INAP: High-Performance Hybrid Infrastructure & Managed Cloud Services

Welcome to the Executive Buying Guide for INAP (Internap Holding LLC). In an era where digital experience is synonymous with brand reputation, the underlying infrastructure of your applications has never been more critical. This guide is designed to help IT leaders, infrastructure architects, and procurement professionals evaluate INAP’s unique position in the market.

INAP distinguishes itself by offering a high-performance hybrid infrastructure portfolio that spans Colocation, Bare Metal, and Managed Cloud services, all underpinned by their proprietary Performance IP® network technology. Unlike generic hyperscale providers, INAP focuses on providing the low-latency, high-throughput environments required by data-intensive industries. By the end of this guide, you will understand INAP’s core capabilities, ideal use cases, and the technical requirements necessary to leverage their platform for your organization's growth.

INAP’s value proposition is built around three core pillars:

• Performance IP® Technology: This is INAP’s flagship networking feature. It uses patented Managed Internet Route Optimizer (MIRO) technology to probe all available paths and automatically route traffic over the fastest, lowest-latency path in real-time. This eliminates the 'middle-mile' congestion common on the public internet.
• Hybrid Infrastructure Management: INAP provides a unified management platform that allows users to control Bare Metal, Private Cloud, and Colocation from a single interface. This reduces operational complexity for teams managing diverse environments.
• High-Performance Bare Metal: Unlike virtualized instances, INAP’s Bare Metal servers provide raw hardware access with no hypervisor overhead. This is critical for applications requiring high IOPS, consistent CPU performance, and massive memory allocations.
• Global Data Center Footprint: Access to Tier 3-type data centers in key global markets, featuring redundant power, cooling, and multi-layered physical security.
• Flexible Scaling: While offering the stability of physical hardware, INAP provides cloud-like flexibility with rapid provisioning for bare metal and on-demand scaling for virtualized resources.

• Ad-Tech & Real-Time Bidding: A global ad-tech firm uses INAP Bare Metal and Performance IP to ensure bid requests are processed within milliseconds, maximizing their win rate and revenue.
• Online Gaming: A multiplayer game studio deploys regional 'game shards' on INAP infrastructure to provide low-ping experiences for players across different continents, using Performance IP to bypass internet congestion.
• Financial Services: A high-frequency trading platform utilizes INAP Colocation for its proximity to financial hubs and high-speed cross-connects, coupled with Private Cloud for non-latency-sensitive back-office tasks.
• SaaS Providers: A B2B SaaS company uses INAP’s Hybrid Cloud to keep sensitive customer data on dedicated bare metal for security/compliance while using virtualized cloud instances for their web front-ends to handle fluctuating traffic.

INAP utilizes a mix of pricing models depending on the service tier:

• Bare Metal & Cloud: Generally follows a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) model. Bare metal may involve month-to-month or discounted annual contracts. Cloud resources can be billed based on allocated capacity.
• Colocation: Typically based on space (rack units or cages), power density (kW), and cross-connect fees. These are usually 12-to-36-month contracts.
• Bandwidth: INAP offers flexible bandwidth billing, including 'Committed Data Rate' (CDR) with burstable options (95th percentile billing) or flat-rate unmetered ports.
• Additional Costs: Consider one-time setup fees (NRC), remote hands service fees, and specialized security add-ons.
• Drivers: The primary cost drivers are the geographic location of the data center, the specific hardware specs, and the volume of high-performance bandwidth required.

To integrate with INAP, your technical environment should support:

• Operating Systems: Compatibility with all major distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Windows Server).
• Virtualization: Support for VMware, KVM, and Hyper-V if running private cloud environments.
• Networking: Ability to manage BGP configurations if utilizing complex multi-homed setups.
• Hardware: For Colocation, equipment must fit standard 19-inch racks and meet the power draw specifications (AC/DC options) of the selected data center.
• Connectivity: Standard RJ45 or Fiber (LC/SC) connections for cross-connects.
• Browser: Modern web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) for the INAP Console.

To successfully deploy INAP solutions, organizations should meet the following prerequisites:

• Technical Staffing: A team with experience in infrastructure management, networking (BGP, VLANs), and server administration (Linux/Windows) is necessary, especially for Bare Metal and Colocation environments.
• Capacity Planning: Stakeholders must have a clear understanding of their current compute and storage footprint to avoid over-provisioning or under-utilizing physical hardware.
• Process Readiness: For Colocation, organizations must have logistics processes in place for shipping hardware to data centers and managing 'Remote Hands' requests.
• Change Management: Migration from a fully managed public cloud to a hybrid or bare metal environment requires updates to deployment pipelines and monitoring tools.
• Stakeholder Buy-in: Financial stakeholders should be prepared for a mix of OpEx (Cloud) and potentially some CapEx or longer-term contract commitments typical of high-end infrastructure.

The timeline varies significantly based on the service selected:

• Phase 1: Discovery & Design (2-3 Weeks): Assessment of current infrastructure, network mapping, and custom solution architecture design.
• Phase 2: Provisioning (1-4 Weeks):
  • Cloud/Virtual Instances: Minutes to hours.
  • Bare Metal: 24-48 hours for standard builds; 1-2 weeks for custom hardware.
  • Colocation: 2-4 weeks depending on rack availability and hardware shipping.
• Phase 3: Network Setup & Migration (2-6 Weeks): Configuring Performance IP, setting up cross-connects, and the actual migration of data/workloads.
• Phase 4: Testing & Optimization (1-2 Weeks): Stress testing the network, verifying failover protocols, and fine-tuning Performance IP settings.
• Go-Live: Final cutover and decommissioning of old infrastructure.

INAP offers enterprise-grade support tailored for mission-critical infrastructure:

• 24/7/365 NOC: Access to an on-site Global Network Operations Center staffed by expert engineers.
• Remote Hands: For colocation customers, INAP provides on-site technicians to perform physical tasks like reboots, cabling, and hardware swaps.
• Ticketing & Phone Support: Multiple channels for technical support with tiered escalation paths based on severity.
• Account Management: Dedicated Account Managers and Solutions Architects for enterprise-level clients to assist with capacity planning and optimization.
• Documentation: A comprehensive knowledge base and API documentation for self-service management.

INAP provides several avenues for integration:

• API Access: A robust RESTful API is available for automating the provisioning of bare metal and cloud instances, as well as managing DNS and networking.
• Control Panel: The 'INAP Console' serves as a unified management interface for colocation, cloud, and bare metal services.
• Network Interconnects: Support for private lines, cross-connects within data centers, and dedicated connections to major public clouds (Direct Connect/ExpressRoute).
• Data Formats: Standard support for JSON-based API responses.
• Technical Standards: Support for standard networking protocols including BGP, IPv4/IPv6, and various VPN tunneling methods.
• Third-Party Tools: Compatibility with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform (via community or custom providers) for managing resources.

INAP maintains rigorous security standards across its global footprint:

• Physical Security: Biometric access, 24/7/365 on-site security personnel, CCTV surveillance, and mantrap entries at data center facilities.
• Compliance Certifications: INAP facilities and services regularly undergo audits for SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, and HIPAA compliance, making them suitable for healthcare and financial services.
• Network Security: DDoS protection services are available to mitigate volumetric attacks at the edge.
• Data Privacy: GDPR-compliant data handling practices and options for data residency in specific geographic regions.
• Access Management: Support for multi-factor authentication (MFA) and role-based access control (RBAC) within the INAP Console.