<p>My son left for college yesterday. To say it’s been a winding path to get here is an understatement. Our search took us all over the country as he tried to find the right fit for him. Adding in the impact of Covid-19, one can appreciate how difficult making a major life decision can be without all the information. Luckily, with the power of the internet, he was able to obtain information that he never got to ask in person. But as we packed up his belongings to move with him to his new dorm, a whole slew of questions that we didn’t think to ask while making his decision came up.</p>
<p>We feel good about the easy things to understand (what are the dorms like, where are the dining commons, is the department for his area of study reputable), but we wish we had known to ask for more information. For example, how much storage space is there in the dorm room, are there late-night food options on campus, and how can he engage the alumni network to help with internships/summer jobs? While these may not seem like big items, they will directly impact his life.</p>
<h2>The Typical Questions Customers Ask When Buying Object Storage</h2>
<p>The other day, I was speaking with a customer who was in the beginning stages of purchasing data storage, specifically object storage, and spent the meeting answering the typical questions. From physical aspects (capacity, footprint, and cooling requirements), performance (IOPs, latency, throughput), management (UI, FTE hours, failed component replacement), support, and, of course, pricing. (Refer to the <a href="https://www.caringo.com/blog/checklist-for-evaluating-object-storage">Checklist for Evaluating Object Storage</a> blog for an extensive list.)</p>
<h2>Will a Storage Platform Meet, Exceed or Fail Your Needs?</h2>
<p>While some people can make a decision and deploy storage fairly rapidly, it is not unusual to take upwards of <em>3 years</em> to evaluate, plan, procure and deploy a new storage platform for a complex environment. With this type of <strong>time investment</strong>, it’s critical that you understand all the aspects that could impact your staff and organization so you can make the right decision. Whether its a 100TB appliance, multi-node cluster or geo-separated, multi-site deployment, certain, less-obvious questions that are missed can be the difference between <em>failing</em>, <em>meeting</em> or <em>exceeding</em> those needs. A lack of in-depth understanding about what a product and vendor will or will not do can result in a purchase of storage that never gets the job done right, so the IT team ends up having to go back through the lengthy purchase and deployment cycle all over again to find the right storage platform.</p>
<h2>The Questions Customers Should Not Forget to Ask When Buying Object Storage</h2>
<p>Here are some examples of “extra” questions I would ask if I was purchasing an object storage solution:</p>
<h3>What is the tech refresh plan compared to your data’s Lifecycle Management?</h3>
<p>Most of the customers we speak with <em>hold data anywhere from 7 years to in perpetuity</em>. Regardless of which end of the spectrum your retention plan is, odds are a <strong>hardware tech refresh</strong> will be required at some point. For some solutions, this is an easy process because the storage software is decoupled from the hardware. This allows customers to have disparate hardware with different components working in unison that empowers a non-invasive and self-performable refresh. On the other hand, some solutions require a total forklift and all the headaches that come along with that approach—such as double the footprint while migrating, version compatibility, additional networking and, in some cases, specialized power and cooling to be deployed. It’s important to find out the <strong>hidden costs</strong> to refresh which generally hits your budget in year 3, 4 or 5.</p>
<h3>What are all the purchasing options?</h3>
<p>While it’s common to have the software-defined storage (SDS) vs pre-built appliance conversation, not all think to ask about programs that will utilize perpetual licensing vs subscription agreement. And recently, more organizations are offering a hardware-based consumption model. The specific question I recommend asking is, “Are there custom licensing programs to match the growth, budget and support required to make the platform successful for my use case?”</p>
<h3>Are support and services customizable?</h3>
<p>A small organization with just a couple of IT people and a large enterprise customer can use the same software, but typically, they need very different levels of support. Some important questions to ask to ensure success are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Can support be customized to meet the needs of the business, or are there just the standard options to choose from?</li>
<li>Are additional services like health checks, migrations services, or custom integration/development available?</li>
<li>Who can and will deliver the support and services?</li>
</ul>
<p>It is common for a customer’s support needs to change over time, and it is critical to have options that will meet your future needs.</p>
<h3>I’ve seen the roadmap, but what about a feature request?</h3>
<p>Storage vendors build new features for a few reasons, including to stay current with the industry standards, add or enhance security, improve management, and facilitate data collection and reporting. Features are typically not developed with a specific customer’s workflow in mind, but rather by what will appeal to the broadest audience. But, what happens when there are specific changes needed to help a single company’s environment? Is that an option, and if so, just how does that get into the storage vendor’s development process and how is it prioritized?</p>
<h3>How many operating systems or open-source applications have to be managed as part of the platform?</h3>
<p>New versions of the system software (both SDS and appliance-based) will be released over the life of the platform. Asking about the details of the upgrade process (forced downtime vs no downtime is most common), is a normal conversation. But sometimes what is forgotten is how many different pieces have to be maintained. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>If one piece is an open-source component, like a database, where does the customer go to get an approved version?</li>
<li>How does a component upgrade impact performance?</li>
<li>What about the underlying operating system (if the platform has one)?</li>
<li>Does the customer need a seperate support contract for that to get help?</li>
</ul>
<h3>Where Can I Learn More About Buying Storage?</h3>
<p>These are just some of the questions I would include if I were procuring a new storage platform. Like my son choosing his college, it’s going to be a multi-year relationship with your storage vendor and it’s important to be informed so you can make the right choice. Make sure you ask both the common and uncommon questions. For more information, I recommend watching these webinars:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/tech-tuesday-evaluating-object-storage-solutions-2020">Evaluating Object Storage Solutions for 2020</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3">What Your Storage Vendor Isn’t Telling You About S3</a></li>
</ul>


