XenData backup packages Wasabi in new cloud product
A new cloud service lets customers put XenData backup on Wasabi's cloud, making a cheap option for active archiving by taking advantage of Wasabi's lack of egress fees.
XenData and Wasabi have combined for a new cloud storage archiving service that incorporates XenData backup software and Wasabi's public cloud.
XenData Cloud File Storage Service includes a Wasabi cloud subscription. The vendors said the service can reduce the cost of archiving data to the cloud, because Wasabi does not charge egress fees to recover data.
XenData Cloud File Gateway allows applications on local servers to read and write to clouds, and XenData FS Mirror enables file structures to be mirrored to a cloud. That provides the backup and disaster recovery features.
XenData markets its Cloud File Storage Service for active archive. Active archive data does not need to be modified and is accessed infrequently, yet it's read frequently enough that it does not belong in cold storage. Active archive data is usually housed in a lower-performing storage media, such as tape or disk.
XenData CEO Phil Storey said Wasabi's pricing model makes it an attractive partner.
"AWS and Azure, they both include these really hefty egress charges," Storey said. "That's pretty scary for a lot of people, because they don't know how much downloading they really do, so they don't know what the cost is going to be."
XenData sells tape, disk and cloud archiving products. It also offers a migration service to help customers move data off of tape and into clouds or an updated tape format.
XenData FS Mirror, when combined with XenData Cloud File Gateway, lets users mirror files to cloud storage.
Media gives Wasabi and XenData backup a starring role
Christophe Bertrand, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, based out of Milford, Mass., said the media industry fits the bill for active archive perfectly. Media companies have important data that cannot be deleted; it never needs to be modified and occasionally needs to be pulled back into a production environment.
AWS and Azure, they both include these really hefty egress charges. That's pretty scary for a lot of people, because they don't know how much downloading they really do, so they don't know what the cost is going to be.
Phil StoreyCEO, XenData
"You may need a clip, something from a long time ago, for a news piece," Bertrand said. "But you're not going to keep everything on expensive disk."
Storey said 95% of XenData backup customers do active archive, and the vendor has several media and entertainment customers. He said TV stations often move their data to tape as soon as a project finishes, but may still need old clips occasionally. XenData Cloud File Storage Service would allow these customers to keep video on the cloud and pull it back when needed.
XenData Cloud File Gateway currently works with Microsoft Azure, and Storey said the next expected version of the software will support AWS. However, the Wasabi partnership brings cloud capability to file-based applications that do not natively support Amazon S3 object storage.
Storey said the partnership is the first time XenData has bundled its software with a cloud service provider. XenData Cloud File Storage Service customers will receive one bill for Cloud File Gateway, XenData FS Mirror and Wasabi cloud storage, priced at 1 cent per gigabyte, per month, for data stored in the Wasabi cloud. The service is in customer preview, with full availability expected in May.
