Storage as a Service comes alive at 365 Data Centers
365 Data Centers (365) announced the availability of its new 365 Cloud Storage service; the first truly local enterprise cloud storage-as-a-service (STaaS) across 17 US markets. 365 Cloud Storage delivers enterprise-class security and controls, self-service provisioning, high security and pay-for-use pricing. 365 Cloud Storage is ideal for applications such as clustered databases, big data analytics, file storage, archiving, storage migration, backup, remote disaster recovery, and temporary workloads.
365 Cloud Storage supports both Storage Area Networks (SAN) for block-based storage and Network Attached Storage (NAS) for file sharing and can be accessed securely via a data-center cross connect within 365’s facilities or via Carrier Ethernet or metro fiber.
365 has datacenters located in 17 US markets: Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Emeryville (CA), Indianapolis, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Reston (VA), St. Louis, San Jose, Seattle, and Tampa.
365 Cloud Storage provides a full complement of enterprise-class features:
- Web-based self-service provisioning, controls and monitoring
- Selection of dedicated SATA, SAS and SSD drives
- Support for both SAN block storage and NAS file storage (NFS/SMB)
- 10Gbps and 1Gbps private network access via cross connect or metro fiber
- Redundancy support for customized RAID configurations
- Encryption of data at rest and in flight
- Built-in data protection through snapshots, cloning and remote mirroring
- Scalability to hundreds of terabytes per storage volume
- Integration with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure environments
- Pay-for-use pricing as low as 5 cents per GB per month.
What I find most compelling about 365 isn't its vast network, its low pricing, or its extreme services; it's that its Customer Support Center (CSC) is located at the Tampa facility where a centralized support system using controls enable rapid response times to their customers in ways other providers cannot. A U.S.-based customer support center. What a concept. And what a boon for its customers.
I'm also impressed that 365 has 17 datacenters spread across the US. And they're not just in heavily populated areas either, but rather are strategically placed in Tier 1 and Tier 2 locations. I'd probably be more impressed if 365 had a datacenter location in or near Tulsa. I don't know that tier Tulsa is, but it's a great place for a datacenter. And come on, we could use the jobs.
"Zadara is thrilled to be working with 365 Data Centers to bring a new type of cloud service to US businesses—a local cloud," said Nelson Nahum, CEO, Zadara Storage. "365 Cloud Storage will bring the flexibility and scalability of the cloud to local businesses that prefer to keep their applications local."
Hey, I can dream, can't I? Not that I'm making any sort of comparisons or commentary on datacenter placement, but Google has a datacenter located near Tulsa in the Mid-America Industrial Park in beautiful* Pryor, Oklahoma.
But, other than 365's obvious oversight in that one matter, its STaaS looks appetizing for businesses looking for scalable and inexpensive cloud storage that integrates with familiar tools.
If you're wondering what the "takeaways" are from this announcement from 365, I'll boil it down to three points:
- 365 offers on-demand SAN and NAS cloud storage.
- Low-latency achieved through colocation as all 17 sites will offer cloud storage – any business within 100 miles can utilize the service with 4ms or less latency while inside the datacenters, colocated customers enjoy <1ms latency speeds.
- 365 Cloud Storage is half the price of AWS EBS.
You'd think that on-demand SAN and NAS storage would be the norm for commodity cloud storage offerings, but you'd be wrong to think that. As it turns out, AWS EBS, Azure, and Google do not offer both options.
About 365 Data Centers
365 Data Centers provides secure and reliable colocation and cloud services that offer an easier way to scale business growth and connect to the cloud. Through its 17 US datacenters, 100 percent uptime SLA, and national network of carriers and content providers, 365 Data Centers offers flexible pricing models that let customers pay as they grow with no long-term lock in. Services are secure and tailored for small and mid-sized businesses, telecom carriers and cloud service providers. We partner with businesses, technology leaders and community leaders to build technology centers that enable economic growth. With 365 Data Centers as a local provider, driving business growth just got easier.
*By beautiful, I mean it looks like the rest of Oklahoma, which isn't beautiful either.