Cutting through Storage and data protection complexities – it’s just a different approach
If you’re now expecting the introduction of a new Cloud service, please don’t be disappointed but continue reading! This article is about a different approach on how all businesses dealing with smaller data volumes can benefit from an enterprise-grade software-defined storage solution that is fully S3 compatible and protects data at both the hardware and software level.
Simplicity-As-A-Service implies that the right mix of technology delivers a different result and lets you achieve desired outcomes faster, with less risk, cost, effort, and resources. That’s exactly what we’ve done.
At RNT, our brain’s always on and we’re keeping our ear to the ground. Customers told us many times that a NAS box does not meet all their business requirements on one hand. On the other hand, they have had enough of paying for traditional storage architectures that are built for the enterprise and include lots of features that are neither wanted nor needed. So we racked our brains, teamed up with our Technology Partners and were re-thinking Storage infrastructure for all the businesses who are desperately seeking a reasonable alternative.
And here comes Yowie a portfolio of secure Software-Defined Storage Appliances that goes beyond common standards. Yowie is designed for all customers in the sub 150 TB market who want and deserve an enterprise-grade storage solution at entry-level storage cost.
Price-sensitive customers will go for the 53H-HDD series starting from 32TB usable capacity and when performance matters we recommend the 53F all-flash series starting from 41 TB usable capacity. Besides choosing between HDD and all-flash models you can also either select Yowie powered by Cloudian Hyperstore® or Yowie powered by Acronis® Cyber Infrastructure.
However, before you become spoilt for choice let’s have a closer look at why hardware design matters and how the novel hardware design revolutionises traditional storage architectures.
Have you seen 5 nodes in 3U before?
As a technology pioneer who’s been in the high-tech industry for more than 20 years, we’ve designed a novel chassis to make 5 nodes fit in a single 3U device. This gives you one of multiple layers of data protection for your unstructured data in the cloud through 3+2 erasure coding. We simply did the maths: 5 nodes provides you with the most efficient data utilisation rate and lowest disk overhead that is technically possible for erasure coding while keeping the cost affordable.
With its use in object storage, erasure coding is a viable alternative to RAID and allows practically unlimited scale-up storage. Erasure coding works by breaking data into fragments, encoding them against unwanted ‘erasures’ to ensure data security and integrity. Then the data fragments are stored across different nodes to protect against data loss in case of a node failure or data becoming corrupted on one of the drives. Thanks to erasure coding, data is still available even if two nodes fail at the same time. Object Storage protected by erasure coding is ideal for the types of data sets that are fairly static and not read/write-intensive, such as backups and archives because it costs less than replication.
Object Storage is for big data only
Objection and time to overcome the myth! We’re already moving from the era of Cloud to the era of Edge; even small business operations have to deal with the digital transformation challenge and realise that ‘not going to Cloud at all’ isn’t an option. The big benefit of object storage is the flexibility, availability, and accessibility of the most important company asset: data.
Object storage lets you access and download data from any location in a cost-effective way. When minimising storage cost is critical to business profitability you also need to bear two important things in mind:
- Approx. 80% of your data is not frequently used
- Private Cloud providers do not charge for Storage, they charge you for accessing your own data
Calculating the cost for cloud storage without being hit by a costly surprise in case of a (disaster) recovery task is rocket science. Yowie is an on-premise turnkey solution with full S3 compatibility and a viable alternative in the cloud era that can be used as a backup target as well as a storage capacity tier to offload ‘cold’ data and save cost.
We love SMBs and SMBs love simplicity
What made us think about even designing a solution that goes beyond common standards? We see less interest and also a lack of skills in deploying and managing complex storage infrastructures. However, no business can live without storage and backup, and offloading these tasks to the Cloud isn’t a piece of pie either.
Yowie is built in Germany with only the enterprise-grade components inside that are actually needed to do the job. It’s only one 3U device to rack up, it comes with two redundant platinum power supplies and an integrated set-up wizard that takes approx 30 minutes to have your Yowie appliance up and running.
With 5 nodes in only 3U, you will have the highest available density in your data centre or server room that lets you save power, cooling, and rackspace. Yowie powered by Cloudian Hyperstore® has Object Lock for immutable storage enabled to provide you with full ransomware protection.
Yowie Storage Appliances protect your data at both the hardware and software level without any hidden cost factors that sneak in through a back door and boost the total cost of ownership. If your business grows, your data capacities will grow, as well. Yowie is a scalable plug&play solution that helps you succeed in your digital transformation goals with simplicity and ease.