InMotion vs. 1&1 (2018)

For an all-star player in the flexibility game, look no further than the cloud, where many find an excellent alternative to VPS options. Javier debriefed us on 1&1's newest hosting solution: the dynamic 1&1 Cloud Server, which was built to serve as a hybrid of simple cloud providers' solutions and major cloud computing platforms.

Javier told us about a key milestone in 1&1's hosting history. In 2013, 1&1 bought Arsys, the leading hosting company in Spain, with an impressive cloud technology. At the time, 1&1 had garnered a lot of financial backing and clout with customers, but had no standing in the cloud whatsoever.

"The partnership was the ideal combination of a super powerful company with this nice cloud technology," Javier told us. "We spent about a year and a half adapting, improving, and preparing for this." By "this," he was, of course, referring to the launch of the dynamic and flexible 1&1 Cloud Server.

"The simple cloud providers — they're very easy to use, very low-cost, but they're not so capable; they don't have as many features," Javier explained. "Then on the other side, you have the mega cloud systems." A prime example here would be Amazon. "You can do everything you want, but the complexity is increasingly high, and it's no longer something that you can start using in a few minutes or a few hours."

Just like that, Javier set the tone for the promise 1&1 aims to fulfill for customers. "We want to deliver all the capabilities that you would expect," he said, "then make it very easy to use and very affordable." We imagined implementing such a balance would be challenging, but it's a challenge that 1&1 accepts with pride and determination.

Javier set the stage for us, painting a picture of the arena that 1&1 aims to dominate with the 1&1 Cloud Server. Deploying in 55 seconds or less, this server line offers incredible power and performance, and we were excited to test it out.

A common hardship faced by developers in the cloud is the matter of hardware. Scaling up is easy, but scaling down is an entirely different story. 1&1 tackles this issue with not only custom configurations, but independent settings for package features, such as CPU, RAM, and storage options.

"Predictability is key for us," Javier said. For example, data transfer, IOPS, and media requests are difficult to control or predict. "We only charge you for what you can control," he explained.

The independent settings of the cloud configuration do not, however, extend to CPU types, processor types, and more specific elements of the package. Javier explained that this would complicate the hosting solution, and therefore would not meet 1&1's agenda for creating a flexible, affordable, and easy-to-use cloud service. He also assured us that the lion's share of customer's don't mind not getting to select processor types and intricate details of their configuration.

"Providers typically offer bundles for CPU memory, RAM, et cetera," Javier said, "but that's not really flexible, because you're stuck with it." Not only does 1&1 offer the ability to choose your CPU, RAM, and disk settings independently of one another, but you can make alterations to your configurations at any time. As your needs change and resource demands fluctuate, configuration adjustments can be made in as little as one click.

The 1&1 Cloud Server features an intuitive control panel. Users can activate and manage their servers, while controlling and overseeing servers, storage, and connectivity solutions, including firewalls, load balancers, and site data backups.

The 1&1 Cloud Server delivers a competitive price-for-performance payoff and an 11x compression ratio, emphasizing the company's commitment to customers' interests.

With a continual commitment to the customer, the company opted to offer exclusively SSD hosting to 1&1 Cloud Server customers, for added speed, performance, and value.

Javier told us that 1&1 originally used traditional storage spenders, so they were faced with the expected challenges. When setting out to provide this flexible and fast cloud solution, they decided to offer SSD storage by default.

Backed by Solidfire, 1&1 offers SSDs through a Storage Area Network (SAN), ensuring extreme reliability and customer satisfaction. "The results of an external benchmark with an external company have been surprisingly good," Javier said.

1&1's cloud hosting options allow for payment by the minute, which offers total transparency in monitoring both the technical security and financial security of your website. They also offer four pre-configured packages for those seeking fixed resources, rather than the 1&1 Cloud Server FLEX package offerings.

Based on our conversation with Javier, the new 1&1 Cloud Server is a wonderful virtual resource for SMBs. They've struck the balance between price and performance, combining flexibility with usability. Javier said, "it's conceptually simple, compared to some of the other players out there."

Simple and affordable, yet flexible and powerful, 1&1's dynamic 1&1 Cloud Server is definitely a cloud solution to consider. The makers of this platform have taken the typical challenges faced by most cloud users and aimed to simplify the user experience and improve upon existing options.