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The Storage Behind The Cloud: Page 3 of 6

Many Cloud Providers I talk to, especially ones that are providing software-as-a-service as opposed to storage-as-a-service, are treating storage as an afterthought! That is terrifying. In many cases, the storage "platform" was some big Linux or even God forbid Windows server with a bunch of cheap, direct-attached storage. Their backup strategies are not well thought out and, believe it or not, many have no replication outside of the primary host. The lack of some form of data replication out of the box is what ruined my lunch companion's attitude toward the Cloud.

 

In fairness, some of the Cloud Providers are using either tried and true technologies from companies like Permabit, Nexsan and EMC Atmos that deliver scale and high availability while still providing cost efficiencies. Others are using Cloud specific storage software like those from Bycast, Mezeo and Parascale. 3Par and Isilon have done well in software-as-a-service where performance, reliability and rapid scaling are critical.