Qumulo introduced a new service built with and for Microsoft Azure and aimed at customers looking to store and manage exabyte-scale file data in the public cloud.
Available now, Azure Native Qumulo (ANQ) is part of a new version of the vendor's Scale Anywhere, a software-defined data management and storage platform that can be deployed on premises, at the edge or in the cloud. Qumulo's Scale Anywhere now also includes a global namespace that presents all Qumulo storage as though it were right in front of the user.
This new offering reflects a trend of cloud service providers building partnerships with on-premises storage vendors to provide more customer choice. The partnership between Qumulo and Azure offers enterprise-grade file services in the cloud, giving customers high-performance, cost-effective unstructured storage, according to Scott Sinclair, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group.
Building a file system is hard. Building a good enterprise-level file system is really hard.
Scott SinclairAnalyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
"Building a file system is hard," he said. "Building a good enterprise-level file system is really hard."
Public cloud providers are looking for more capable data storage options without having to create their own, Sinclair said. ANQ competes with services such as NetApp OnTap, which provides a similar cloud file services offering.
Qumulo in the cloud, for a lower cost
ANQ takes Qumulo's storage engine and applies the engine to file storage services in Azure, according to James Sanders, an analyst at CCS Insight.
"By managing [the file services] through Qumulo software, users can get a better price and better performance than managing enterprise data on their own," he said.
Before ANQ, it was possible to use Qumulo in Azure, Sanders said. But ANQ is for users looking for a SaaS managed version of Qumulo.
ANQ brings to market a cheaper managed storage service, which can cost as much as $80 to $100 per terabyte; Qumulo's service costs $30 per terabyte, according to the vendor. Customers can also grow or shrink their storage as needed.
Qumulo brings scale-out file service to Azure with the new version of its Scale Anywhere platform.
Global namespace
In private preview until early 2024, Qumulo Global Namespace (Q-GNS) will enable remote access to data stored on Qumulo regardless of where it resides. Q-GNS will help with data management and sharing data, Qumulo said.
The feature could extend to data stored in ANQ, Sanders said. However, Q-GNS would also benefit customers if and when Qumulo adds native file services to more public clouds. "This is relevant beyond just Azure, as I do expect this to come to other clouds," he said.
Enterprises move data all the time across locations, Sinclair said. Any way to simplify this process, such as introducing a global namespace, is a benefit to customers.
Overall, adding key capabilities to cloud service providers such as scale-out file systems and global namespaces at a lower cost is a win all around.
"It's a win for the customers, and it makes Azure more competitive as well," Sinclair said.
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget Editorial news writer covering file and block storage hardware and private clouds. He previously worked at StorageReview.com.