Make sure these 5 questions are on your list to ask when buying object storage; the uncommon questions can make a big difference longterm

Ben Canter joined Caringo in 2015, and is now Caringo’s VP of Sales. Boston born and bred, Ben has spent 20+ years in IT, 13 on the VAR side, 4 years with manufacturing, 8 years focused on Data Center technology, and 5 years in Software-Defined Storage. Ben is certified in multiple technologies including HP, IBM, Dell, VMware, Cisco, and DataCore Software and thrives on helping customers solve problems.

Ben Canter

Caringo revolutionized data storage and changed the economics of storage in 2006 by launching the first Object Storage product in the marketplace. 

Data Storage

Caringo Swarm Object Storage can run on any x86 server. We also offer a Swarm Single Server for those who want a complete solution out of the box. 

Hardware

Object storage (object-based storage) is computer data storage architecture that manages data as objects, as opposed to file storage & block storage.

Object Storage

Software-defined storage (SDS) is data storage software for policy-based provisioning and management of data, independent of underlying hardware. 

Software Defined Storage

Caringo Tech Tuesday webinars offer insight into Object Storage technology and how Swarm works, plus gives you access to our storage SMEs.

Tech Tuesday

5 Good Questions to Ask Before Buying Object Storage

<p>Many of us think of the 1991 cult classic film when we hear “Point Break.” In surfing terms, it refers to a specific spot jutting out from a coastal line where a wave breaks as it hits. This crucial breaking point happens in storage as well; it is when you have to decide whether to start archiving content and where to archive it—on premises or in the cloud.<br />
<a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage.png?ssl=1"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage-e1593620123755.png?resize=1098%2C562&ssl=1" alt="video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage" width="1098" height="562" class="aligncenter wp-image-20181 size-full" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage-e1593620123755.png?w=1098&ssl=1 1098w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage-e1593620123755.png?resize=480%2C246&ssl=1 480w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage-e1593620123755.png?resize=320%2C164&ssl=1 320w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/video-storage-requirements-for-asset-reuse-on-prem-s3-object-storage-or-cloud-storage-e1593620123755.png?resize=768%2C393&ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<h2>How Are Storage Requirements for Asset Reuse Evolving?</h2>
<p>In today’s world, there are multiple drivers contributing to the evolution of video storage requirements, and one of the biggest is the need to keep assets accessible at all times from remote locations. No longer can you store older assets in a tape archive with no expectation of accessing them. Let’s face it, it is highly likely that you will need to reuse/repurpose files—whether it is for content delivery (e.g., streaming video on demand), to discover new ways to monetize those assets, to support internal projects, or for updates to client projects. Is it practical to take the time to figure out where a file is, and then go track down a tape and load it back onto a system?</p>
<p><a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?ssl=1"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?resize=1098%2C622&ssl=1" alt="what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate" width="1098" height="622" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20182" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?w=1098&ssl=1 1098w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?resize=480%2C272&ssl=1 480w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?resize=320%2C181&ssl=1 320w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/what-are-common-breaking-points-to-evaluate.png?resize=768%2C435&ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<h2>What are the Common Breaking Points for Evaluation?</h2>
<p>Capacity, data centre space, ingress and egress time, staff needed for administrative tasks and costs are all factors that may contribute to a break point that forces an organization to evaluate how it is handling data archival. Once that evaluation begins, it often leads to analyzing the existing storage infrastructure, but different methodologies for archiving data, such as on-prem S3 object storage or Cloud Storage.</p>
