StorOne's software-defined storage technology is now available on Azure, marking the company's first full-blown foray into the cloud.
"We don't require dedicated hardware or anything like that," said George Crump, chief marketing officer at StorOne. "It just works natively on the Azure infrastructure. We bring the same efficiency that we're known for on-premises to the cloud."
StorOne's new S1:Azure service is identical to the company's on-premises products and supports Azure managed disk tiers as well, allowing users to move their data among pricing and access speed tiers.
S1:Azure offers a suite of features similarly offered to on-prem customers, including data snapshots as required, disaster recovery backups and data archiving.
StorOne users can also take advantage of a hybrid model by offering on-site storage hardware mixed with cloud storage to fulfill their needs. During peak demand, customers can move operations on and off Azure through StorOne as needed.
These features can automate processes that are cumbersome or limited to certain hardware when working with Azure alone.
"We want to accelerate your business. Not be a boat anchor to it," Crump said.
Although available for only Azure at this time, Crump said he expects StorOne to eventually expand to AWS and Google Cloud.
"Azure was the easiest to work with as a company," he said. "We were going to pick one, make sure we did everything, and did everything perfectly, before we moved on to the next cloud."
Those considering S1:Azure can compare prices using StorOne's TRUprice website feature, which shows complete price breakdowns based on contract length and hardware needs.
Crump said the S1:Azure prices should be live on TRUprice soon.
StorOne started in 2017 and launched its TRU Store software shortly thereafter.
The company's primary competition includes Pure Storage, NetApp and Nimble, as well as Dell EMC and HPE Storage. These competitors, especially at the enterprise level, are attempting to catch up with software-defined storage services but typically join their storage hardware and software at the hip for purchases and support.
The partnership with Azure is StorOne's first appearance on a public cloud marketplace, according to the company.
Dave Raffo, senior analyst at Evaluator Group, said StorOne's software-only approach allowed the company to make successful partnerships with a variety of storage providers and storage vendors.
Raffo said those partnerships will translate into sales for enterprise customers, especially against larger vendors like HPE and Dell EMC.
What StorOne has to do is prove they're as good to enterprise customers as the other guys.
Dave RaffoSenior analyst, Evaluator Group
"What StorOne has to do is prove they're as good to enterprise customers as the other guys," Raffo said.
Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting, singled out StorOne as one of the more affordable storage providers, as opposed to competitors such as Nimbus Data and VAST Data Storage -- especially with its up-front pricing.
"In all cases, they do it very economically," he said. "These guys rewrote their storage stack to be incredibly efficient."
Staimer also pointed to the company's open pricing models as a benefit.
"You know what you're paying for. You know what it's going to cost you as you add more capacity," he said.
Scott Sinclair, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, similarly praised the hybrid options offered by StorOne's expansion into the cloud.
"Part of the beauty of StorOne's design is that it can support multiple use cases," Sinclair said. "If you are looking to reduce the cloud storage cost burden, chances are StorOne has an option that could help."
Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget.
