SwifStack Takes on Private Cloud Storage

SwiftStack
Inc. announced the availability of its private cloud
storage offering.

The solution, powered by the OpenStack
Swift object storage system, was developed to provide the integration
and control needed to serve the data demands of data-intensive
applications. It enables organizations to deploy private cloud
storage that offers application users the same experience and scale
they have when accessing data on the public cloud. It has a
software-defined storage architecture that runs on commodity
hardware, offering flexibility, lower costs, and more control in
comparison to legacy storage systems.

"Private cloud storage is an
increasingly popular model among enterprises that prefer to have the
control associated with keeping their information stored within their
own data centers but the flexibility and speed of a cloud service
model. This approach is becoming more common as the trend of BYOD and
use of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) creates increased pressure on IT
to speed time to provision and scale the infrastructure,"
said Terri McClure, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.
"Concerns about operational complexity may hinder private
cloud storage adoption, which creates a huge opportunity for
companies such as SwiftStack." 

Manage Growth and Data Availability
This address the needs of storage in
the data center that stem from rapid growth of mobile and SaaS
applications among service providers and enterprises alike.

The storage system consists of two main
components:

• SwiftStack Nodes – An
  integrated stack packaged for deployment, it connects to the
  controller, where it obtains its configuration. Its features include
  management and monitoring agents, load balancing and
  authentication/authorization, and support for global clusters to
  enhance data availability

• SwiftStack Controller – De-coupled
  from the storage hardware, it automates configuration, expansion, and
  failure handling of private cloud storage. It also provides
  management and monitoring alongside other management tools customers
  use. To best fit the needs of the application and business, customers
  can choose between a cloud-hosted controller or the latest on-premise
  Controller solution.

The service is designed to provide fast and easy experience when deploying and managing private
cloud storage. With a software-defined architecture, the storage
intelligence is decoupled from the hardware, allowing organizations
to use industry-standard (commodity) hardware instead of being
locked-in to a specific hardware vendor. SwiftStack automation has
the capacity to add nodes and enable large-scale growth without
disruption to performance. Automation also applies to maintenance and
upgrades, which take place on the fly. Storage clusters can be
deployed across data centers or regions for a highly available
design. 

"The shift to cloud-based
applications has created high expectations among users in terms of
data access. They expect data to be highly available to them on
multiple devices, and data centers need to cater to these demands,"
said Joe Arnold, CEO, SwiftStack. "While there are public
cloud products available to address these challenges, we found a
greater need in the private cloud market, which is why we created
SwiftStack as a reliable, highly-scalable storage system. Our
approach helps enterprises harness the storage power of a public
cloud on commodity hardware in their data centers."

SwiftStack is available with software
and support on a subscription basis starting at $249/month per 25TB
in use.