Weka IO Cloud-Native Unified Storage Solutions for Entire Data Lifecycle

WekaIO, Inc. announced a transformative cloud-native storage solution underpinned by the fast file system WekaFS, that unifies and simplifies the data pipeline for performance-intensive workloads and accelerated DataOps.

The company has developed reference architectures (RAs) with object storage technology providers, like AWS, Cloudian, IBM, Seagate, Quantum, Scality, and others in the firm’s Technology Alliance Program, to deliver cost-efficient, cloud-native storage solutions at any scale. And the firm’s OEM partnership with Hitachi Vantara will deliver an integrated end-to-end stack solution based on the Hitachi Content Platform. WekaFS provides managing petabytes of data in a single, unified namespace wherever in the pipeline the data is stored, while also delivering the performance to accelerate AI/ML, genomics research, HPC, and HPDA workflows.

Unified storage solutions with cloud-native ecosystem partners provide following customer benefits:

• Faster actionable business intelligence from a single high-performance storage solution

• Cost-efficiency with the ability to manage, scale, and share data sets

• Operational agility eliminating storage silos across edge, core, and cloud

• Enterprise robustness and secure data governance

Manage more petabytes of data cost-effectively and with fewer resources
Extending the WekaFS namespace from high-performance flash to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) REST-enabled cloud object storage system is a simpler and more cost-efficient strategy for managing petascale datasets without compromising performance. The filesystem metadata resides on flash while extending capacity over object storage, private or public. All the I/Os are serviced by the flash tier while leveraging the object tier for capacity scaling. WekaFS allows data portability across multiple consumption models supporting both private and public clouds with the ability to extend the namespace across both. A cloud-first model delivers the best storage efficiency and TCO across consumption models and data tiers.

Snapshots, encryption, and data versioning facilitates data protection, mobility, and DR
As data has become a strategic asset for businesses, lifecycle management is paramount. However, the datasets encountered in AI/ML, genomics, HPC, and HPDA have grown so big and agile that traditional backup and DR applications fall short, creating siloed namespaces and workflows that are lacking operational agility and data protection. Data versioning is achieved using the firm’s instant and space-efficient snapshots capability for experiment reproducibility and explainability. The snap-to-object feature captures a point-in-time copy of the entire, unified (flash and object store) file namespace that can be presented as another file namespace instance in a private or public cloud. The company’s integrated snapshots and end-to-end encryption features ensure data is always backed up and secure throughout its lifecycle. WekaFS also provides immutability and data mobility for these datasets with instant recovery.

The firm has partnered with private and public cloud partners to ensure a validated storage solution ecosystem, including these certified solutions: AWS S3, AWS Outposts, Cloudian HyperStore, Hitachi Content Platform, IBM Cloud Object System, Quantum ActiveScale, and Scality Ring.

Shailesh Manjrekar, head, AI and strategic alliances, WekaIO, said: “Weka’s ability to deliver a unified, global namespace across public and private clouds is a huge leap in simplifying datacenter management for organizations managing petabytes of data. Unlike other parallel file systems, Weka was architected for the cloud-native age with namespace extensibility across different performance tiers. Now that Weka is certified with a broad ecosystem of technology partners to deliver a unified storage solution our customers get the best of both worlds-leveraging NVMe flash for a high-performance hot tier bridged seamlessly with the capacity and economics of an object store archive tier. Combined with the added durability and replication benefits, Weka delivers a single solution that securely stores and accelerates data through the entire pipeline.”

Jon Toor, CMO, Cloudian, Inc., said: “Cloudian HyperStore delivers a hyperscale data fabric for massive deployments. Together with WekaFS, we remove all of the complexities in managing storage while ensuring easy, seamless data management between private and public clouds. With a Cloudian system, customers can choose to employ an HDD-based platform for a low TCO or leverage all flash with the industry’s best price/performance promise.“

Jason Hardy, global CTO, content portfolio, Hitachi Vantara LLC, subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., said: “As the volume of unstructured data skyrockets across all types of organizations, the need for faster data processing and cost-optimized solutions has never been in higher demand. As the only full-stack integrated OEM partner, we will provide customers with a validated, tightly integrated, and tuned solution to support the most performance-intensive applications, at a reasonable cost. Based on category-leading object technologies, the Hitachi branded and supported solution will reduce OPEX, speed time to deployment, and improve supportability and predictability for customers.“

Alan Bivens, director, data services, IBM Public Cloud, said: “As IBM is a cloud vendor that offers both a public cloud object storage as well as an on-premises object storage, the ability to extend the Weka File System namespace over the petabytes of data stored on IBM’s Cloud Object Storage offerings, as a single unified namespace, ensures customers immediate and fast access to their data lake to meet the most demanding application needs.“

Amita Potnis, research director, enterprise infrastructure practice, IDC, said: “Weka is in a new class of intelligent data operations platforms that has the capabilities to reduce friction, improve efficiencies, provide flexibility, and accelerate pipelines with policy and metadata-driven processes that can accommodate the diversity and distribution of data in modern environments.“

Eric Bassier, senior director, product marketing, Quantum Corp., said: “Quantum ActiveScale object storage and the Weka file system provide an integrated solution for accelerating your data pipeline, lowering infrastructure costs, and keeping data protected and secure. The combined solution is 10x faster than traditional scale-out NAS, reduces operational expense, and can handle workloads requiring the highest performance and largest scale.“

Paul Speciale, chief product officer, Scality SA, said: “WekaFS certified with Scality RING provides customers with advanced data protection at a lower TCO. We are excited to have our solution in production within mission-critical industries such as biopharmaceutical and genomics research institutions that are leading the way to new therapies and cures. Now available through technology leaders such as HPE, our joint solution offers the agility to manage and protect data across spinning media or All-flash as well as on-premises and hybrid cloud environments including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.“

Sam Reid, head, technology, Untold Studios, said: “Our studio needs a storage solution that enables creative talent anywhere in the world to collaborate and create content with ease in secure borderless workflows. WekaIO’s integration of NVMe flash and S3 object storage in AWS enables us to achieve extreme performance and best storage costs at petabyte scale.“

Resources:
Certified unified storage solutions partners in the Weka Technology Alliance Program (WTAP)
Weka for Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Blog: WekaFS Cloud-First Ecosystem for Accelerated DataOps   
Blog: Hybrid Cloud Data Pipelines with WekaFS on AWS Outposts    
Solutions brief: IBM Cloud Object Storage System with WekaFS     
Genomics Archive with WekaIO and Scality RING WP
Webinar: How to Accelerate Genomics Data Analysis Pipelines by 10X
Webinar: Quantum ActiveScale + WekaIO – a Reference Architecture for AI and Machine Learning
Webinar: Boost Speed and Accuracy of Your AI Data Pipelines with HPE, Weka, and Scality

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