GigaOm Reviews Multi-Cloud Object Storage and Data Mobility Systems

"Organizations that are adopting hybrid or multi-cloud should pay particular attention to how data is stored and accessed across different applications and infrastructures," writes GigaOm Analyst Enrico Signoretti in a just released GigaOm Market Landscape Report, "Multi-Cloud Object Storage and Data Mobility." The report looks at the challenges posed by multi-cloud storage and examines the tools needed to realize a winning multi-cloud storage strategy.

"Block, File and Object/Cloud. All of them have very peculiar characteristics which are important to understand all the challenges with data mobility and avoid potential lock-ins while providing the best options for users and applications," says Signoretti, naming the three best storage systems for a multi-cloud strategy. Signoretti also examines the maturity of categories, notes key considerations for using multi-cloud solutions and includes a vendor review.

"When it comes to multi-cloud, wherein a large number of applications and data are stored in different locations, there are several aspects that come into play, these include data security, data protection, data placement and compliance, performance and cost." – Enrico Signoretti

NetApp StorageGRID, Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) platform, IBM COS (Cloud Object Storage) platform and Western Digital Active Scale are examined as major players for on-premise object storage, while Cloudian HyperStore, Hitachi Vantara HCP and Caringo Swarm are named as those to watch in hybrid object stores. Scality, NooBaa, Swiftstack, Hammerspace and Igneous are listed as key players in multi-cloud controllers.

No matter the provider, "data availability, durability, and access speed are equally critical," says Signoretti, explaining that with the increasing number of services involved, it is mandatory to look for solutions that set up policies regarding data access and distribution according to user needs, and to make sure they comply with any SLAs (Service Level Agreements) already in place.

The GigaOm report examines five essential considerations when choosing storage, and identifies three different categories of products which provide an S3, or alternative API front-end interface offering different characteristics for back-end functionalities.

Key Takeaways:

• On-premises object storage solutions with automated tiering capabilities are a good, cost- effective solution for enterprises requiring flexibility while maintaining applications in their private cloud.
• Hybrid object stores are the next step further, usually presenting a set of features aimed not only at simplifying data movement across tiers but also replicating data to external resources.
• Customers may choose to look into multi-cloud controllers or hybrid object stores. With the latter more focused on local on-premises deployment and the other better suited to implement cloud first strategies.