<p>Capacity of primary (tier 1) storage—like NAS and SAN—often plays a big part in the decision to start evaluating on-prem, S3 object storage and Cloud Storage (“tier” 2 storage). If you are looking to store 100s of TBs of data, the practical choices today are on-prem and in the cloud as NAS is just not affordable for an archive and tape is, frankly, inconvenient and time-consuming. So, let’s discuss the pros and cons of object storage and cloud storage.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons.png?ssl=1"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620284121.png?resize=1098%2C562&ssl=1" alt="on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons" width="1098" height="562" class="aligncenter wp-image-20183 size-full" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620284121.png?w=1098&ssl=1 1098w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620284121.png?resize=480%2C246&ssl=1 480w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620284121.png?resize=320%2C164&ssl=1 320w, https://i1.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/on-prem-s3-object-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620284121.png?resize=768%2C393&ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<h2>On-Prem S3 Object Storage Pros and Cons</h2>
<p>The benefits of using an on-premise, S3-compatible object storage include cost-effectiveness, security, speed and capacity. Of course, the cons are likely to include some up-front capital expenditures (hardware and software), the need for data center or rack space and the cost of IT Administration. However, when you reach about 100TB and you know you want to store it for 3+ years, on-prem object storage actually becomes more economical than using cloud storage.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons.png?ssl=1"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620327554.png?resize=1098%2C565&ssl=1" alt="cloud-storage-pros-and-cons" width="1098" height="565" class="aligncenter wp-image-20184 size-full" srcset="https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620327554.png?w=1098&ssl=1 1098w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620327554.png?resize=480%2C247&ssl=1 480w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620327554.png?resize=320%2C165&ssl=1 320w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/cloud-storage-pros-and-cons-e1593620327554.png?resize=768%2C395&ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<h2>Cloud Storage Pros and Cons</h2>
<p>There are many reasons why Cloud Storage is an attractive option for organizations: for example, it allows you to start small and pay as you grow with unlimited capacity and it reduces the need for on-site data centre operations. At Caringo, we are big proponents of cloud. And, at the heart of every major cloud service is an object storage platform.</p>
<p>Cloud Storage is a terrific option for many organizations. However, the downside of using a public cloud storage—which is dangerous to overlook—often relates to ingress and egress (e.g., speed and additional fees). And, as your data amount grows, will you be tempted to start deleting older files? Believe me, you don’t want to be “the guy who deleted data to save a few Euros” and then have your organization need that file!</p>
<h2>Can I Have the Best of Both Worlds (a Hybrid On-Prem & Cloud Solution)?</h2>
<p>For some cases, a hybrid solution that combines on-premises, S3-compatible Object Storage with a public Cloud service is ideal (for example, when you want to tier assets based on policies that address how often it is used and what you want to keep in an active archive on prem versus a cold archive in the Cloud). This scenario is commonly used, particularly in the M&E industry and businesses that are looking to eliminate the use of traditional tape storage.</p>
<h2>What Resources are Available to Help Me Determine Where to Archive my Content?</h2>
<p>There is no need to be overwhelmed by making a decision about where to archive your content as we have a number of resources available to you that will make it simple. <a href="mailto:info@caringo.com">Email us</a> and we will have a storage expert contact you to discuss your specific needs. If you are looking for educational resources, visit our <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars">webinar landing page</a> where you will find recordings of past events as well as registration links for upcoming events like <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/5-tiers-storage-new-video-production-workflows-sequel">5 Tiers of Storage for New Video Production Workflows: The Sequel</a> (you can <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/5-tiers-storage-new-video-production-workflows">watch the original on demand</a>).</p>


