Why You Need to Transition to Scale-Out Storage

Data growth is surging. In fact, IDC predicts worldwide data creation will grow to a whopping 175 zettabytes (ZB) by 2025. IT administrators must adapt to this growing spike in data creation by updating their storage strategies, but it’s not just about having enough space. With ransomware threats growing and with more employees working remotely, it’s more important than ever to ensure that data is secure and accessible. But there are problems with traditional data storage methods. It’s tough to add more storage when you need it. Hardware is expensive. Managing storage can take a lot of time. And, since traditional storage often lacks deduplication and compression, data isn’t stored efficiently. Plus, migrating data is a massive undertaking when it’s time to upgrade. On top of all that it can be a nightmare to add backup and disaster recovery into the equation. These issues are why many businesses are adopting scale-out storage solutions like StorageCraft®OneXafe®. OneXafe eliminates many of the issues afflicting traditional data storage methods. But what exactly is scale-out storage and why should you care?

Inside Scale-Out Storage

As TechTarget defines it, “Scale-out storage is network-attached storage (NAS) where the amount of disk space can be expanded by adding more drives to individual storage clusters, and where you can add more clusters as needed.” But this definition barely scratches the surface of what scale-out storage can do. OneXafe builds on the concept of clustering by adding features like data deduplication and compression, simplified remote management, and built-in backup and disaster recovery options. Ultimately, scale-out isn’t just another way to store data, it’s a better way to manage, protect, and even recover it.

Why Does Scale-Out Storage Matter?

In most cases, a business will see an exceptional return on their investment in OneXafe in the form of time savings, optimization, and downtime reduction. Here are just a few of the benefits OneXafe provides:

Push-Button Scalability

Traditional storage just isn’t practical anymore. With the explosive growth of data, legacy systems are quickly hitting their limits. That leaves businesses with a few options. Should they move data to the cloud and put their full faith in a third party? Or should they continue supporting their own infrastructure through expensive forklift upgrades? For many, the answer is making the transition to scale-out storage. Because OneXafe features scale-out storage that is object-based, businesses can future-proof their storage infrastructure. Instead of having storage scattered across locations and hardware, object-based storage lets businesses treat all storage as one global pool. When it’s time to upgrade you can simply add nodes and drives to your storage cluster with zero configuration. It’s that simple.

Simplified Management

Managing a storage infrastructure should be easy, right? If admins can give users a place to store their stuff and a way to back it up, they should be golden. The problem is that—given the pace at which data is growing, the increase in data silos, and the different types and sensitivity of some data—managing it isn’t easy. But with OneXafe it’s simple to manage your entire infrastructure from anywhere thanks to OneSystem. This cloud-based application gives you one place to configure your infrastructure, create policies, and even run backups and recoveries. That saves IT admins hours of management time.

Data Storage Optimization

Traditional storage is rarely used effectively. OneXafe eliminates that problem with inline deduplication and data compression, which helps you better use the storage space you have. OneXafe also lets you only buy the storage you need, and add more storage only as you need it. And, since your storage space is treated as one storage pool you can be sure you’re optimizing the space you use on each individual piece of hardware. That means you won’t have any half-full drives that are never fully utilized, which ultimately saves you in hardware costs.

Disaster Preparedness

No storage infrastructure is complete without a plan for backing up and recovering data. OneXafe with data protection makes it simple to schedule backups, set retention policies, and replicate data to a variety of places. That includes on-premises replication targets, offsite data centers, or even StorageCraft Cloud Services. Since all of these features are delivered via StorageCraft’s cloud-based OneSystem application, it’s simple to provide reliable backup and recovery from anywhere.

Conclusion

Traditional storage just doesn’t cut it anymore. When scale-out storage solutions can lower your cost of ownership, save you management time, and protect you from costly data loss and downtime, there’s no reason not to switch. Schedule your custom demo of OneXafe today.