Equinix Business Cloud (EBC)
Equinix Business Cloud (EBC) is the Equinix Managed Solutions Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud platform.
With EBC, you can purchase cloud resources and create a hybrid solution with your on-premises environment or with other Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Salesforce, and SAP.
EBC includes compute, storage, and networking resources, all managed from a single self-service portal. You can combine EBC with other services in the Equinix portfolio, such as Managed Backup & Restore, Managed Firewall, Office 365 Backup, and Anti-DDoS.
EBC is available in three geographically separate locations across the Netherlands, so you can create geographically separate applications and systems.
We offer network and connectivity options to link your EBC environment with various parties and partners (ecosystems). For example, Equinix Fabric enables you to set up reliable, fast, and secure connections with various cloud service providers and partners, such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
EBC Service Variants
Equinix offers the EBC platform in three service variants:
- EBC Flex – Shared resources/compute, multi-tenant virtualization, managed through the vCloud Director portal.
- EBC ST – Dedicated resources/compute, single-tenant virtualization, managed through the vCloud Director portal.
- EBC Core – Dedicated resources/compute, single-tenant virtualization, managed through the vCenter portal.
The following table highlights the key differences between the EBC variants in management, licensing, purchase units, and disaster recovery (DR).
| Feature | EBC Flex | EBC ST | EBC Core |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management Portal | vCloud Director | vCloud Director | vCenter |
| Compute Platform | Shared | Dedicated | Dedicated |
| Management Environment | Shared | Shared | Dedicated |
| Minimum Purchase | 8 purchase units (PUs) (8 vCPUs / 32 GB vRAM) | 500 GB vRAM (unless customized) | 500 GB vRAM (unless customized) |
| Additional Consumption | Up to 50% above contractual purchase | Up to 100% above contractual purchase | Up to 100% above contractual purchase |
| Billing | Additional consumption charged automatically | Additional consumption charged automatically | Additional consumption charged automatically |
| vCPU Guarantee | 3 vCPU guarantee values | 3 vCPU guarantee values | Determined by workload type and number per hypervisor |
| Customization | Standard solution | Standard solution with customization options | Standard solution with maximum customization freedom |
| Disaster Recovery | Application-level DR | Platform and application-level DR (AM3 and ZW1 regions only) | Platform and application-level DR (AM3 and ZW1 regions only) |
| Microsoft Licensing | Bring your own Microsoft server application licenses | Bring your own Microsoft server application licenses | Bring your own Microsoft server application licenses |
| Windows Server Licensing | Cannot bring your own Windows Server licenses | Can bring your own Windows Server licenses | Can bring your own Windows Server licenses |
Use Cases of EBC Variants
EBC Flex and EBC ST are suitable environments for most applications. Examples of use cases where you may need more in-depth access or control over the platform are –
- Third-party vCenter integration with end-user computing (EUC) solutions such as Citrix XenServer / XenApp or VMware Horizon (including virtual GPU support)
- Direct vCenter access
- Active use of compute resources at the (DR) location
- In-depth control over fallback implementation and execution
- License restrictions
- Custom solutions
If one or more of the examples listed above applies to you, the EBC Core platform is a better option.
Equinix also offers the EBC Managed Physical Server service for those who want to use physical servers managed by Equinix in addition to a virtualized EBC environment.
EBC Managed Physical Server
EBC Managed Physical Server is a dedicated hardware deployment solution on the platform without virtualization functionalities. We offers services through dedicated resources or hardware if you want to use physical servers managed by Equinix in addition to a virtualized EBC environment.
Advantages of EBC Flex
- Efficient use of compute, storage and network functions without investing in hardware.
- Possibility to start with a small purchase (monthly costs).
- Possibility to apply customer’s own Microsoft Server application licenses.
- Suitable for fallback applications at platform and application levels as a part of your business continuity plan.
Advantages of EBC Core
- Use of compute, storage and networking functionalities without investing in
hardware.
- You can allocate an EBC Core platform’s capacity to different users (multi tenancy).
- Solution for license issues, such as:
- Applications where the licensing model requires licensing fees to be paid for all servers that provide compute capacity. Through Core, your application can only run on the dedicated servers.
- Protecting capital investment. Do you own a substantial number of Microsoft Windows Server or server application licenses? Then you can use Microsoft License Mobility in compliance with the EBC Core environment.
- As a part of your business continuity plan, EBC Core is suitable for
disaster recovery (DR) at platform and application levels.
- In the case of a (DR) situation at the platform level, you can choose that virtual machines (VMs) on the DR site have a different performance level than on the primary site.