Different Clouds for Different Data
The recent outage at Amazon Web Services highlights an unpleasant reality of using cloud storage. Many organizations either mistakenly overlook or presume that the cloud storage services that all cloud providers deliver are the same when in fact they are not.
It is recognizing how they differ and then identifying which of them meet true enterprise-level business and technology expectations - and which ones do not - that separates those that are worthy of the designation of "enterprise" class versus those that get relegated to the realm of "consumer" grade or "general purpose" cloud storage.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle organizations encounter when evaluating "cloud storage" is defining what a cloud storage solution actually is and how it should ideally be delivered. While this list is not comprehensive, it summarizes the top features that organizations expect when they subscribe to cloud storage services:
But what every organization that is looking to adopt cloud storage shares in common is that it wants a pool of raw storage capacity on which to store its data that is delivered in a reasonably scalable manner and is non-disruptive to current operations. So the good news is that many if not every cloud storage provider deliver on this basic set of expectations that organizations have.
It is also at this point that organizations can get themselves into trouble as they can fail to articulate all of their unspoken expectations as to the features that they assume their cloud storage provider will automatically deliver. The features they may expect it to deliver include:
The lack of clarity in these critical areas serves to differentiate between cloud storage solutions intended for consumers and general purpose environments and those that are targeted at and specifically designed to address enterprise concerns. In this respect, if it is not clear how a cloud storage provider's solution delivers on these built-in assumptions, it should give organizations pause on how to classify the solution until the provider can explain how it delivers on these "assumed" features.
Delivering on these assumed expectations is more complicated than first meets the eye. This probably explains why some cloud storage providers loathe discussing what makes a cloud storage solution "enterprise." It forces them to answer uncomfortable questions regarding the levels of availability, reliability, stability and support that their cloud storage solution offers as they may have to answer in ways that their current or prospective customers may not like or want to hear.
But as more businesses are looking to store their data in the cloud, it is a question that demands an answer. What does an "enterprise" cloud storage solution look like?
First and foremost, it should be a given that an "enterprise" cloud storage solution will possess all of the features found in a consumer storage cloud as listed above. But beyond that, the cloud storage provider should also deliver and be able to explain in explicit detail how it can deliver on the features that organizations assume that its cloud storage solution possesses.
For example, this explanation needs to include the finer points on how the cloud storage solution can be configured to provide ample bandwidth for the organization's needs. The points may be as simple as being able to set policies to prioritize their traffic during times of peak activity. Or it may need to provide more advanced options such as supporting the introduction of new WAN links into the storage provider's data center to meet the organizations service level agreements (SLAs) for upload and download requirements.
Another set of topics they should be able to discuss at length is how they guarantee the availability, reliability and stability of the data that they host. They should include insight into where the data is stored, what tier of storage the data is placed on and the number of locations at which it is or can be stored.
Some cloud service providers don't offer beyond 3-4 nines of availability, others offer five nines; users need to be clear about what level of up time they are signing up for before they start uploading their data to the cloud--not after the fact.
Armed with that knowledge, organizations can then define how they want the cloud storage solution to store their data based on these policies. Further, if the importance of the data changes over time, they have the freedom to redefine the policies to either upgrade or downgrade on which tiers of storage the data is stored and how available the data is according to business needs, not limitations imposed upon them by the underlying cloud storage solution on which their data resides.
Achieving this objective calls for a cloud storage solution with local as well as global replication capabilities. This is again easier said than done as it is this proven ability to replicate data that even today continues to distinguish top tier cloud storage providers from the also-rans.
It is when these features of what constitutes an "enterprise" cloud storage solution are identified and brought into focus that the list of those who meet the definition of "enterprise" becomes astonishingly short as so few solutions satisfy what many organizations would consider as "enterprise."
It is in this respect that Nirvanix has already shown itself to be one of the few if not the only one that delivers on all of the attributes of what define an "enterprise" storage cloud solution. It offers:
That testimony is significant. Having once worked for a Fortune 500 company in its data center, I was reticent to associate my name with any major storage vendor. So for companies like Cisco, Comcast, Fox, GE, Logitech, NBC Universal and others to go on the record and say, "Yes, we are using it" in lieu of storage vendors like EMC, IBM, NetApp and others speaks volumes as to Nirvanix's ability to deliver an "enterprise" cloud storage solution.
These are companies that have business critical data in Nirvanix's cloud storage network who need to be able to "check in" on the availability of their data at any given time. As such, they need an enterprise-grade cloud behind it.
It is way too early in the evolution of cloud storage for organizations to assume that cloud storage solutions or their providers deliver anything beyond what they blatantly say they offer. But by asking the hard questions and challenging the assumptions that organizations are prone to bring into their decision making process, the differences between "consumer" and "enterprise" storage clouds not only becomes apparent. It quickly becomes clear that Nirvanix has one of the only cloud storage offerings on which organizations can bet their business on.
It is recognizing how they differ and then identifying which of them meet true enterprise-level business and technology expectations - and which ones do not - that separates those that are worthy of the designation of "enterprise" class versus those that get relegated to the realm of "consumer" grade or "general purpose" cloud storage.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle organizations encounter when evaluating "cloud storage" is defining what a cloud storage solution actually is and how it should ideally be delivered. While this list is not comprehensive, it summarizes the top features that organizations expect when they subscribe to cloud storage services:
- Storage as a service. Organizations want to access cloud storage the same way they access power, water, cell phone services or even Internet access - as a utility. The main difference is that storage capacity will be delivered over standard Internet protocols.