Capacity, data centre space, ingress/egress time, staffing & costs. Which break point will lead you to evaluate your data archival strategy?

Paul Phillips is responsible for Sales &amp; Operations for Caringo in EMEA. Paul has been a founding member of an Intel funded storage start-up and built the Levels Beyond business outside of North America from scratch. Paul and his family live in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.

Paul Phillips

Caringo uses Amazon S3 protocol for seamless policy-based tiering of data from primary storage to private Swarm cloud to public cloud.

Amazon S3

Object-based storage (e.g., Amazon S3-compliant Caringo Swarm Object Storage) is the basis for all Cloud Storage⏤private, public or hybrid).

Cloud Storage

Scaling from small to 100s of PBs is one of the hallmarks of the Swarm pure object storage approach and a testament to our longstanding installations.

Scalability

As you define your storage strategy, what are the required characteristics for each tier of your storage and what variables affect each storage tier?

Strategy

Swarm Cloud Disaster Recovery (DR) powered by Wasabi provides a seamless way to instantly add a remote DR site. Backups are customizable and data is replicated to one of Wasabi’s globally distributed data centers. Swarm Cloud DR is offered as a 3-year add-on to an existing Swarm deployment or Swarm Server Appliance purchase.

Swarm Cloud DR

Point Break: When to Archive Content On Prem or in the Cloud

Learn best practices for hardware selection and how to size your object storage solution to match your specific requirements

Zach Gover

Scale-out storage allows for expansion of data capacity through addition of devices that can be plugged in and configured as the need arises. 

Scale-Out Storage

Security

Caringo Swarm Single Server (SSA) is a complete, S3-compliant Object Storage solution—perfect for small- to medium-sized content-driven organizations.

Single Server Appliance (SSA)

Swarm Server Appliances contain all the hardware and software you need to keep content protected, online, searchable and web-accessible—secure within your network. With the industry’s most flexible object storage deployment options, Swarm Appliances let you start with just one server and scale out at any time based on your business requirements.

Swarm Servers

Swarm Storage provides a complete S3-compliant platform for data protection, management, organization & search at massive scale for unstructured data.

Swarm Storage

Hardware Selection for Object Storage

<p><span>Jason Dachman, SVG Chief Editor, interviews Adrian J Herrera, our VP Marketing. They discuss Caringo’s release of the new Swarm Server Appliance Line and how our Object Storage enables organizations of all sizes that need to archive and access video assets.</span></p>


Check out Caringo's release of the new Swarm Server Appliance Line and how our Object Storage enables organizations of all sizes

Founded in 2005, Caringo pioneered Object-Based Storage technology--forever changing the economics of storage with CAStor (now known as Swarm).

