No hypervisor tax
Direct access to the CPU, the memory controller, and the storage bus. Nothing is stealing cycles and nothing is oversubscribed.
Bare metal
Single-tenant hardware without the capital purchase.
Dedicated machines we own, rack, and maintain for you at Digital Realty BOS14, on AS402389. No hypervisor, no noisy neighbours, no hardware lifecycle for you to manage.
Every build sits on the same floor and the same network as our colocation customers, so a hybrid footprint is one cross-connect away rather than one vendor away.
Single tenantThe whole machine, with no hypervisor between you and the hardware.
BostonHosted at Digital Realty BOS14 in the Boston metro.
AS402389On our own autonomous system, with diverse upstream transit.
From $100/moOptional managed operations on top of any build.
What bare metal gives you
The performance case for dedicated hardware.
Virtualisation is the right answer most of the time. These are the cases where it is not, and where a whole machine earns its keep.
Predictable I/O
NVMe performance that stays flat under load, because no other tenant is competing for the same queue depth.
Large memory footprints
Memory-heavy databases and in-memory caches get a machine sized around them rather than the largest instance a hypervisor will sell you.
Out-of-band management
Full IPMI or Redfish access, so you can reinstall, reboot, and see console output without waiting on a ticket.
We own the failures
A failed drive or PSU is our problem, not your weekend. Hardware replacement is included rather than billed as an incident.
Hybrid by default
Bare metal, colocation, and VPS all sit behind the same network, so you can mix them without a second vendor or a second network path.
Build classes
Three shapes that cover most workloads.
Rather than a fixed catalogue that goes stale, we quote around the workload. These are the three profiles we build most often.
Compute
Balanced cores and memory for application servers, build agents, and general production workloads.
Custom quote
- Modern multi-core Xeon or EPYC
- ECC memory
- NVMe storage
- 1G port with 95th-percentile transit
- Full out-of-band management access
Storage
High-capacity spindles or NVMe arrays for backup targets, object storage, and data retention.
Custom quote
- Large-capacity drive bays
- Hardware RAID or software ZFS
- ECC memory
- 10G port available
- Full out-of-band management access
Memory-optimised
Large memory footprints for databases, in-memory caches, and virtualisation hosts.
Custom quote
- High memory-to-core ratio
- ECC memory throughout
- NVMe storage
- 10G port available
- Full out-of-band management access
Builds are quoted around the workload, since the machine profile, storage pattern, and bandwidth expectations drive most of the cost. Send us the requirement and you will get a specification and a price.
Operating model
Run it yourself, or let us run it.
The hardware is the same. The question is who is on the hook at 3am.
Self-managed
Unmanaged bare metal
We keep the hardware and the network healthy. Everything above the operating system is yours, with full out-of-band access to rebuild whenever you like.
- Hardware and network covered by us
- Full out-of-band management access
- Install whatever you like
- Lowest monthly cost
Managed
Managed bare metal
Add our published management layer for OS updates, monitoring, backup configuration, and planned change work on top of the machine.
- Management from $100 per month
- OS and package updates handled
- Monitoring and alerting included
- Planned change windows
Plan your footprint
Tell us what you are racking.
Send us the equipment list, the power draw, and the date you want to be live. We will come back with a real number, not a range.
- Footprints from a single rack unit to a full cabinet in Boston.
- Carrier-neutral, so you keep your existing transit relationships.
- Direct engineering conversations rather than a ticket queue.
Questions, answered
Bare metal questions
How bare metal differs from colocation and virtual compute, and how it is priced.
What is bare metal at Amherst Systems?
Bare metal is single-tenant hardware that Amherst Systems owns and operates on your behalf in Digital Realty BOS14. You get the whole machine with no hypervisor and no noisy neighbours, on the same network as our colocation customers.
How is bare metal different from colocation?
With colocation you own the hardware and we provide the space, power, and network. With bare metal we provide the hardware as well, so there is no capital purchase and no hardware lifecycle for you to manage.
How is bare metal priced?
Bare metal builds are quoted around the workload, since the machine profile, storage pattern, and bandwidth expectations drive most of the cost. Contact Amherst Systems for a quote on a specific configuration.
Can bare metal be managed?
Yes. Bare metal can be paired with the published system administration plans, which start at $100 per month for one server, or left entirely self-managed.