Lab feature for subsidized testing, exploration and learning
in progress
Dave Cottlehuber
Users want to access Equinix Metal for trials, learning, demos, testing, and general exploration but without the high cost of "big iron" production gear.
- Smaller bite-sized config
- Subsidized if possible
- Reduced SLA and other considerations (e.g. bandwidth limitations)
- Technical support and content focused on users, not companies
Basically a really cool homelab, but sitting at Equinix and paired with all the cool platform features, automation, and advanced networking features.
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FX Jammes
in progress
Dave Cottlehuber
FX Jammes: can you share any news about this yet?
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Miles Thomas
While we won't be bringing back smaller configurations such as the t1.small going forward, we do have a subsidized option planned for testing and experimentation coming soon. Stay tuned for more information!
R
Ravinder Braich
under review
Dave Cottlehuber
Perhaps this is an opportunity for a VM based option (yes it's not bare metal, but maybe you could call it ironwood and pretend ;) where the same provisioning & networking is available?
The key thing is the API and connectivity is fantastic. Getting people exposed to that easily could really help drive adoption.
Alexander Nicholson
This is absolutely something Equinix should consider keeping. These mini servers help drive adoption of the platform by end users who happen to work at big startups. Those inroads do wonders to drive the business to adopting the entire platform due to familiarity and a personal recommendation. Also, the early adopters of today are the massive customers of tomorrow.
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Paul Teich
open
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Michelle Goossens
+1 on this from me. I think that it would be a good idea for people just wanting something small, or who want to get a smaller, cheaper server to learn the capabilities of this platform. (My usage would be for both).
Andrew Summers
I'm going to +1 this post. On one hand, I can understand why Equinix is discontinuing the t1.small.x86 (and similar) systems that Packet introduced: there isn't much demand for microservers, and as such, they're probably not cheap to source.
However, I think this is a big mistake if you have any interest in attracting small businesses or freelance customers (such as myself) who are wanting to escape AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Inexpensive systems like this are a great option to let us try out and grow into your platform. I can afford to test Equinix Metal if it only costs $50/mo, but now that microservers are being eliminated, I'd have to spend $360/mo at a minimum. That price point positions you as enterprise-friendly, not developer-friendly, and it's really no better than renting a full server from one of the various other providers.
All I wanted was a little system to run Nextcloud for my friends and family so I could take advantage of your partnership with Backblaze. There goes that idea . . .
Victor Stewart
good for running little services on that require more physical machines for fault tolerance (like Nomad servers).