By Deanna Hoover, Director of Product Marketing, Spectra Logic

In today's data-driven world, businesses are constantly seeking innovative solutions to effectively manage, store and protect their vast amounts of data. Hybrid cloud storage has emerged as a game-changer, enabling organizations to seamlessly integrate on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services. The benefits of hybrid cloud storage are numerous and vary across organizations. One of the key advantages is storage elasticity, allowing businesses to readily scale their storage resources up or down as needed. Simplified access to data is another significant benefit, enabling seamless retrieval and sharing across different environments. By maintaining on-premises copies of data, organizations can also minimize or eliminate egress fees, which are often a substantial cost driver in cloud storage deployments.

Getting Started with Hybrid Cloud Storage

A pilot project is an excellent way to initiate your hybrid cloud storage journey. By implementing a small-scale project, you can identify any compatibility issues between legacy applications and cloud storage interfaces. It's important to note that most legacy systems are not designed to natively access object-based cloud storage. Therefore, choosing an object-based system that seamlessly unifies storage on-premises and across your public cloud is paramount.

Unleashing the Potential of Hybrid Cloud Storage

To fully leverage the potential of hybrid cloud storage, it's essential to understand that not all solutions are created equal. To ensure optimal performance, agility, protection, and defense against threats, it's crucial to carefully assess your near- and long-term requirements. Additionally, gaining a deep understanding of the capabilities and benefits offered by different hybrid cloud storage offerings is key. This knowledge will empower organizations to make informed decisions and maximize the value of their enterprise data.

Here are some key considerations to maximize your hybrid cloud storage deployment:

1. Analyzing the Attributes of Hybrid Cloud Solution Providers

When choosing a hybrid cloud storage solution provider, several key attributes should be carefully considered. Since hybrid cloud storage solutions are typically object-based and designed to store vast amounts of data for extended periods, it's crucial to evaluate the scale and longevity of the solution provider. Opting for established vendors with a proven track record and the staying power to ensure continuity minimizes the need for expensive migrations. 

2. Creating a Unified View for Efficient Data Management

While hybrid cloud storage offers numerous benefits, it's important to be aware of its drawbacks. Many hybrid cloud storage solutions are traditional on-premises systems with the added ability to replicate data to the cloud. However, this approach may not scale well when multiple sites and public cloud providers are involved. To overcome this limitation, it's crucial to select storage platforms that provide a global view of stored objects, enabling data access from any site and any cloud. Creating a unified view of data is essential for effective control, access management, and data protection. By implementing a global namespace, businesses can ensure that all objects are visible across on-premises and public clouds. This unified view enables seamless access control and drives consistency in data protection practices.

3. Ensuring Data Security and Rapid Recovery

With cyber threats on the rise, organizations prioritizing data security and rapid recovery from cyber threats would do well to consider adopting hybrid cloud storage as the foundation for a comprehensive strategy to mitigate the impact of ransomware attacks and minimize the risk of data loss. 

One effective approach is to adhere to best practices in data backup processes, like the 3-2-1-1-0 rule (the modern counterpart to the longstanding 3-2-1 backup rule), which recommends at least three copies of data in addition to the original, on two different types of media, one offsite and one offline. The zero refers to verifying that the backup contains zero errors. A hybrid cloud storage environment can facilitate the process of ensuring multiple copies of data are properly diversified and distributed.

Furthermore, the ability to rapidly restore data is paramount in the event of a successful ransomware attack or any data loss incident. On-premises object-based tape solutions provide an innovative approach to efficient and cost-effective data recovery. These solutions enable objects to be written directly to traditional tape libraries, utilizing popular storage protocols like S3 or S3 Glacier. By leveraging object-based tape as a component in their hybrid cloud storage strategy, organizations can enhance the speed of data recovery, improve ease of use, and significantly reduce the cost of long-term archive storage compared to public cloud cold storage tiers.

In conclusion, hybrid cloud storage presents immense opportunities for businesses seeking efficient and secure data management solutions. Creating a unified view of data, protecting against ransomware threats, and leveraging innovative technologies like on-premises object-based tape are crucial steps toward maximizing the potential of hybrid cloud storage. Staying abreast of technology advancements will enable organizations to make informed decisions that align with their unique needs and adapt to thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape.

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