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What Is Cloud-Native Storage?

Understand cloud-native storage, its benefits, and key characteristics for optimizing data storage.

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Data storage, backup, and recovery solutions are quickly becoming a central focus of modern businesses. Saving electronic copies of important files and documents has radically transformed how companies operate. However, for smaller organizations or those with smaller IT budgets, investing in and managing internal data storage solutions can get out of control. Cloud-native storage offers a better solution.

Cloud storage gives users access to data management as a service. This eliminates the hassle of finding and deploying internal solutions. Cloud storage has become so popular that many companies are fully investing in cloud-based solutions for their entire data management process.

What Is Cloud-Native Storage?

Cloud native is an approach to developing software that is specifically built for the cloud. To this end, cloud-native storage is software intended for the purpose of storage, which was intentionally designed for cloud environments.

Cloud-native applications are growing in popularity due to the ability to scale. These types of applications can be both developed and deployed quickly and without the need for large teams. This greater agility can provide a selection of benefits, including:

  • Competitive advantage
  • Applications that are resilient and support business continuity
  • Better flexibility
  • The intersection of operations and business goals

Cloud-native storage delivers high-level application and data base services that are built specifically for the cloud. This gives companies an edge when remotely maintaining important information or user-level software. Understanding the available features of cloud-native storage is essential for realizing the full potential of your data.

What Is Cloud-Native Object Storage?

What is cloud-native object storage? Businesses have access to a variety of data storage options. Generally, files are stored in a hierarchical or block-based paradigm. With object storage, all stored information is treated as an object. This allows users to separate distinct pieces of data from one another.

Object storage gives users a simplified format for data storage and management. When working with large volumes of unstructured data, companies often have trouble retrieving and utilizing the information they need. Cloud-native object storage allows businesses to give pieces of information descriptive metadata for easier processing later.

What Is a Cloud-Native Data Base?

Tracking and managing important data throughout its life cycle requires ongoing oversight and control mechanisms. Data-base management systems allow users to collect, distribute, and assess in real time.

A cloud-native data base offers remote access and management capabilities to users. Leveraging one allows businesses to deploy their distributed systems without worrying about the added overhead. Enterprise organizations that want to build resilient data-base management practices can use cloud-native data bases to extract the most value out of their information.

What Is the Difference Between Cloud Native and Cloud Based?

The cloud has become a significant force in modern computing. For many businesses, this has led to greater flexibility and comprehensive oversight over every aspect of their operations. However, there is a big difference between using cloud-native and cloud-based architecture for data management.

When companies use existing software applications, services, and platforms in the cloud, they are deploying cloud-based data management. This is fundamentally different from using similar tools that are designed to work in the cloud. Although cloud-based architecture may be well integrated with cloud technologies, cloud-native applications are much faster because they were built from the ground up specifically for the cloud.

Key Characteristics of Cloud-Native Storage

Cloud-native storage has radically transformed how companies store and manage their data. Cloud native apps offer all the power of other options while being hosted offsite. This gives them a range of advantages that businesses can use to remain agile. With fully capable systems for managing your cloud deployments, you’ll be ready to deliver service no matter what.

Availability

When users need access to a specific application, they shouldn’t have to worry about what device they’re using or where they’re accessing the data. Cloud-native storage gives companies a centralized resource for storing, accessing, and managing information. Cloud-native storage uses three approaches to maintaining availability:

  • Making redundant copies of data
  • Restoring data in the case of a failure
  • Restoring secondary devices used to store redundant copies in the case of a failure

Scalability

As businesses continue to rely more on their cloud architecture, it can become difficult to manage central functions and invest in the right hardware and software. Enterprises collect data every single day, meaning their need for storage scales alongside it. By using cloud-native storage for their data management needs, businesses can remove the barriers to entry and grow as they see fit.

Storage Performance

When working with large amounts of data, it’s important to have a reliable setup that is not only scalable but predictable and consistent in its performance.

With cloud-native storage, performance is measured across the following areas:

  • Time to complete an operation
  • Time to write an operation
  • Amount of data that can be stored or retrieved per second (in megabytes or gigabytes)

Cloud-native storage gives you better load handling, processing, and optimization for assessing data and responding to events in real time. For the best data storage performance, turn to cloud-native storage for your IT environment.

Consistency

Building on performance, businesses expect to see consistent results when working with cloud storage. Cloud-native storage should be able to:

  • Return correct operations, even after making updates
  • Provide minimal-to-no delay in data operations

Businesses can be easily overwhelmed by the number of options available for storing and manipulating data. Looking at and capturing application states provides administrators and users with a means of consistently utilizing the various tools at their disposal. Cloud-native storage provides a way to effectively manage and distribute data without shifting away from expected design paradigms.

Durability

Cloud native storage should be durable. Durability relates to its ability to protect against data loss or corruption. It also refers to the length of time data can stay within the system. Durable storage ensures data stays stored long term. Factors that impact durability include:

  • Layers of data protection (Redundancy: the modernized 3-2-1 Backup Strategy)
  • Durable storage devices, both offsite and onsite
  • System’s ability to detect corruption and restore failures

This makes it essential for IT managers and small business owners to select only the most reliable architecture for their data management needs. Cloud-native storage provides a safe and effective storage solution for businesses that want continuous, uninterrupted access to their data.

Deployment

Businesses often need to use data across multiple locations without much turnaround time. This makes it problematic when data storage solutions aren’t flexible enough to go where they’re needed. By using cloud-native storage, businesses can deploy their services wherever they want.

Cloud-Native Storage Models

With cloud-native platforms, businesses aren’t tied down to one specific method of storage. This gives them more choices when deciding how to design their data management architecture.

Whether using a local, public, or enterprise solution, cloud-native storage empowers you with real-time data management capabilities.

Local Storage

Businesses that rely on private data often want to keep it onsite, making it difficult to use cloud-based solutions for specific tasks. Local cloud-native storage simplifies in-house data management by offering a variety of cloud applications and services.

Public Storage

When in-house solutions become too unwieldy or expensive, businesses can turn to public storage for greater efficiency and more practical control mechanisms. This simplifies data management for organizations that rely on large sums of information.

Enterprise Cloud Storage

When businesses need large-scale storage capabilities, they may need a better option than public storage. Enterprise cloud storage is specially designed for multiple users and can be obtained for a lower price than public or private cloud storage.

Seagate Lyve Cloud Capabilities

Has your data management experience been less than desired? Businesses that want a cost-effective tool for managing their distributed enterprise use Seagate Lyve Cloud. Lyve Cloud’s frictionless mass storage solution was designed to let you take control of your data.

Seagate Lyve Cloud gives you more data for less, maximizing the value of your data-capture experience. We offer a suite of data management tools that make competing in the data economy a breeze.

Move your data where you want it. talk to an expert today!