DataRobot now offers companies the option of having the provider manage its AI workloads and machine learning projects in its private cloud.
The AI provider made its dedicated managed AI cloud service generally available on Wednesday.
The new service is a hosted version of the provider’s AI cloud platform, which it launched a year ago.
It comes a month after DataRobot laid off 26% of its employees amid management unrest and announced it was restructuring the organization.
The service build up DataRobot’s AI cloud by offering companies the latest features of the service in a Virtual Private Cloud managed by DataRobot experts, according to the provider.
advantages of both approaches
The Dedicated Managed AI Cloud offers enterprises the best attributes of cloud and on-premises deployments, said Bradley Shimmin, analyst at Omdia.
It gives companies the ability to deploy AI workloads in their own data centers while taking advantage of the scalability and flexibility of the cloud without the challenge of managing projects in-house, he said.
“I don’t have to manage, set up, and secure those resources,” Shimmin said. “I don’t have the disadvantage of having to share these resources with other customers on a platform” like a public cloud.
The managed cloud approach is also useful for companies concerned about security but still want cloud-level performance, he added.
“If you are a startup working in the financial sector, [this] kinda makes sense,” he said. “If you’re a gaming startup just developing your game and you’re not even working with customer data…you would either host it yourself or go with pure SaaS.”
The need for options
The managed service can simplify AI operations for businesses by eliminating the need to worry about details such as For example, how many servers are required and how to maintain them, said Mike Gualtieri. Analyst at Forrester.
DataRobot is also targeting potential customers looking for options, he said.
“One of the big trends in cloud computing is Hybrid cloud computing‘ said Gualtieri. This means that companies are not only running their workloads in public clouds, but also on-premises. “That makes DataRobot more attractive because there are more deployment options.”
While DataRobot didn’t provide pricing information for the Dedicated Managed AI Cloud, Gualtieri said the provider should aim for a model consistent with consumption-based pricing from public cloud providers like Google and AWS.
The vendor should also strengthen its edge AI strategy, he continued.
“How can the models built in DataRobot be deployed to the edge?” said Gualtieri.
The Managed Cloud is DataRobot’s first product release since then Former CEO Dan Wright resigned in July after it was revealed that he and other executives were selling the company when sales projections were low. Debanjian Saha, who served as interim CEO following Wright’s departure, was appointed CEO on September 20.
The once-high-flying provider that has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital since its inception in 2012, laid off more than a quarter of its workforce in August within the scope of what it was called was an organizational restructuring. Previous rounds of layoffs took place in May and March 2020.
