Public cloud object storage services

1. Summary

With the explosion of media and content on the web, there is a need for scalable, durable, and elastic storage. Public cloud has become the preferred choice for deploying scalable applications, so businesses are also relying on the cloud for storage requirements. Along with compute, network, and databases, object storage is one of the key building blocks of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) that exposes scalable object-based storage capabilities through the REST API.

Content stored on an object storage service becomes the central repository that can be accessed from a variety of clients including web browsers, desktop, and mobile applications. Web-scale applications depend on object storage to store and retrieve static content in the form of images, videos, documents, and other related assets. When combined with a content delivery network (CDN), this content is cached and delivered through an edge location located closer to the consumer.

Enterprises are taking the first step towards the public cloud by signing up for object storage services. IT teams are using object storage for backup/restore scenarios and with virtual appliances becoming mainstream, traditional storage architectures based on SAN and NAS are getting integrated with public cloud based object storage services.

The key factors for choosing the right object storage service vary with each use case. This Gigaom Sector Roadmap™ identifies and categorizes the principal disruptive trends at play as the market develops and profiles a number of significant solution providers in the space.

Key findings from the report include:

• Public cloud object storage services are the key building blocks of IaaS. Both the providers and customers are relying on it for storage requirements.
• Security and compliance are critical for enterprises. They should carefully evaluate the standards adopted by the public cloud providers.
• Hybrid capability is the key requirement for enterprises to adopt object storage. They need to extend existing backup/restore mechanisms to the public cloud.
• The vibrant AWS ecosystem is forcing object storage providers to expose the Amazon S3 compatible API. Many providers are playing it safe by supporting both Amazon S3 and OpenStack Swift APIs.

Key:

• Number indicates companies relative strength across all vectors
• Size of ball indicates company’s relative strength along individual vector

Source: Gigaom Research

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