Last week I attended Tech Field Day at VMWorld 2015, and had the opportunity to attend a session where I learned about a company called ClearSky Data.  They offer enterprise level cloud-based storage with enterprise SLA’s in the cloud with a goal to offer this service globally.   When we consider the high levels of overhead that it takes to maintain storage onsite, this has the potential to become a really great organizational option.

Tech Field Day VMworld

Cloud-based Storage – Eliminating the Complexity

When dealing with traditional storage arrays we have to purchase, configure, and optimize the infrastructure for our environments.  Any storage tiering will also need to be configured, and then over time we generally will allocate and configure additional disk to meet the demands of the business.

Also interesting is that they enterprise of availability at 99.999%.  Many cloud providers struggle with providing such a level of availability, so to have this level of availability will be very beneficial for organizations looking to offload.

Securing Corporate Data

Their buildings are designed with finger print security and they periodically pay people to attempt to break in to make sure the right tactics are in place.  Their product design secures data in transit and at rest with AES 256 encryption.  Also a device onsite called the “Edge” will be managed at your corporate site to ensure that critical information remains local and secured by your company.

These are just a few of the highlights, the entire story can be found here including more depth on their storage strategy, their Edge appliance, hypervisors they work with, and their more about their growth strategy in larger metro areas.

Final Thoughts

The race to the cloud is a slow and steady one.  With new product options that provide enterprise level uptime and backend storage tiering; the reasons to move to the cloud become more compelling.  Cheers!