New Version of Twinstrata CloudArray Software

TwinStrata, Inc. announced the latest release of its CloudArray software.

Customers using this release gain broader file access capabilities, file sharing across sites, bulk ingestion and cloud-to-cloud migration.

Improved file access within and across sites
It supports NFS v3 and v4 using both AUTH_SYS and Kerberos security models. With this extension, the company broadens connectivity for block and file-based access to object storage without any need to modify applications or processes.

Unlike typical file servers, the software-defined storage architecture can span multiple locations and compute clouds for sharing data between geographically distributed users. This enables users to select the appropriate topology for each file share, whether optimized for locally biased data access or distributed multi-site data access.

Cloud migration and bulk ingestion
It features self-service cloud migration capabilities that enable organizations to migrate data volumes across cloud providers.

Highlights include: 

• Ability to change or diversify cloud providers to reduce technology risk, satisfy compliance obligations, gain better pricing or improve security 

• Selective migration of data volumes or file shares to long-term archive solutions such as EVault LTS2 

• Choice of cloud migration policies, including those that use cloud bandwidth instead of local networks 

• One of the barriers to cloud storage adoption has been the initial seeding of the cloud with data. Existing methods either take too long or require compromises in security and control.

This import capability loads data into an on-premise, private cloud at high-speed. The encrypted data can then be shipped to a choice of cloud providers without the need to share encryption keys with any party or provider, eliminating risk during transit.

With this feature, organizations can:

• Load data in encrypted, object format on premise 

• Securely ship the encrypted disks to the cloud provider for bulk ingestion 

• Access the data directly from the cloud provider 

Advanced cloud and storage management
It also offers improved usability, dashboard and controls throughout the product to analyze and tune cloud storage environments. More granular statistics give users improved control over each application, facilitating performance optimization through dynamic balancing of cache resources.

Michael Queenan, director, Nephos Technologies Ltd., said: “Many of the companies we work with today want to put significant amounts of primary data in the cloud. This is no longer about just backup and archive – they want a robust solution that can satisfy all their storage needs. The new version of CloudArray not only offers our customers the NAS and SAN capabilities they demand, it also gets their data up more quickly and insulates them from the risk of vendor lock-in.“

Nicos Vekiarides, founder and CEO, TwinStrata, said:” Our customers are demanding greater sophistication and control over their cloud storage environments. Just getting them to the cloud is no longer enough — users want to store more data with reduced administration and more robust functionality than their on-premises storage systems. With this release, we’ve continued to break down the barriers to using the cloud for all your storage needs.“

The release of CloudArray is available. Offered as part of a cloud storage bundle, subscription starts at $0.19/GB/month and includes the costs of cloud storage, associated transfer fees and the software.

The company also offers a software-only, Bring Your Own Cloud subscription, which starts at $99 per month for 1TB.