Caringo History

Caringo Storage Appliances Interview with SVG: SportsTech On Demand

<p>It’s no secret that digital content and how it is consumed has dramatically changed over the past few years. With recent events, that change has become even more pronounced. The demand for content and streaming is forcing organizations to quickly modernize their storage infrastructure to stay competitive. And, with the model of remote working becoming even more widespread, the access demands on data for different types of workflows becomes a business imperative.</p>
<p>Caringo was founded with the mission of changing the economics of storage, and today, we deliver on that promise with our new line of Swarm Server Appliances.</p>
<h2>Are Caringo Swarm Servers Available Now?</h2>
<p>This morning, we announced our new line of Caringo Swarm Servers that can be ordered immediately by <a href="https://www.caringo.com/company/contact">contacting a Caringo Sales Representative</a>. This addition to the Caringo product line makes our Swarm Object Storage even more accessible to those who need an easy way to start reaping the many benefits of a flexible, S3-compatible, on-prem storage solution. Dense and economical, these <a href="https://www.caringo.com/products/swarm/appliances">Swarm Servers</a> were designed to enable content-driven organizations to keep archived assets instantly accessible for remote workflows and streaming. This means we can help customers quickly find a solution that fits their data center footprint, cost and performance requirements—so they can deliver instant access to archives for remote workflows and streaming services.</p>
<h2>How Much Data Can You Store on Servers?</h2>
<p>The on-prem, S3-enabled, private cloud storage solution <strong>starts at 168TBs</strong> in a Single Server Appliance, and <strong>scales to 100s of PBs</strong> in multi-server configurations. This enables customers to reduce costs while supporting the growing demand for instantly accessible data and content for collaboration, streaming and monetization. All of this is with a minimal footprint in your data center since the Management Server and the Single Server Appliance hardware come in a dense, 1U form factor while the exceptionally efficient 4u high-density appliance is available for massive scale out.</p>
<h2>Would it Cost Less to Move My Data to a Public Cloud?</h2>
<p>It is a myth that moving to a public cloud is always the most economical choice; case in point, the cost of Swarm Server Appliances starts at 42% less than Amazon S3 storage service fees for the same capacity over 3 years. And, at 32% less than the cost of other on-prem object storage solutions, they are a sound investment for your organization.</p>
<h2>How Long Does it Take to Deploy an Object Storage Solution?</h2>
<p>Caringo Swarm Object Storage software and Swarm Server solutions give you flexible and fast deployment, so organizations can deploy in less than a day and expand in a matter of minutes and easily scale with integrated backup to any S3-enabled device or service for seamless disaster recovery and cold archiving. So, you can now optimize your on-prem resources and benefit from the distributed protection of the cloud while ensuring that content is instantly accessible for continued use and monetization. With remote deployment options, we can help customers set up their new solutions even in this era of social distancing and restricted travel.</p>
<h2>Most Recent Software Updates to Swarm Object Storage</h2>
<p>Version 11.1 of Caringo Swarm Object Storage Software has been released. This brings enhancements to S3 protocol compatibility along with a 20% increase in performance, as well as email and Slack alerting. The software update facilitates scaling for large clusters of thousands of servers and integrates Elasticsearch 6, while delivering valuable features to end users such as built-in data management and secure file sharing.</p>
<h2>Virtual Event Line-up</h2>
<p>As you juggle your busy calendar of meetings and virtual events, we hope you can find time to join us at these upcoming events (available live or on demand):</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>April 23 at 11am (PDT)</strong>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/video-production-broadcasting-social-distancing-era-stay">Video Production & Broadcasting in Social-Distancing Era: What’s Here to Stay?</a>, Brews & Bytes webcast, ep 4 featuring Nicholas Smith of JB&A Distribution</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">April 28 at 11am (PDT)</strong>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-object-storage" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Hardware Selection for Object Storage</a><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">, Tech Tuesday webinar</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">April 29 at 9am (PDT)</strong>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/virtual-nab-tour-1303-systems-western-digital-caringo" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Virtual NAB Tour with 1303 Systems, Western Digital and Caringo</a><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> webinar</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">May 7 at 11am (PDT)</strong>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/remote-workflows-big-files-big-storagea-big-problem-brews-bytes-ep-5" style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Remote Workflows, Big Files & Big Storage…A Big Problem?,</a><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> Brews & Bytes webcast, ep 5 featuring Robert Browne of Signiant</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>


