Version 6.0 of Scality’s RING software significantly enhances their commitment to the AWS S3 protocol, which the company says will significantly expand their business with their vendor and reseller partners.
Jerome Lecat, CEO of Scality
Object storage vendor Scality has announced the general availability of Version 6.0 of its Scality RING object-storage software. The key attribute Scality is emphasizing in the new release is that it enhances their commitment to the Amazon Web Services [AWS] S3 [Simple Storage Service] web service, by their becoming the first S3-compatible object storage with full Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) support.
“Digital business is a survival issue for large enterprises, as it requires storing large amounts of unstructured data,” said Jerome Lecat, CEO of Scality. “We think the consensus right now is that software-based object storage and the S3 API are the right technology for this particular job, which makes S3 the most important of the API for us. Scality 6.0 makes us more S3 focused.”
Lecat acknowledged that while object storage is being used in large-scale public and private clouds, enterprise deployments of object storage so far have been limited, both because of the lack of a standard API and the lack of integration with existing IT single sign on systems. Scality 6.0 addresses both issues.
“We think enterprises are ready for object storage, which has moved beyond the peak of inflated expectations,” Lecat said. “It is already being used extensively by cloud service providers, with whom we do a large business.”
It’s unusual, to say the least, for an integration to be the key element in a .0 release, but Lecat stressed that full integration with S3 is vitally important.
“Integration at this stage is the most important thing, and Ring 6.0 brings very strong integration,” he said. “It’s critical to have easy integration with the S3 API. Our competitors talk about API compatibility, but they are really missing the big part of the story. If you don’t also have user management compatibility, you really have nothing.”
The S3 compatible object storage with full Microsoft Active Directory and AWS IAM support now provides exceptional levels of performance, including single bucket read/write/list performance.
“We have four large bank customers and none of them would ever consider the integration if not for Active Directory support,” Lecat said.
Ring 6.0 also adds enhanced file system support, including automatic failover. Improved parallel and multi-user write performance to the same file system directories further enable specific backup, and media and entertainment applications
“This enhanced file system for enterprise use cases provides improved performance for backup and video, and a better shared single namespace across different file protocols,” Lecat said.
Lecat also noted that the S3 emphasis will make them more active with their vendor partners – and their channels.
“This will further develop our relations with our strategic alliance partners HP, Cisco and Dell – and their channel partners in turn, and help us work more with ISVs,” he said. “They are also adopting S3 APIs.”
