Five Reasons Why Object Storage is the Best Choice for Cloud Storage Environments

Cloud Computing Architect | Cloud Architecture | THE CLOUD NETWORK

Cloud Architect | Cloud Architecture | THE CLOUD NETWORK: Five Reasons Why Object Storage is the Best Choice for Cloud Storage Environments

Five Reasons Why Object Storage is the Best Choice for Cloud Storage Environments

Five Reasons Why Object Storage is the Best Choice for Cloud Storage Environments

AUSTIN, Texas, September 28, 2010 – [@PR2WEB] - Cloud storage has changed the rules fordeploying simpler, infinitely scalable and more affordable storage. So it makeslittle sense to burden a cloud storage platform with storage systems that arebased on 20th century file systems that inhibit administration, scalability andcost.

Selecting the correct underlying storage system can greatly impactthe success or failure of implementing cloud storage. The characteristics ofobject storage are ideally aligned with a cloud storage infrastructure,delivering a superior cloud storage experience with better scalability,accessibility and affordability, according to Caringo Inc., the leading providerof Object storage software that enables high availability clustered storage foractive and archived content. Here are five reasons an object storageinfrastructure should be the foundation for a cloud storage system:

1.Object Storage Magnifies the Cost Efficiency of Cloud Storage
A key to thecost efficiency delivered with cloud storage is to begin with an affordablestorage system. The complexities and restrictions of outmoded file systems thatpower traditional NAS and SAN storage arrays can easily offset the potentialcost savings of cloud storage by complicating storage administration, limitingscalability with artificial capacity caps and enforcing vendor lock-in withexpensive, proprietary hardware.
Object storage is a much better fit forcloud infrastructures. Instead of using a complex, difficult to manage andantiquated file system, object storage systems leverage a single flat addressspace that enables the automatic routing of data to the right storage systems,specifies the content lifecycle and keeps both active and archive data in asingle tier with the appropriate protection levels. This allows object storageto provide better value by aligning the value of data and the cost of storing itwithout requiring oppressive management overhead to manually move data to theproper tier while providing infinite scalability to support thecapacity-on-demand capability of cloud storage. Object storage is also designedto run at peak efficiency on commodity server hardware.

2. ObjectStorage Provides Easy Access to Storage Anywhere, Any Time to Any Device viaHTTP
Cloud storage is commonly delivered as a Storage as a Service (SaaS)application via the Internet, so using HTTP as the primary protocol to accessobject storage pools vastly simplifies the process for cloud storage providersto integrate object storage systems into their service offerings.

3.Object Storage Provides Unlimited Capacity to Support Cloud Storage Elasticityfor Storage on Demand
In object storage systems there is no directoryhierarchy (or “tree”) and the object’s location does not have to be specifiedthe way a file’s directory path has to be known to retrieve it. This locationtransparency enables object storage systems to scale to petabytes and beyondwithout limits on the number of files (objects), file size, or file systemcapacity, such as the 2 terabyte restriction that is common for Windows andLinux file systems.

4. Object Storage Performance Scales as the ClusterGrows, Eliminating Hot Spots
In an object storage cluster, performance scaleslinearly as more nodes are added. As new server nodes running on commodityhardware come online, they provide massively parallel increases in bothprocessing and I/O capacity across the cluster. Additionally, the object storagecluster is totally symmetrical, allowing the workload to be automatically loadbalanced across all nodes in the cluster and avoiding hot-spots to bettersupport cloud bursting and other peak demand events.

5. Object StorageEliminates the Need for Cloud Backup & Recovery
In a cloud storage systemthe old paradigm of data protection via backup and recovery
is eliminated asthe entire object storage cluster is an online, scalable file repository, not abackup or offline archive solution. All files are always online and available,doing away with the cost and administrative overhead of a separate backupapplication with no more worries about meeting backup windows or recovery timeobjectives.

Cloud storage is changing the way companies think aboutstorage in an era of runaway capacity growth of unstructured data by enablingcapacity-on-demand and other benefits. Similarly, object storage is changingthe way companies think about storage systems, eliminating outdated conceptsthat are longer viable in an era of cloud-based storage environments withmulti-petabyte capacities. The scalability, simplicity and accessibility ofobject storage are perfectly aligned with the requirements and benefits of cloudstorage, making object storage an essential consideration for any ITorganization or service provider that is considering building public, private orenterprise clouds.

About Caringo

Caringo Inc. believes that filesystems are a relic of the past. Today’s digital content should be stored withits metadata for secure, reusable, long term, multi-application use. Simplicityis the keyword at Caringo; for simplicity brings performance, flexibility androbustness while breaking the barriers of file system limitations. Storing yourcontent in CAStor empowers applications to access it either as an object or as afile. You get the backward compatibility of file systems with the future-proofof an object-based storage system. Caringo customers have their choice ofcommodity hardware to build a robust storage cluster that dramatically improvesthe scope and economics of any content storage. Caringo makes content storageaffordable, scalable, fast and easy. More information can be found at www.caringo.com.

Caringo andCAStor are trademarks of Caringo, Inc. Other companies and products mentionedherein may be trademarks or trade names of their respective owners.

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