New Swarm Server appliances give you the benefits of a flexible, S3-compatible, on-prem object storage server solution with remote access

Throughout his 30-year career, Tony Barbagallo has leveraged his extensive experience to establish and grow hardware, software and service organizations. He has held a mix of leadership roles at small and large companies, including VP of Marketing and Product Management at Skyera, WildPackets (now Savvius), and EVault, VP of Marketing and Sales at Dantz (acquired by EMC), and senior management positions at Microsoft, Mentor Graphics, Sun, and GE. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University and has also completed the Stanford University Executive Program.

Tony Barbagallo

Caringo Swarm Object Storage can be used as platform for building a scalable, reliable, high-performance Content Distribution Network (CDN).

Content Delivery Network

Content Distribution is a key capability for Media & Entertainment, Social Discovery and all sites that provide content to customers and end users.

Content Distribution

Caringo Swarm Object Storage protects digital assets, keeping them online & accessible for production workflows, active archive & on-demand streaming.

Media &amp; Entertainment

Caringo Swarm Object Storage v11 accelerates access to video by giving you easy-to-generate URLs for secure internal or external streaming media.

Streaming Media

1303 systems

Brews &amp; Bytes

Western Digital

Brews & Bytes

Caringo Swarm Servers for Storing Digital Content

Media & Entertainment

<p>With the ever-evolving server hardware market, we are seeing servers become lower in cost while achieving higher storage density. This makes the value proposition of S3-compatible software-defined object storage even more attractive, as you can store critical data on premises without a major impact on your data center footprint.</p>
<h2>Isn’t Object Storage About the <strong>Software</strong>?</h2>
<p>Software is the major consideration when you are looking to implement object-based storage. That has been our primary focus as we developed the innovative <a href="https://www.caringo.com/products/swarm">Caringo Swarm Object Storage</a> software platform. However, the choice of hardware for object storage can profoundly impact <em>performance</em>, <em>scale</em>, <em>manageability</em>, <em>deployment time</em> and <em>cost</em>—both <strong>total cost of acquisition</strong> (TCA) and <strong>total cost of ownership</strong> (TCO). So, your choice of hardware in an object-storage implementation is critical, and an area where learning about best practices is certainly worthwhile.</p>
<h2><strong>How Complex is Deployment</strong> of Object Storage?</h2>
<p>The complexity of deploying object storage can be greatly affected by your choice of hardware as well as your software. Some software-defined object storage is flexible and allows you to use and even mix and match servers from different manufacturers and generations. However, some object storage is sold as part of a complete solution.</p>
<p>When you consider buying your object storage as a complete solution, there can be some distinct advantages. However, it also can be a trap that locks your data into proprietary hardware that is expensive to acquire and costly to maintain, especially as you scale to retain more and more data. It is critical that your choice is a good match for your staffing level and your staff’s storage expertise—not to mention your budget!</p>
<h2>Is Using a <strong>Public Cloud Cheaper than On-Prem</strong> Object Storage?</h2>
<p>While it may initially appear that using a public cloud is cheaper than implementing object storage on prem, that often isn’t the case. Of course, there are a lot of dependencies and considerations when deciding where to put your data, and sometimes you need a hybrid solution. It is critical that you take the time to look at the cost factors over time, including egress fees and support costs. If you haven’t watched our <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3">What Your Storage Vendor Isn’t Telling You About S3</a> webinar, I highly recommend that you take the time to do so.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3.png?resize=675%2C380&ssl=1" alt="Storage Secrets: What are storage vendor isn't telling you about amazon aws S3" width="675" height="380" class="alignnone wp-image-14162" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3.png?w=640&ssl=1 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3.png?resize=320%2C180&ssl=1 320w, https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/storage-vendor-isnt-telling-s3.png?resize=480%2C270&ssl=1 480w" sizes="(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<h2>Learn More About <strong>Selecting Hardware for Object Storage</strong></h2>
<p>With Caringo’s Tech Tuesday webinar series now in its third year, we decided that it is time to revisit the topic of <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-object-storage">Hardware Selection for Object Storage</a>. On April 28 at 11am PT/2pm ET, we will be discussing best practices for hardware selection and how to choose hardware to meet your specific requirements, drawing on the deep experience of our team that has worked with small, medium and large organizations that vary dramatically in the amounts and types of data they need to store and in their requirements for data security, retention and access.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-object-storage"><img src="https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hardware-selection-object-storage-1.png?resize=675%2C380&ssl=1" alt="hardware-selection-object-storage" width="675" height="380" class="alignnone wp-image-15746 " srcset="https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hardware-selection-object-storage-1.png?w=969&ssl=1 969w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hardware-selection-object-storage-1.png?resize=480%2C270&ssl=1 480w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hardware-selection-object-storage-1.png?resize=320%2C180&ssl=1 320w, https://i2.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/hardware-selection-object-storage-1.png?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-object-storage">Join us live</a> during the recording of the webinar and ask our storage experts any questions you have or <a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-object-storage">watch the webinar on demand after the event</a>.</p>


