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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Object storage product survey 2016: The big six

Object storage has gained traction as a viable way to store large amounts of unstructured data. It is a third access method for persistent storage that complements block and file protocols.

Objects are binary files that have no inherent format visible to the object storage platform (although they can have structure) and are stored in a large flat namespace. Metadata is stored with the object to provide additional information for searching and retrieving objects from the store itself.

Objects are binary files that have no inherent format visible to the object storage platform (although they can have structure) and are stored in a large flat namespace. Metadata is stored with the object to provide additional information for searching and retrieving objects from the store itself.

Object stores are accessed using a range of standard web-based protocols, most notably the S3 APIpopularised by Amazon Web Services’ Simple Storage Service (S3).

Suppliers also provide their own interfaces, support for Swift (the object storage protocol for OpenStack), and in some cases CDMI, which was developed bySNIA.

Increasingly, object storage suppliers add file-based protocol support to enable customers to store and retrieve data from an object store without having to code to an HTTP (REST-based) API.

#Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), #HPE, #IBM and #NetApp have all developed their product lines through acquisition and have used existing hardware assets to deliver packaged solutions.

Dell and HPE also partner with other suppliers to deliver solutions in the same way, providing a single point of contact for purchase and support. 

IBM recently acquired #Cleversafe, which had been partnering with the likes of HPE.

Meanwhile, HPE and Dell partner with Scality, recognised as another leader in the object storage market. HPE’s investment in Scality begs the question of whether acquisition is on the cards and where that would leave Dell in a consolidating market.

That said, the impending acquisition of #EMC by Dell will provide an object storage product for the combined portfolio, so an acquisition of Scality by HPE may not be an issue for Dell.

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Object-storage-product-survey-2016-The-big-six


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