Nutanix pledges ‘common cloud model’ for all data
If anyone were in any doubt, the future is cloud.
Just to clarify, the future is cloud and the future of cloud is hybrid cloud.
For the record, the future is cloud and the future of cloud is hybrid cloud and the future of hybrid cloud is multi-cloud i.e. more than one ‘type’ of cloud (optimised for various different workloads) on more than one single Cloud Services Provider (CPS) platform.
Hybrid (obviously) gives us so much more control in terms of being able to keep some portions of data (and the compute functions we drive over them) on-premises… but at the same time stretching to the breadth of public cloud when and where the use case allows for it.
Enterprise cloud company Nutanix is reflecting this reality with new hybrid cloud capabilities for its unstructured data storage offerings, Objects and Files.
So in a sense, that makes it the future a multi-cloud hybrid-cloud variable-[data]-structure kind of future.
The company says that this technology is a scale-out storage fabric that works across different cloud environments to simplify data management as IT teams move ever closer to a true hybrid cloud operating model.
These storage-focused enhancements build on the recent launch of Nutanix Clusters, which supports Nutanix’s hyperconverged infrastructure software running in AWS and ( in the future) Microsoft Azure.
Some rich data, some poor data
The company continues to enable its technology to run in any cloud, while embracing a common operating model to streamline IT management and provide organisations the flexibility to run every application in the cloud of their choice.
So if we say for rich, for poorer: Nutanix pledges to deliver the power of a ‘common cloud model’ for all data, we mean some data will be richer (i.e. more structured) and some will be poorer (i.e. unstructured or semi-structured). Some could even be a slightly muddled mix of the three, it doesn’t matter says Nutanix, we’ll still love you and your data whatever shape it takes and wherever it lives.
Specifically, the new features offer Cloud Tiering for Objects Storage. Nutanix Objects can now deliver tiering of object data to an S3-compatible object store, including cloud storage such as AWS S3.
Rajiv Mirani, chief technology officer at Nutanix says that this helps enable customers to lower the cost of long-term storage and archival by taking advantage of public cloud infrastructure. He also notes that this intelligent tiering capability will also significantly improve data lifecycle management across different clouds, while still maintaining visibility and control, as metadata is retained on-premises for easier search and retrieval.
Also here there is Hybrid Cloud File Storage: Nutanix Files is now generally available to run in public clouds through Nutanix Clusters. As a true hybrid cloud file storage solution, Nutanix Files now delivers a unified experience, along with simplified single-pane management, across cloud deployment modes, spanning the edge, remote offices, and core data centers and public cloud.
This technology offering also includes simplified disaster recovery. Nutanix Objects and Files now deliver improved recovery point objective (RPO) metrics.
The end game goal here is the pursuit of solutions that can provide a single unified experience for data access wherever it lives.