Hardware selection for object storage is a timely topic as server technology evolves. What should you consider before you make a purchase?

John Bell has been with Caringo for 7 years and is our Senior Consultant on the design, implementation and management of object storage. John has worked with many of our largest customers to transform their storage infrastructure with highly efficient and cost-effective object storage solutions. John has a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in Computer Science from Indiana State University.

John Bell

Hybrid Cloud is storage that has a mix of on-premises, private cloud storage (e.g., Caringo Swarm Object Storage) & 3rd-party public cloud services.

Hybrid Cloud

What Hardware is Best for Object Storage?

<p><span><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Single-Server-Image-3.png?resize=300%2C216&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="216" class="size-medium wp-image-12339 alignright" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Single-Server-Image-3.png?resize=300%2C216&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Single-Server-Image-3.png?w=700&ssl=1 700w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" data-recalc-dims="1" />Today is a landmark day for Caringo, as we launch updates to our entire product suite. Our Swarm 10 Platform is the culmination of over a decade of market hardening and continuous innovation to satisfy customers who are driven by on-demand, distributed workflows. It leverages Swarm’s unique pure-object approach to deliver unrivaled performance at petabyte scale. Before we get into the details of today’s launch, let’s talk about what I mean by “pure-object.” </span></p>
<p><b>What is Swarm’s Pure-Object Architecture?</b></p>
<p><span>Caringo Swarm has always used a purpose-built storage design that efficiently utilizes standard disks without expensive caching layers, RAID controllers or layers of software. Swarm object storage software is a parallel architecture that boots from bare metal and runs completely in RAM. Swarm is native object storage, meaning each object’s metadata is encapsulated with that object’s data as a single entity. This means that no separate SQL databases or filesystems are required to track objects. With Swarm, objects are completely portable. </span></p>
<p><span>This approach extracts every bit of value from standard drives, servers and network infrastructures. It is at the core of our design and our key to delivering industry-leading S3 throughput with sustained PB-scale NFS read/write. Caringo SwarmNFS delivers a high-performance translation from file to object that uses patent-pending features in Swarm which eliminate the use of a spooler in the middle. Spoolers are expensive, put your data at risk, cause performance degradation, and get crushed under sustained ingest work loads.</span></p>
<p><b>Why the Updates?</b></p>
<p><span>Many content-driven organizations prefer to store data on premises to reduce security risks and copyright infringements. They need to cost-effectively scale to petabytes with distributed ingest and they need data to reside close to access points and applications. We are giving large organizations even more of what they already love about Caringo—performance, streamlined management and granular data insight. </span></p>
<p><span>At the same time, we are launching a new single-server appliance for smaller organizations giving them a much lower cost of entry to the most-scalable, on-prem, object-storage solution. This appliance will be valuable for a number of use cases, particularly for Media & Entertainment (M&E) organizations such as post-production houses, studios, broadcasters.</span></p>
<p><b>What’s New?</b></p>
