IBM announced new object-based cloud storage services to help clients better manage their growing volumes of unstructured data.
The new IBM Cloud Object Storage will combine technology from the recently acquired leading object storage company, Cleversafe, with the IBM Cloud to provide enterprises with fast, flexible, hybrid cloud storage-as-a-service solutions.
With the new services, IBM will provide enterprises a choice of multiple APIs and the option to store massive amounts of data efficiently on-premise, on the IBM Cloud, or across the two in a hybrid environment, with the same level of reliability and consistency of technology across all deployment models.
IDC estimates that 80 percent of new cloud applications are predicted to be big-data intensive. Cleversafe object storage technology enables data-intensive clients to scale to exabytes of storage, or billions of gigabytes.
“One of the biggest challenges enterprises face today is the massive growth of data, fueled by cloud, mobile, IoT, analytics, social media, cognitive and other technologies organizations eagerly employ to transform their business and engage customers,” said John Morris, general manager, IBM Cloud Object Storage. “By bringing Cleversafe technology to the cloud with these services, we will empower clients with the choice and flexibility needed to better balance storage cost, location, and compliance control requirements across their data sets and essential applications.”
Object Storage Delivered as a Service or a System
IBM plans to make the new IBM Cloud Object Storage services available in the second quarter in three configurations:
· Nearline will provide a cloud infrastructure for infrequently accessed data at a lower cost than most off-premise options. Nearline is ideal for archive, back-up, and other workloads delivered across select IBM Cloud data centers.
· Standard will provide a higher performance public cloud offering based on proven Cleversafe technology with new S3 API interfaces. This service is ideal for a wide range of high performance applications written to use the S3 object storage API.
· Dedicated will provide a single-tenant IBM Object Storage system running on dedicated servers in IBM Cloud data centers. Available as an IBM managed service or as a self-managed cloud solution, this approach will give clients access to object storage with no need for extra hardware or data center space.
Cleversafe systems deployed by IBM clients will be able to interact with these new services. New or existing on-premise systems can serve as a standalone storage solution or be combined with IBM Cloud Object Storage services to support hybrid cloud needs. This on-premise technology supports clients with hundreds of petabytes of storage in production and is relied upon by customers including the University of Chicago and Hogarth Worldwide.
New Flexible Licensing
To ensure enterprises are able to select the right hybrid cloud object storage solution for their business and customer needs, IBM Cloud Object Storage will be available in a variety of licensing models, including perpetual, subscription, or consumption. With such diverse licensing options, customers will be able to buy storage capacity with the flexibility to move data between the enterprise and the cloud as business needs change.
“With an expanded object storage as a service offering, we anticipate a new level of flexibility and choice, giving us added confidence knowing we can flex as our business and industry demands it,” said Mark Keller, Principal Solutions & Enterprise Architect, Coretech, a WPP company. “This is increasingly important. As technology and our businesses continue to develop, we’re storing more rich assets than ever before.”
Further adding to the solution’s flexibility, IBM Cloud Object Storage will support both file and object workloads, enabling enterprises to deploy a single data storage hub that supports storage needs for traditional and web-based applications. Data can be read and written using the broadest range of object interfaces, Swift or S3, and other major interface, including NFS and SMB. These solutions will provide a means for traditional applications to integrate with IBM Cloud Object Storage technology and to achieve even greater value through integration and economies-of-scale.
