Nasuni Blog

The Emerging Objects Versus Files Debate

Rob Mason — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:00 -0400

A few weeks ago I spent an hour with a new analyst to the storage space over at TechTarget and one of the topics we covered was object versus file based storage systems. Wikipedia has a workable definition of object based storage: An Object-based Storage Device (OSD) is a computer storage device, similar to disk storage but working at a higher level. Instead of providing a block-oriented interface that reads and writes fixed sized blocks of data, an OSD organizes data into flexible-sized data containers, …

Azure, Fair and Balanced

Rob Mason — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:00:00 -0400

With our Cloud Storage and Cloud Migration reports we provided some data that presents Microsoft Azure’s storage service in a pretty positive light. So people are often surprised when they ask us what vendor we use behind Nasuni’s enterprise storage services -- the answer is that it’s mostly Amazon S3 today. Like any vendor using a third party component we’d love to have a true second source for that component, but so far we have no vendors that are close enough to be considered a true second source. …

Who’s Responsible for Protecting Data Stored in the Cloud?

Louis Abate — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

With cloud comes the notion of liberation. Cloud is the natural evolution of the data center. It’s easy to deploy, infinitely scalable, and highly redundant. It is the shiny new component inside the storage controller and is making it possible for an old dog to learn some very impressive new tricks. But with the cloud, comes responsibility. An article recently appeared over at BusinessWeek explaining how many businesses now operate under the assumption that once their data is sent offsite they need not be concerned…

GDrive: What It Could Be. What It Shouldn’t Bother Being. What It Won’t Be.

Andres Rodriguez — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Google’s long-anticipated GDrive might finally be here. The original concept was to extend the capabilities of Google Desktop with personal, searchable storage but, alas, innovation has since shifted away from the Desktop. The new world is mobile. It is a world dominated by smart phones and tablets. Dropbox has become an overnight juggernaut by being the first and still the best way to synchronize data across all devices. For GDrive to succeed against Dropbox, Google must enlist the one unfair advantage it…

In Apple’s iCloud, One Key to Rule Them All

Louis Abate — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Earlier this month it became widely publicized that Apple maintains complete control over the master encryption key to their marquee cloud offering, iCloud. Now, to anyone familiar with security and encryption this should come as no surprise. In order for nearly all consumer cloud services to provide anywhere access to data the provider must be able to encrypt and decrypt data on the fly. But it brings up the bigger question of, who should I trust with my data? The consumer cloud To even begin to answer that…

Data in the Cloud: Ebbs and Flows - Part 4

Rob Mason — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Migration scenarios Part 3 in our series examined the performance of Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Rackspace Cloud Files during different bulk migration scenarios. In the final part to the series we look at what conclusions can be drawn from our testing. It is important to keep in mind that our battery of tests are not meant to be comprehensive. While the results may be useful to anyone considering cloud storage, we focus on what is important to our customers. Being able to move large numbers of objects…

Data in the Cloud: Ebbs and Flows - Part 3

Rob Mason — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:45:00 -0400

Part 3: CSP Performance Measurements Part 1 of the series looked at the importance of performance in trying to avoid vendor lock-in. Part 2 established the criteria that will be used to measure the performance of different bulk migration scenarios within and across Cloud Storage Providers (CSP). In part 3 we run through the different scenarios and look at the performance of Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Rackspace Cloud Files. Case 1: S3 to S3 Migration While Amazon has some internal functions like…

How Does Nasuni Compare to Box or Sharepoint?

Connor Fee — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:45:00 -0400

I've heard the question countless times. It’s asked by customers, investors, and partners. I always have an answer (as I do for almost any question) but it hasn't always been great. And that bugs me... You see, I'm an answer guy. I like having the answers and I like being right. I pride myself on being able to take complex questions and provide simple answers. This question however has been one I've struggled with. If I work here and don't have a good answer, how can IT? Time to do some research - off to the…

Nasuni Is Not Fooling Around

Rob Mason, Andres Rodriguez — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:51:00 -0400

Today is Nasuni’s 3rd anniversary. Three years ago, six of us opened the doors here in Natick for the first time with a fresh $8M round and a vision to change the storage industry. The six of us are all still here, but we’ve been joined by a small army of colleagues that share our vision and passion. The last three years have been exciting, challenging, frustrating, frightening—in a nutshell, the typical startup experience. Companies do not make markets without a great leap forward in technology and the will to tune…

World Backup Day

Rob Mason — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 08:45:00 -0400

According to Wikipedia, the term "Hallmark holiday" is used predominantly in the United States to describe a holiday that is perceived to exist primarily for commercial purposes, rather than to commemorate a traditionally significant event. One of my pet peeves are the made up “special occasions” that greeting card companies and others make up to drive sales of more $5 greeting cards. I’m all for celebrating mothers, letting my wife know I love her dearly, and otherwise acknowledging the important people in…