<p><span>Highlights from our latest release include:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/swarm-overview/"><b>Swarm 10</b></a><span> object storage has been optimized for dense, distributed environments, including an update to Elasticsearch 5. In a recent deployment, Swarm delivered an astounding 35 GB/s read and 12.5 GB/s write aggregate S3 throughput, the object storage industry’s fastest performance.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/single-server/"><b>New Swarm Single Server</b></a> reduces entry-level hardware requirements by 75%. Swarm Single Server is a fully self-contained appliance that provides all the features of Swarm with 96 TB of raw storage that can be racked or fit under a desk.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/swarmnfs/"><b>SwarmNFS 2.1</b></a><span> delivers parallel, petabyte-scale sustained streaming of NFS to object. In recent tests on standard hardware, a single instance of SwarmNFS sustained reads of 1.6 GB/s (3PB+ per month) with no caching or spooling. SwarmNFS also leverages Swarm’s parallel architecture so that multiple instances can be deployed as needed to further improve throughput.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.caringo.com/filefly/"><b>FileFly 3.0</b></a><span> now supports AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, providing file tiering from Windows and NetApp. In addition, a new, full-featured </span><b>FileFly Community Edition</b><span> is available that includes 25 TB of useable data transfer to any target.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span></span><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/swarm-10-storage-demand-distributed-world/">Join me at 11am PT/1pm ET tomorrow for our webinar</a>: Swarm 10—Storage for the On-Demand, Distributed World. Our VP of Marketing Adrian “AJ” Herrera and I will talk about what is new in Swarm 10 and detail how we have evolved our product line to set a new standard for on-premises object storage.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/swarm-10-storage-demand-distributed-world/" title="Register for Caringo Version 10 Webinar" class="btn btn-caringo caringo-lg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span>REGISTER NOW</span> <span> </span> <span class="fa-stack arrow-right"><i class="fa fa-circle fa-stack-2x"></i> <i class="fa fa-long-arrow-right fa-stack-1x fa-lg"></i></span></a></p>


Our CEO Tony Barbagallo talks about today’s landmark launch and explains Caringo's “pure-object” approach behind our astounding 35 GB/s read and 12.5 GB/s write aggregate S3 throughput, the object storage industry’s fastest performance.

Caringo FileFly provides complete, automated lifecycle management for unstructured data—from creation to preservation, on premises and in the cloud.

FileFly

HPC data sets are exploding. Swarm Object Storage streamlines data management/access & reduces storage TCO up to 75% with continuous data protection.

High Performance Computing

NFS is a distributed network file system protocol. Caringo SwarmNFS lightweight file protocol converter seamlessly integrates files & object storage.

NFSv4 is a distributed network file system protocol. Caringo SwarmNFS file protocol converter seamlessly integrates files & object storage.

NFSv4

Caringo® SwarmNFS lightweight file protocol converter brings S3-compliant object storage benefits to NFS & SMB, seamlessly integrating file & object.

SwarmNFS

Swarm 10 Object Storage for the On-Demand, Distributed World

<p><a href="https://www.caringo.com/webinars/hardware-selection-criteria-object-storage/hardware-selection-criteria-object-storage" rel="attachment wp-att-10908"><img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hardware-selection-criteria-object-storage.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1" alt="Hardware Selection Criteria for Object Storage" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-10908" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hardware-selection-criteria-object-storage.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.caringo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/hardware-selection-criteria-object-storage.jpg?w=445&ssl=1 445w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" data-recalc-dims="1" /></a>Thinking about implementing object storage in your infrastructure and not sure what hardware you need? With information and tips curated from hundreds of installations, Caringo object storage experts explain the criteria you should consider as you make your selections.</p>


The Topic