The public cloud is not the only route — and for many contexts it is not the best one. With the Private Cloud and the Virtual Data Center (VDC) we deliver dedicated, isolated and scalable environments, hosted in our Green Data Centre or designed on the customer's premises, including hybrid configurations.
What's included
- Dedicated virtual environments: computing, storage and networking, isolated and scalable
- Hybrid architectures: on-premise + private cloud, with governed migrations
- Virtualisation on proven, open technologies — our roots are in OpenStack, since 2010
- Integration with DPaaS, DR and NOC monitoring
Benefits
- Data sovereignty: you know where your data is, who processes it and under what guarantees
- Predictable costs and no vendor lock-in
- The ideal perimeter for sensitive workloads — including on-premise AI solutions
- Zero-emission infrastructure, certified Green
Who it's for: public administration, healthcare and businesses with strict requirements on control, compliance and confidentiality — or simply tired of the public cloud's unpredictable bills.
VDC GREEN: the composable cloud
Our Virtual Data Center service is called VDC GREEN and it is built on a simple principle: every resource — vCPU, vRAM, storage, network — scales independently of the others, so you only pay for the size you actually need, on each axis. Everything is controlled from a single web console, and the hardware infrastructure keeps running even when the console does not: one less single point of failure. Provisioning is fast — ready-made templates, or ones you create yourself, dramatically cut system installation times — and REST APIs open the door to integration and automation in a DevOps approach.
Pay-per-use with no consumption thresholds
The price list is deliberately simple: a pre-agreed pay-per-use monthly fee, and no resource — vCPU, vRAM, storage, bandwidth — is subject to consumption thresholds. This is the most tangible difference from the big public clouds, where threshold overruns are the hidden cost that makes bills unpredictable. Software licences follow consumption too: monthly operating costs instead of upfront purchases, versions that are always up to date, and a fee that goes down if you reduce users or resources — even just for a period, for example for external consultants or prototypes.
Truly private: isolated by design
The difference between private and public cloud may look subtle, but it is clear-cut. In the public cloud some elements remain logically shared between customers, starting with the virtualisation layer managed by the provider. In the VDC each customer lives in an isolated infrastructure stack: whatever is inside your perimeter is yours, including VLANs and virtual networks with fine-grained control over firewall rules — everything you need to design any private network topology, with protection on several levels (the data centre perimeter, a virtual firewall in the VDC, physical appliances in housing or on your premises, or a mix).
On-premise or VDC?
Some food for thought, from the comparison we discuss most often with IT managers:
| On-premise | VDC GREEN | |
|---|---|---|
| Licences | Upfront purchase (CAPEX); updates only with a Software Assurance to be renewed | Monthly consumption-based fee (OPEX), versions always up to date; the fee also adjusts downwards |
| Scalability | Limited by the servers you bought: beyond that, you need new hardware, new licences and downtime for the upgrade | A matter of minutes, carried out by specialised staff, with no interruptions |
| Maintenance | Handled by in-house IT, often with several suppliers and little consistency of action | From scheduled to proactive, up to co-sourcing — with policies and decisions remaining with the IT manager |
| Security | Hardware, licences and specialists to buy, implement and maintain | Included: multi-level firewalls and the data centre's Security & Network Operations Center |
| Disaster recovery | A dedicated project, infrastructure upgrades and a significant investment | The environment is already prepared: enabling DR is simpler and cheaper |
| Continuity | Depends on aggressive (and expensive) support contracts, which do not always solve the problem | 99.98% guaranteed by the data centre: at most 1.6 hours of downtime a year |
The data centre that hosts it
VDCs live in the 00GATE Data Center in Castel San Pietro Terme — the same zero-emission green data centre certified by an Accredia®-accredited body, in a Tier III configuration with operational continuity guaranteed at 99.98%. Protection is physical before it is logical: almost 200 devices including anti-intrusion controls, cameras, infrared barriers and fog systems, with the server room raised above street level and the facility managed through building automation. Connectivity is redundant across two carriers (multihomed), each connected by optical fibre on a double ring with independent physical routes; dedicated bandwidth on request. And the data stays exclusively in Italy.
Support: as much as you need
You choose the level of management, and you can change it over time: from a simple ticket when needed, to co-sourcing of your virtual servers with our NOC monitoring proactively night and day, all the way to full management. In every scenario the policies and the structure of the VDC are set by your IT manager, who remains the point of reference and the decision-maker: we take away the low-value tasks, not the control.
Frequently asked questions
How ‘private’ is it really, compared with keeping everything in-house or in colocation?
Each VDC is isolated in its own infrastructure stack, and the data centre is watched over by an always-on Security & Network Operations Center. Keeping an equivalent team of specialists and enterprise-grade infrastructure in-house is a cost few organisations can afford: the value of the private cloud is not limited to the computing resources you buy — and the comparison holds against colocation and housing too, especially on the running costs of data protection.
Does the green certification cost anything? Is it a real certification?
For the customer it is free of charge. And it is a real certification: for data centres it is issued by accredited bodies operating under Accredia®, the Italian national accreditation body. Sub-certifications for hosted services are issued by the data centre operator under the scheme's rules and published in the Green Cloud Consortium register — verifiable by anyone.
Can I use the green choice as a selling point with my own customers?
Yes: if the services you deliver to your customers live in your VDC, they can obtain a child certificate of yours and display the sustainable-hosting badge on their own websites. The scheme has its complexities: one of our experts will guide you through it.
Can I use my own firewall?
Yes. The data centre has a controlled-access housing area with protected racks where you can install your own appliances (or we install them for you, if the contract provides for it); the logical connection to your VDC is handled by our technical support.
How quickly does the VDC scale? And can I come and see the data centre?
Scaling is practically immediate: an upgrade request is all it takes, with our technicians on hand if you need support with the operation. And yes — do come and visit us: it is the best way to understand that this is not a data centre like any other. Let's arrange a visit.