Data in the Cloud: Ebbs and Flows - Part 2

Rob Mason — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:45:00 -0400

Migration Scenarios In part 1 of the series we looked at the significance and some of the criteria that needs to be considered when executing a bulk data migration in the cloud. There could be a number of reasons to do a migration -- perhaps they’re merging accounts after being acquired, or perhaps they’re giving their data to another company, perhaps the company has decided (or been informed) that one CSP is better than another. The cases basically come down to two situations: move data within a…

Data in the Cloud: Ebbs and Flows

Rob Mason — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Part 1: Understanding transfer speeds and avoiding vendor lock-in In the last few posts we spoke about a couple of the requests we had from our customers to migrate data from one cloud storage provider (CSP) to another and how we helped them accomplish those goals. After the initial concerns about maintaining security throughout the entire process (not an issue with Nasuni), the second question they asked is how fast their data could be moved from one CSP to another. Underneath the questions…

The Great Margin Divide

Andres Rodriguez — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Selling raw cloud storage is a business perfectly suited to an online retailer Amazon reigns supreme selling raw cloud storage. The biggest technology infrastructure system companies in the world keep trying to replicate Amazon’s success, only to find themselves hoping Amazon will go back to selling books. The bad news for companies like EMC, HP, IBM, NetApp and Dell is that selling raw cloud is a game they are unlikely to win. The good news is, Amazon will have just as hard a time trying to sell…

Turtles All the Way Down

Andres Rodriguez — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Building storage systems that scale forever After giving a public lecture on astronomy a brilliant English scientist was challenged by an old lady, “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist, using a superior scientific tone asked, “What is the tortoise standing on?” Without missing a beat the old lady replied, ”It’s turtles all the way down!” The problem with building truly scalable data storage systems is that we insist on having a flat plate…

ESG Lab Report

Rob Mason — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0400

Today we’re pleased to announce the availability of a hands-on ESG Lab report from the Enterprise Strategy Group. While they do a ton of other things too, ESG is one of the best analysts in the business when it comes to understanding enterprise storage which goes back to the roots of their founder, Steve Duplessie, who worked at EMC in the early days. Not only do they understand the players, their offerings and how they position them, but they have deep technology experience too which is unique in the analyst…

Global IT: Storage for Distributed Development Teams

Connor Fee — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:30:00 -0500

For any enterprise software or hardware company, development has gone global. Companies are chasing better talent and lower costs they quickly find themselves and their teams much more distributed than before. Distributed teams require better sharing and collaboration tools, driving organizations to upgrade their communication infrastructure and connectivity. I’d be willing to bet almost every one of these companies has a whole boatload of WAN accelerators – anything to bring the offices together right? “…

Connor Fee: Coming to You from the Road

Connor Fee — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:30:00 -0500

Working with customers and prospects is a constant adventure. I've been at Nasuni since the very beginning and have worked closely with hundreds of accounts. At this point, most of the questions, most of the concerns, most of the comments I've heard before. "Most" is the operative word here… I'd like to use my little corner of the Nasuni cyberspace to share some of the use-cases, questions, concerns, and comments that are unique. The ones that make me say "I'll have to get back to you on that one."…

Parodies of Storage

Rob Mason — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:00:00 -0500

While I was at Gold’s gym the other day (hey, what can I say? Its cheap, close and I work for a startup) I was struck by some amusing similarities between Gold’s and Nasuni. Many people have seen the ads from competing fitness centers making fun of the “I pick things up, and I put them down” stereotype that seems permanently attached to Gold’s and there’s certainly plenty of that happening at the gym. Regardless of what their competitors have to say, there’s a lot to picking things up and putting them down…

The File Sharing Trap

Andres Rodriguez — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Unencrypted cloud storage makes providers liable for copyright violations When the FBI shut down Megaupload, one of the Web’s most popular file sharing sites, it sent a clear message to service providers that they will be held liable for any digital rights violations perpetrated by their user communities. Megaupload provided sharing services that allowed users to exchange large files anonymously. Most of these files consisted of commercial music and movies that had been illegally stripped of their digital…

Top 5 Reasons for Disaster Recovery

Rob Mason — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500

With our guaranteed 15 minute disaster recovery and several years under our belt with our product, we’ve gotten an understanding of the top reasons for performing a disaster recovery and the list may surprise you: Changing storage platforms Failed ESXi data store Failed server Human error Moving data around the world What? A true disaster isn’t on the list? There’s no hurricane, earthquake, etc. on there. That’s right folks, DR is rarely performed for a true natural disaster. Let’s walk through the list and talk…