- Usage based pricing/metered billing capabilities. If an organization is only storing 100 GBs of data, it only wants to pay for the amount of data that it stores - not more, not less. They expect their storage usage to be monitored and monthly bills generated in the same way they receive them from any of their utility companies.
- Rewarded for managing their storage usage. Storage consumption changes and new technologies emerge that enable better use of storage capacity. So if users' storage consumption drops, they do not expect to continue paying for what they are not using.
- No technology refresh or maintenance costs. Cloud service providers are expected to keep their infrastructure up to date, saving end users the time, money and headaches of having to pay for storage hardware/software maintenance services and technology overhauls every 18-24 months.
But what every organization that is looking to adopt cloud storage shares in common is that it wants a pool of raw storage capacity on which to store its data that is delivered in a reasonably scalable manner and is non-disruptive to current operations. So the good news is that many if not every cloud storage provider deliver on this basic set of expectations that organizations have.
It is also at this point that organizations can get themselves into trouble as they can fail to articulate all of their unspoken expectations as to the features that they assume their cloud storage provider will automatically deliver. The features they may expect it to deliver include:
- 24x7x365 availability of their data and the infrastructure hosting that data.
- Predictable, reliable performance such that they can access their data in a few seconds
- The belief that they are getting five nines of service for maximum uptime
- The belief that the provider is completely committed to cloud storage and will not exit the business
- A basic level of support such that if help is needed, someone will answer the phone
The lack of clarity in these critical areas serves to differentiate between cloud storage solutions intended for consumers and general purpose environments and those that are targeted at and specifically designed to address enterprise concerns. In this respect, if it is not clear how a cloud storage provider's solution delivers on these built-in assumptions, it should give organizations pause on how to classify the solution until the provider can explain how it delivers on these "assumed" features.
Delivering on these assumed expectations is more complicated than first meets the eye. This probably explains why some cloud storage providers loathe discussing what makes a cloud storage solution "enterprise." It forces them to answer uncomfortable questions regarding the levels of availability, reliability, stability and support that their cloud storage solution offers as they may have to answer in ways that their current or prospective customers may not like or want to hear.
But as more businesses are looking to store their data in the cloud, it is a question that demands an answer. What does an "enterprise" cloud storage solution look like?
First and foremost, it should be a given that an "enterprise" cloud storage solution will possess all of the features found in a consumer storage cloud as listed above. But beyond that, the cloud storage provider should also deliver and be able to explain in explicit detail how it can deliver on the features that organizations assume that its cloud storage solution possesses.
For example, this explanation needs to include the finer points on how the cloud storage solution can be configured to provide ample bandwidth for the organization's needs. The points may be as simple as being able to set policies to prioritize their traffic during times of peak activity. Or it may need to provide more advanced options such as supporting the introduction of new WAN links into the storage provider's data center to meet the organizations service level agreements (SLAs) for upload and download requirements.
Another set of topics they should be able to discuss at length is how they guarantee the availability, reliability and stability of the data that they host. They should include insight into where the data is stored, what tier of storage the data is placed on and the number of locations at which it is or can be stored.
Some cloud service providers don't offer beyond 3-4 nines of availability, others offer five nines; users need to be clear about what level of up time they are signing up for before they start uploading their data to the cloud--not after the fact.
Armed with that knowledge, organizations can then define how they want the cloud storage solution to store their data based on these policies. Further, if the importance of the data changes over time, they have the freedom to redefine the policies to either upgrade or downgrade on which tiers of storage the data is stored and how available the data is according to business needs, not limitations imposed upon them by the underlying cloud storage solution on which their data resides.
Achieving this objective calls for a cloud storage solution with local as well as global replication capabilities. This is again easier said than done as it is this proven ability to replicate data that even today continues to distinguish top tier cloud storage providers from the also-rans.
It is when these features of what constitutes an "enterprise" cloud storage solution are identified and brought into focus that the list of those who meet the definition of "enterprise" becomes astonishingly short as so few solutions satisfy what many organizations would consider as "enterprise."
It is in this respect that Nirvanix has already shown itself to be one of the few if not the only one that delivers on all of the attributes of what define an "enterprise" storage cloud solution. It offers:
- A storage configuration that can be architected to specific service agreements
- Control over where the data resides
- Direct WAN links to its data center(s)
- Secure multi-tenancy to provide for virtual private storage domains, sub-domains and child accounts
- A global namespace that enables every user on the network to see the same file, regardless of location
- Flexibility to create public, private or hybrid clouds
- Global cluster of interconnected data centers
- The flexibility to perform security audits in its data centers
- Cloud gateways in the form of both physical and virtual appliances
That testimony is significant. Having once worked for a Fortune 500 company in its data center, I was reticent to associate my name with any major storage vendor. So for companies like Cisco, Comcast, Fox, GE, Logitech, NBC Universal and others to go on the record and say, "Yes, we are using it" in lieu of storage vendors like EMC, IBM, NetApp and others speaks volumes as to Nirvanix's ability to deliver an "enterprise" cloud storage solution.
These are companies that have business critical data in Nirvanix's cloud storage network who need to be able to "check in" on the availability of their data at any given time. As such, they need an enterprise-grade cloud behind it.
It is way too early in the evolution of cloud storage for organizations to assume that cloud storage solutions or their providers deliver anything beyond what they blatantly say they offer. But by asking the hard questions and challenging the assumptions that organizations are prone to bring into their decision making process, the differences between "consumer" and "enterprise" storage clouds not only becomes apparent. It quickly becomes clear that Nirvanix has one of the only cloud storage offerings on which organizations can bet their business on.
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