss the latest trends, share insights and network. Despite this being the first Tech in Gaming Conference, it was incredibly well attended and over the coming years, promises to be the flagship technology expo for the industry. For me, the absolute highlight was taking to the stage alongside some of the smartest technologist, including Claudia Heilling, Co-founder and COO of Golden Whale, Liam Crowther, Solutions Engineer at Cloudflare and Tristan Greaves, Senior Manager of Solutions Architecture at AWS, to discuss how organisations can future proof their infrastructure without breaking the bank. At Fsas Technologies, we are incredibly proud to have been a part of the very first edition of the event and look forward to supporting next year’s event in an even greater capacity.

What were the key takeaways from the panel discussion?

The four of us had a comprehensive discussion about how organisations can prepare their systems for exponential growth with a sensible and sustainable budget. Throughout the conversation, we really got into the innovative solutions available for scaling infrastructure effectively and efficiently, so that operators and suppliers can ensure they are ready for the future, even if they have limited resources today. We also touched on the key infrastructure trends that we are seeing, and how we believe organisations should respond and leverage any opportunities they present.

What are the key infrastructure trends companies need to consider when mapping out their plans, strategies and set-ups for both today and the future?

There’s quite a lot happening in the infrastructure space right now, from cloud repatriation to the role of AI and automation. Cloud adoption and cloud repatriation are probably the most significant, with organisations having to really consider if cloud is the right approach for them. This is because many organisations transitioned to the cloud without really considering the pros and cons, and now that they have migrated to a full cloud solution, are really starting to feel some of the potential drawbacks. This includes things like underperformance, a lack of control, regulatory and compliance headaches, security issues and increasing costs. This is why more and more organisations are considering a hybrid cloud approach, or a full repatriation, which means bringing their infrastructure back down from the cloud and to on-premises.

What are the main upsides to bringing infrastructure back down from the cloud, and are there any drawbacks organisations need to consider before taking this approach?

There are plenty of upsides to on-premises infrastructure, and for both today and the long term. Moving from the cloud to on-premises or local data centre solutions can drastically reduce costs, especially over time. There is an initial hardware investment required, and ongoing maintenance costs, but this can be significantly less than the bill you receive when using the cloud on a pay-as-you-use basis. Most organisations find that as they scale and grow their business, their bandwidth bill increases with it. Those that repatriate from the cloud can also benefit from a boost in performance (you are the only organisation using the infrastructure), greater control and flexibility and improved compliance. Things to consider? The upfront cost of hardware can be significant, although Fsas Technologies has a solution for this, and on-premises infrastructure can bring additional complexity to the IT ecosystem.

Is cloud repatriation the right approach for all organisations? Or can a hybrid approach be taken?

No, it’s not right for every organisation – in a lot of instances, a hybrid approach works well. With hybrid, the organisation builds a computing environment that uses on-premises private cloud alongside a public cloud, with data and applications shared between the two. This can be the best of both worlds, allowing organisations to benefit from the control and security of a private, on-premises set up, with the scalability and cost-effectiveness (when done right) of a public cloud offering. At Fsas Technologies, we have supported many organisations in transitioning to a hybrid approach, and from being fully on the cloud and fully on-premises.

Is there anything organisations can do to mitigate the cost of on-premises infrastructure?

They can use our uSCALE offering, which has been designed to combine the benefits of on-premises and cloud infrastructure in a single solution. It does this by offering on-premises IT infrastructure with a consumption-based commercial model so that organisations can benefit from cloud-like agility and flexibility but with the security and control of an on-premises setup. In short, it offers a pay-as-you-go model for on-premises hardware, allowing operators and suppliers to scale resources both up and down in line with their needs and demands. This eliminates the need for heavy up-front investment and reduces the risk of over-provisioning. In short, uSCALE transforms traditional on-premises IT into a service-based model, similar to what organisations can access through cloud services. The difference is that the infrastructure is physically located within their data centre or co-location facility.