Cloud Storage 2.0 Set To Dominate Market

A group of people standing in front of a large screen.

2018 AT&T Business Summit: Security “in” and “of” the Cloud

By G C Network | November 10, 2018

While public cloud is undoubtedly an outsized piece of the conversation, news headlines of the latest data breach can make this move a very frightening proposition. The question of how…

A group of people standing in front of a display.

My Brush with Royalty: Queen Latifah

By G C Network | November 9, 2018

Queen Latifah! Hip Hop Icon. Movie Star. Television Star. Fashion Model. Songwriter. Producer. Entrepreneurial Genius!? YES! Dana Elaine Owens, her given name, is co-owner of Flavor Unit Entertainment, a firm that includes…

What’s New in Puppet 5?

By G C Network | November 9, 2018

Puppet 5 is released and comes with several exciting enhancements and features that promise to make configuration management much more streamlined. This article will take a comprehensive look at these…

5 Reasons Why Ansible is the Best CM Tool Out There?

By G C Network | November 9, 2018

Amidst volatile markets, dynamic technology shifts, and ever-increasing customer demands, it is imperative for IT organizations to develop flexible, scalable and high-quality applications that exceed expectations and enhance productivity. A…

Machine learning APIs for Google Cloud Platform

By G C Network | November 9, 2018

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is considered to be one of the Big 3 cloud platforms among Microsoft Azure and AWS. GCP is widely used cloud solutions supporting AI capabilities to design and…

What Is The Most Important Part of Architecture?

By G C Network | November 9, 2018

I always find it interesting to hear what people view architecture as. A lot of people think it’s just about the design aspect, where you get to put pen to…

Cloud migration best practice Part 4: Executing the migration

By G C Network | September 16, 2018

This series has stepped through cloud migration best practices. After providing an overview, we discussed: Classifying business-critical data. Updating organizational IT governance policies. Application screening and cloud workload selection. How to…

Cloud Migration Best Practice Part 3: Application Portfolio Analysis

By G C Network | September 16, 2018

In part three of this series on cloud migration best practice, I will focus on migrating the application itself. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read our recommendations from part…

Why Use Immutable Storage?

By G C Network | September 11, 2018

Data has become a global currency, and its value has nowhere to go but up.  According to The Economist online, the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but…

CLOUD ACT: What Does That Mean for Your Cloud Storage

By G C Network | August 31, 2018

When Congress names a law after you, it’s getting serious.  That is where we are now with cloud computing.  The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act or CLOUD Act (H.R. 4943) is…

The enterprise data storage marketplace is poised to become a battlefield. No longer the quiet backwater of cloud computing services, the focus of this global transition is now going from compute to storage. An overview of recent storage market history is needed to understand why this transition is important.
 

 

Before 2007 and the birth of the cloud computing market we are witnessing today, the on-premise model hosted in large local data centers dominated enterprise storage.  Key marketplace players were EMC (before the Dell acquisition), NetApp, IBM, HP (before they became HPE) and Hitachi. Company employees managed information technology resources (compute, storage, network) and companies tightly controlled their data in facilities they managed. Data security, legal and regulatory concerns, for the most part, were very localized. The data itself was highly structured (i.e., Relational Databases and SQL) in support of serially executed mostly static business processes. This structured approach worked because consumer segments in most industries were homogeneous, segregated and relatively static.  Companies also felt relatively safe in their industry vertical due to the high financial and operational barriers prospective new competitive entrants would face.
 
 
On March 13, 2006, Amazon Web Services launched Simple Storage Service (S3). Although not widely appreciated at the time, that announcement was the launch of Cloud Storage 1.0 and heralded a gradual but steady global adoption of cloud-basedstorage services. Surveys show that by 2016 approximately 30% of all businesses had transitioned to cloud-based storage.  Although cloud compute service and application management were the primary reason for migrating to the cloud, the rapid growth of unstructured data (Social media, Hadoop, Big Data Analytics) significantlyheightened the importance of cloud-based storage. Rapidly changing business processes that increased the need to target smaller consumer segments (localization, online retail) also contributed to rapid data growth and breadth.  Over time Google, Microsoft, Rackspace, and other cloud storage vendors entered the market. Coincident with the transition to cloud storage, international data security, legal and regulatory concerns also grew. Even though the daily news greeted everyone with multiple high profile data breaches and data loss incidents, fines were minimal and very few mandatory notification laws existed. Cloud storage technology was characterized by:
  • Implemented through a 2005-2008 technology base;
  • Primarily being hosted on Linux or Windows operating systems;
  • The use of proprietary, incompatible and competing APIs;
  • The vendor selection also threatened vendor lock-in;
  • Additional charges for data manipulation activity (puts, gets, deletes);
  • A continuing requirement to manage multiple storage options and pricing tiers.

 

As if this was not challenging enough, vertical industry barriers were shattered by digital transformation and the elimination of significant startup capital investment requirements.
As we all prepare the champagne and noisemakers for the birth of 2018, Cloud Storage 2.0 is already with us. Massive transition to cloud computing has commoditized storage.  Industry observers’ expectations storage to become an IT utility.  Increased data volumes and the sourcing of unstructured data (Crowdsourcing, Social Media Analytics) have elevated the importance of previously benign enterprise storage technology decisions. Many business processes are now expected to be dynamically executed in a parallel fashion (Agile business, Social Media Customer Service). Blended consumer segments and need to target and satisfy individual consumers is common. There are also significant changes on the data security front. These changes include:
  • Significant fines for data loss or breach;
  • Mandatory data breach reporting laws; and
  •  Heightened international data security, privacy, legal and regulatory concerns (i.e., National data sovereignty Laws, BREXIT and EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR))

 

Corporate risk introduced by these dramatic changes means that cloud storage vendors need to drastically up their game as well. Customers no longer want to deal with continually balancing between the cost to store data and the risk associated with intentional deletion. In fact, expanding legal and regulatory requirements are now the driving force behind operational needs to execute real-time retrieval of complex data assets (i.e., biometrics, social media analytics, dynamic data streams). These needs mean that Cloud storage 2.0 minimum requirements now include:
  • Using new and improved purpose-built operating systems;
  • Native control of storage disk for higher density and faster access speed;
  • Solutions optimized for the storage and analysis of unstructured data;
  • Significant reduction of multiple storage tiers and options;
  • Elimination of separate charges for data manipulation activity (puts, gets deletes);
  • Storage immutability (data or objects cannot be unintentionally modified after creation);
  • Significantly reduced pricing; and
  • Use of standards-basedinterface APIs.

 

 

 

These are the many reasons why enterprises must think before accepting storage services from the current cloud industry leaders. Don’t settle for a Cloud Storage 1.0 band-aid when you should buy a Cloud Storage 2.0 solution. When your team is evaluating options:
  • Compare access speeds and select the vendor that can offer the fastest possible access;
  • Use storage with a pricing structure that allows you to retain all of your data for as long as needed;
  • Make sure your company is ready to meet the new data security regulations;
  • Choose cloud storage that is inter-operable across the most extensive ecosystem (partners, storage applications, formats); and
  • Always evaluate the solution’s scalability, durability, immutability, and legal compliance capabilities.

 

 

Change is happening now so don’t get fooled!


( This content is being syndicated through multiple channels. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of GovCloud Network, GovCloud Network Partners or any other corporation or organization.)

 

Cloud Musings

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2017)

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network