Nasuni Multi-Cloud Solution Combines Primary and Archive File Storage

Nasuni Corp. announced a multi-cloud solution that frees enterprise IT organizations from having to migrate unstructured data.

Click to enlarge

This release of company’s Cloud File Services eliminates the distinction between primary NAS data and secondary archive data with the first combined solution that scales without limit using cloud object storage, and that automatically aligns what customers pay with their access requirements. By providing applications and users with ubiquitous access to all unstructured data through one global file system, the firm also enables customers to leverage cloud services such as AI and analytics.

“We need to store and share petabytes of design files across multiple sites in support of client projects, but once the projects end, we never know when our clients or creative teams might need those files again,” said Ted Colgate, CIO, TBWA\Worldwide. “Nasuni’s new ability to automatically reclassify unused files as archive and reduce what we pay for our subscription will save us money, and take a heavy IT data migration burden off our plate. Nasuni’s multi-cloud support is also in line with our cloud-agnostic strategy – even though we deployed Nasuni with in house object storage, our goal is to be able to leverage public cloud object storage in the future.“

Click to enlarge

Ending data migrations, hardware upgrade cycles, and need to classify files
IDC estimates the average enterprise is doubling its data every two years, and 80% of this data is unstructured file data. Historically, due to the limitations of traditional storage technologies, enterprises have been forced to classify data as primary or secondary, store the primary data on ever-larger file servers and NAS devices, and migrate the secondary data to lower-cost archive tiers for long-term retention.

This legacy approach no longer meets enterprise requirements. Digital transformation and the increasing use of AI and analytics require that all data be always accessible. Future file retention and access needs are now impossible to predict. This release of Cloud File Services offers a solution that can cost-effectively store any amount of file data for any length of time, align costs with access requirements, and give users and applications fast access whenever, and wherever, it’s needed. By leveraging scalable cloud object storage as the sole repository for all file data and automatically reducing the firm’s subscription costs as files become inactive, the company also eliminates the need to migrate unstructured data or upgrade hardware.

“Our decision to partner with Nasuni four years ago meshed perfectly with our larger corporate strategy to move to an asset-light business model, and the Nasuni platform has enabled us to expand globally while keeping IT costs in check,” said Norma Valdez, manager, global systems automation, Hyatt Corp. “Like most companies, we have primary files that are used frequently and archive files that are rarely touched, but employees want to be able to access all of them without delay. By enabling us to store all file data in one global file system and automatically reducing our costs as files become inactive, this latest release of Nasuni frees us from having to classify our data, allows us to devote more time to strategic IT projects, and gives our users access to the data they need to continue driving our business forward.“

Click to enlarge

Cloud File Services summer 2018 release available
This release of the Cloud File Services, available, offers four software-defined services that can be licensed standalone or as a bundle.

Nasuni Primary offers scalable file storage, backup, and DR for highly active workloads. Users enjoy high performance access to active data cached on the firm’s Edge appliances, while IT never again has to backup files, refresh NAS and file servers, lease DR sites, or migrate file data.

Click to enlarge

Nasuni Archive offers affordable long-term file storage and rapid retrieval for secondary, less active file workloads. Users enjoy performance access to archive data, while IT never again has to migrate data between tiers.

Click to enlarge

Nasuni Synchronize extends the Primary and Archive services with file sharing across any number of locations.

Click to enlarge

Nasuni Collaborate extends Primary and Synchronize with the ability to globally lock files, enabling users to work on the same files from any location without version conflict.

Click to enlarge

All services are based on UniFS, the company’s patented global file system that is the first to scale in public or private cloud object storage. UniFS stores all files and metadata in object storage, then caches active data wherever high performance access is needed on the firm’s Edge Appliances – stateless VMs or hardware appliances that can be located on-premises or in the cloud.

“Nasuni’s new product licensing and capabilities, included in the latest release, bring more flexibility and accessibility of their solutions to our clients,” said Greg Jehs, director, datacenter solutions, Meridian IT Inc. “Nasuni provides a premium product for our clients needing to store and synchronize large volumes of files across multiple sites. For clients who want to leverage the scale and economics of cloud storage combined with general file server and NAS functionality, Meridian IT in partnership with Nasuni, has the solution.“

Other capabilities in Cloud File Services summer 2018 release include:

Optimizations to that increase the performance of browsing large directories.
Integration with Syslog that enables Nasuni events to be reported on and analyzed.
Enhancements to Nasuni’s cloud-based Global Volume Manager and Global File Lock technologies that increase the performance of data propagation across sites.
Optimizations to the Nasuni Management Console (NMC) that enable petabyte-scale customers to more quickly make global configuration changes.

“We’ve seen our capacity under management double over the last 12 months with expanded enterprise adoption of Nasuni Cloud File Services, even though we were reaching only a subset of the unstructured storage market,” said Russ Kennedy, chief product officer, Nasuni. “Our new capabilities and more flexible licensing options will enable us to grow even faster, and target the full spectrum of file workloads – from historical archiving to remote office file servers to multi-site file synchronization to high-end NAS – with a single consolidated platform.“

Resource:
Blog: Never Migrate Unstructured Data Again with Cloud File Services