Free Report for IT Decision Makers on the
DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise Cloud-based NAS Consolidation Solutions
OMAHA, Neb., (November 6th, 2023) – DCIG is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the 2024-25 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise Cloud-based NAS Consolidation Solutions Report. DCIG evaluated thirty one companies that offer software-defined storage solutions for a consolidated cloud-based network attached storage (NAS) use-case across five different categories. This report provides guidance on the TOP 5 providers organizations should consider to gain the benefits of consolidating file data in the cloud. The report is available for free download.
Massive data growth across the enterprise compounded by data storage device and system proliferation challenges effective data management within IT organizations. These challenges impact data visibility, governance, analysis, security, compliance, planning, costs, and ultimately IT’s mission of providing the technical resources the organization requires to achieve its goals.
Cloud-based NAS consolidation, based on enterprise-class software-defined storage, takes a different approach to handling the growing accumulation of unstructured data. Cloud-based NAS consolidation migrates file data from multiple file servers and NAS devices into a cloud-based storage platform. The best solutions provide fast, flexible, usable, managed access for all an organization’s end users and applications while addressing the challenges of data growth across the enterprise. Because software-defined storage serves as a foundation for cloud-based NAS consolidation solutions, these solutions capitalize on the benefits of SDS, such as:
Scalability. Especially for solutions using public cloud providers as the data store, the public cloud represents unlimited storage that can scale on demand without requiring capital hardware purchases. If new capacity is needed, an administrator can quickly turn this up.
Flexibility. In contrast to disparate storage systems and devices dispersed across multiple locations, a cloud-based NAS presents a single unified storage pool. This means administrators can allocate storage capacity dynamically to users, groups, and applications as needed for cost, compliance, or workload priorities.
Global file management capabilities. Global views, including permissions management, capacity utilization, and analytics, enable new opportunities for ensuring optimal performance and cost for managing an organization’s unstructured data. For distributed enterprises, cloud-based NAS consolidation solutions allow an administrator to administer a broad set of file management services across cloud providers and hundreds or thousands of nodes, sites, and users from a single interface.
Multi-protocol file support. Cloud-based NAS consolidation solutions commonly support multiple file storage protocols. This flexibility allows organizations to select the best-fit protocol for each use case. Many cloud-based SDS solutions expand upon file sharing and collaboration features inherent within file storage protocols so that remote teams and users can collaborate on files from anywhere.
In addition to software-defined storage benefits, cloud-based storage systems bring additional benefits to organizations such as:
Cyber-resiliency. Cloud-based storage systems bring enhanced capabilities for ensuring data availability in the face of cyberattacks. These solutions leverage features like immutable storage, replication, snapshots, backups, and automated failover to both mitigate and recover quickly from a cyberattack or other unforeseen event.
Multicloud storage architectures. Cloud-based NAS consolidation solutions can often utilize multiple cloud providers for vendor diversity and flexibility. Infrastructure managers can place file data in the cloud provider best suited to business priorities or make data available to specialized services within a cloud ecosystem. Further, organizations may choose a particular cloud provider because of regulatory compliance or data sovereignty requirements.
Offloads storage infrastructure management. Much of the burden of storage infrastructure management moves from the customer organization to the cloud provider. Cost management (space, power, labor), complexity (performance management, networking, administration), and capacity planning (monitoring, acquiring, implementing) shifts out of the enterprise. By offloading these activities to the cloud provider, enterprises reduce IT costs for on-premises file data management.
Reduces infrastructure hardware costs. By moving their unstructured data to centralized cloud storage, organizations can eliminate the expenses and procurement cycles for NAS devices and file servers across their locations. For the data center especially, less hardware translates into less physical space, which means a smaller footprint and reduced energy and cooling costs when compared to legacy solutions.
Reduces administrative costs. This storage model simplifies storage administration and reduces the need for multiple tool sets to manage different NAS devices and file servers. Cloud-based NAS solutions often include automation features for common data management tasks.
Global file access. Cloud-based file storage enables access to file data from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. For remote locations, the ideal cloud-based NAS solutions cache copies of active files at the edge on a virtual or physical appliance, which are then synchronized to a master file stored in the cloud.
These benefits and more provide organizations with a global, centralized file platform that addresses the needs of scalability, costs, governance, compliance, security, analysis, and decision-making in the context of an avalanche of accumulating data.
In preparing this report, DCIG evaluated 31 companies offering products meeting DCIG’s definition of a SDS-based NAS consolidation solution. The general feature categories evaluated include:
- Deployment Capabilities
- Data Protection Capabilities
- Product and Performance Management Features
- Technical Support
- Licensing and pricing
Based on its evaluation of these features, the following SDS-NAS providers earned DCIG TOP 5 award (in alphabetical order):
- CTERA Enterprise File Services Platform
- NetApp Cloud Volumes
- Nasuni File Data Platform
- Panzura CloudFS
- Zadara zStorage
The full DCIG TOP 5 report is available for download immediately at the link below. The full report contains additional details such as:
- A listing of all thirty-one solutions evaluated
- Distinguishing features shared by all DCIG TOP 5 providers
- A deeper explanation of the key similarities and differences between the DCIG TOP 5 providers
- A profile of each solution highlighting notable features that earned it a DCIG TOP 5 award
Individuals may access the full report at no cost by following the link below.
2024-25 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise Cloud-based NAS Consolidation Solutions
Other than excerpts published in this announcement, the contents of the 2024-25 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise Cloud-based NAS Consolidation Solutions Report are copyrighted and may not be republished without permission.
About DCIG: The Data Center Intelligence Group (DCIG) empowers the IT industry with actionable analysis. DCIG analysts provide informed third-party analysis of various cloud, data protection, and data storage technologies. DCIG’s audiences include C-level executives, IT managers, IT professionals, magazine editors, bloggers, analysts, and providers within the IT and cloud service industry.