Panzura Cloud Controllers as Amazon Machine Image

Panzura, Inc. announced the availability its Cloud Controllers as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) which is also being offered for purchase through the AWS marketplace.

With these solutions, customers can use AMI to create virtual instances of the Panzura global cloud storage system within the Amazon EC2 cloud.

This bridge the gap between traditional enterprise NAS storage solutions and Amazon S3. The use of enterprise, multi-user file system locking protocols, along with FIPS 140-2 validated encryption, ensures users can access a single cloud-based centralized storage location. The company provides dedupe, thereby ensuring that only unique data blocks are stored in the cloud.

Appliances are offered in the following configurations:

• The Global NAS appliance comes equipped with Panzura’s global file fystem with CIFS/SMB support, and NFS support.

• The Backup and Archive Appliance comes equipped with Panzura’s in-line dedupe, data locality (pinning), CIFS/SMB and NFS support.

• The Global NAS Plus Appliance comes equipped with Panzura’s global file system with CIFS/SMB support, global in-line dedupe, data locality (pinning), and NFS support.

• The Global NAS Appliance – BYOL allows users to purchase software licenses and support from Panzura and then deploy them in the EC2 cloud. Licenses are a one-time expense and users can select the global NAS appliance, the backup and archive appliance, or the global NAS plus appliance.

With this, IT can create virtual, cloud-based compute environments that tie into their global physical and virtual infrastructure and global file system, CloudFS. This enables applications such as DR in the cloud, cloud bursting for legacy applications, computing in the cloud, and shared analytical data in the cloud. The solutions allow for access to S3 data in EC2 or on-premises through CIFS and NFS.

“AMI opens up third party applications for direct use of the Amazon storage cloud,” said Ashish Nadkarni, research director of storage, IDC. “Panzura’s support of AMI unifies cloud storage with cloud compute resources to create a powerful physical and virtual compute environment.”

The AMI version turns integrating cloud compute into a simple process and provides a platform for enterprise computing. Customers can purchase it in two ways: by buying through the Amazon Marketplace, or by buying from Panzura and deploying in EC2.

Customers include:

• 1. DS+R, an AEC firm, last year did a DR during Superstorm Sandy. This is a use case for the AMI.

• 2. C&S Companies is another AEC firm that solved their backup and storage needs with Amazon S3.

“Many Panzura customers leverage Amazon S3 for storage, and we want to provide every available option for these customers when it comes to securely storing their data,” said Randy Chou, co-founder and CEO, Panzura. “By supporting AMI, we now provide the ability to deliver full Panzura functionality within the EC2 cloud.“