Where the platform runs, and who is responsible for it.
Deployment is the decision that determines your recurring cost and your data residency. It is also the decision most often deferred. Here are the four realistic options, what each actually costs, and what each commits you to.
Key facts about deployment
- Four realistic options
- Public cloud, private cloud, on-premise on your own hardware, or a managed service where we run it for you.
- Data residency
- Whichever environment you choose, the data stays in that environment. We can host in Hong Kong, or in your own network with no external connectivity at all.
- Exams can run fully offline
- Examination workstations can operate on a private local network with no public internet during the session, with controlled loading of materials and collection of results.
- PDPO
- Deploying inside your own network is the most direct answer to a data-residency question, and it is supported rather than exceptional.
- What determines the cost
- Employee count, concurrency, media volume, backup and availability requirements, and how much of the operation you take on yourself.
- The honest trade-off
- On-premise lowers the data-residency risk and raises the operational burden. Managed operations lowers the operational burden and adds a recurring retainer.
Four ways to run it
The choice is about operational capacity and data residency, not about features.
Managed cloud in Hong Kong
We run the platform in a hosted environment, with local data centres for PDPO alignment. Lowest operational burden on your team, and the data stays in Hong Kong.
- Data hosted in Hong Kong
- Patching, backups and monitoring included
- Fastest route to a working system
- Recurring hosting and operations retainer
Private cloud
A dedicated environment in your own cloud account, sized and configured for your requirements. You retain control of the infrastructure layer and the data boundary.
- Your cloud account, your policies
- Dedicated resources sized to your load
- Your team owns some infrastructure work
- Separate licence cost from infrastructure cost
On-premise
Your own servers, your own network, no external connectivity required. The strongest answer where training records must never leave the building.
- Data never leaves your infrastructure
- Full isolation, including for exams
- Your team owns hardware and operations
- Most demanding of the four to run
Managed operations on your infrastructure
The platform runs on your infrastructure, and we run it: patching, upgrades, monitoring, backup verification and incident response. A middle path when data residency is non-negotiable but your team has no platform capacity.
- Your infrastructure, our operation
- No external dependency for the data
- Retainer instead of a licence
- Response times defined in the agreement
Comparison of the four options
| Consideration | Managed cloud | Private cloud | On-premise | Managed ops on your infra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data location | Hong Kong data centre | Your cloud account | Your building | Your building |
| Your team runs the platform | No | Partly | Yes | No |
| Public internet required at runtime | Yes | Usually | No | No |
| Offline exam delivery | Possible, with local network | Possible | Native | Native |
| Time to first working release | Shortest | Moderate | Longest | Moderate |
| Recurring cost shape | Hosting + retainer | Infrastructure + support | Hardware + support | Support retainer |
| Hardware refresh burden | None | None | Yours | Yours |
| Upgrade scheduling | Included in the retainer | Agreed windows | Agreed windows | Included in the retainer |
| Data residency answer | Local hosting | Your boundary | Strongest | Strongest |
No rows match your filter.
Questions worth asking before you choose
Who patches this at 3am?
On any deployment, somebody owns security patching, database upgrades, certificate renewal, backup verification and disk capacity. The licence fee is HK$0 in every scenario, so the only variable that separates a cheap deployment from an expensive one is how that work is resourced.
What is the data residency requirement, in writing?
"We prefer local hosting" and "training records must not leave our network" are different requirements with different answers. It is worth being specific, because the second one rules out several options and changes the cost shape significantly.
What is the media storage profile?
Video courseware dominates storage and bandwidth costs, and it grows every year. A deployment sized for last year's content will be sized wrongly in year two, and storage is usually the line that surprises people in year two rather than year one.
How many people use it at 9am Monday?
Concurrency matters more than total user count for sizing, and it is rarely the number vendors quote. Enrolment windows, shift handover times and assessment deadlines create spikes that a size calculation based on average load will undershoot badly.
Deployment questions
Can the data stay in Hong Kong?
Yes. A managed deployment can be hosted in Hong Kong data centres, and on-premise or private cloud options keep the data inside your own boundary. We can also support the data-residency arrangements the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance requires for your specific case.
Do examinations really work with no internet?
Yes. Examination computers can connect over a private local network without public internet during the session. The exam module supports isolated workstations, with controlled loading of exam materials and collection of results — which is what makes it usable for high-security and regulated delivery.
What does "managed operations" actually include?
Patching, core and module upgrades, monitoring, backup verification, incident response, and the administration needed to keep the platform configured as your organisation changes. It is scoped as a retainer with defined responsibilities, and it is separate from the licence, which remains HK$0.
Can we start on-premise and move to cloud later?
It is possible, but moving an active training platform with real history is a migration, not a copy. If you expect the deployment model to change, that changes which one you should start with — we would rather flag it at the start than after the first cohort has enrolled.
Who owns the data and the code?
You do, in every deployment. The platform is GPL open source, the data lives in your environment in a standard schema, and there is no export fee to negotiate on the way out.
Is there a lock-in risk in the managed option?
The operational knowledge sits with us, which is a real dependency, and we will not pretend otherwise. The mitigations are that the code and data are yours, the configuration is documented, and we hand over runbooks. If you want to bring operations in-house later, that is a supported transition rather than an exit.
Tell us the constraint, not the preference
Data residency, existing infrastructure, who is available to run it, and what you can afford annually. We will tell you which of the four options fits — and if none of them does, we will say that.