Storage space warning messages are a sight only too common for most IT professionals. We are storing more data than ever before, and the storage systems organisations have in place are often inadequate, struggling to keep up with ever-increasing requirements. Increasing storage with a traditional file system or block storage system can be limited, expensive and result in slower search retrieval speeds – not ideal for teams of busy people.
What is Object Storage and How Does it Work?
Object storage is a newer type of storage that manages data as objects rather than as a file hierarchy, or as blocks within sectors. Object storage includes the data being stored with its metadata and a custom identifier making it easy to find, organise and retrieve. Rather than being stored in a tiered file structure, all the data is stored in a flat storage pool, so the metadata becomes the means by which data is found and retrieved, rather than by its file location.
Most of the data commonly produced and used by businesses and internet users falls under the category of unstructured data such as videos, images, emails, sensor data used by the Internet of Things and website pages. Object storage is perfectly suited unstructured data, effortlessly handling and retaining huge quantities of it.
What are the Benefits of Object Storage?
From IT and manufacturing to media and higher education, all businesses can save costs, increase security and create more efficiency within business processes by using object storage.
- Disaster Recovery and Security
Object storage offers ransomware protection, preventing data from being deleted or overwritten for a fixed amount of time, protecting against accidental and malicious deletion. Object storage doesn’t just offer digital security against business data loss and can help protect physical premises too. When CCTV video footage is stored securely, it cannot be compromised or deleted, thus offering a higher level of protection to your site.
- Scalability and speed
Object storage is infinitely scalable – your organisation will never run out of storage again. Because the data is stored in a flat storage pool, more servers can be added to create a cluster, increasing storage size and processing power. Unlike block storage, physical distance between locations has no impact on the speed of storing or accessing data.
- Increased efficiency
Object storage can help you to reduce your IT infrastructure by moving away from Network Attached Storage (NAS). By using the metadata, you can easily store, organise, search, retrieve and analyse data and information, for however long you need it to be available. Object storage can handle huge quantities of data, so whether you have hours and hours of video files, or reams of sensor data, there won’t be any issues with accessing and retrieving it instantly.
- Reducing costs
Object storage is one of the easiest ways to reduce costs, both directly and indirectly. Cloud object storage typically costs up to 70% less than typical cloud storage and with Vitanium there are no hidden costs or fees – you simply pay for the storage you need, as much as you need. And there are indirect savings too – by using remote object storage, the need for on-site servers, and the maintenance and running costs associated with those are eliminated.
Why Should I use Vitanium for my Object Storage?
At Vitanium, we are proud to be a rarity. Most providers outsource to other data centres but we hold both the ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 accreditation, and our certified data centres are UK based. This means all your data will be secure, encrypted and fully adhere to data laws and protection.
Our pricing is straightforward with full transparency – you will only ever need to pay for the storage you want with no Egress or API fees, and you can increase your storage at any time as your business grows without limits. We also have an in-house team ready to take your call whenever you require a backup or need some support from us.