In today’s digital world, companies face the challenge of managing increasing volumes of data. Storing and protecting this information has become essential to ensure operational efficiency and corporate security. Cloud Object Storage emerges as an ideal solution, offering scalability, durability, and security.

What is Cloud Object Storage?

Cloud Object Storage is a data storage model in which information is saved as objects, as opposed to traditional file or block storage systems.
Each object consists of the data itself, a variable amount of metadata, and a unique identifier. This configuration allows for the management of large amounts of unstructured data, such as texts, photos, videos, emails, and multimedia documents, offering virtually unlimited scalabilityand fast, flexible access through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).

Features of an Enterprise-Grade Cloud Object Storage Service

When choosing a Cloud Object Storage service, it’s important to consider key features that determine its effectiveness and cost-efficiency for business needs.
Here are the elements to consider:

• Data Temperature Sizing
  Managing “data temperature” is crucial for optimizing storage costs. This approach classifies data based on access frequency: “hot” data is frequently used and requires fast access, but tends to be more expensive, while “cold” data is less accessed and can be stored at a lower cost. Correctly identifying the use cases for these classifications is essential to choose the most suitable solution, thus optimizing the expenditure for storage services.
• Data Durability
  To ensure long-term data protection, it is essential to use technologies that guarantee the highest levels of durability. Data durability values of 99.999999999%, often referred to as “11 nines“, are considered the benchmark to ensure that data is always accessible and intact. For example, a durability value of “11 nines” means that, out of a billion objects stored, only one could be lost in a given year. This level of durability gives businesses peace of mind that their critical data is effectively protected against loss.
• Data Center Security Certification
  Relying on data centers with the highest level of security certification ensures that data is protected according to the industry’s strictest standards. The highest certification level for a data center according to the ANSI/TIA-942 model is Rating 4 (Tier 4), which indicates an infrastructure capable of avoiding service disruptions even in the presence of serious failures, due to high levels of system redundancy.
• Data Immutability
  Features that manage data immutability are essential to protect data from unauthorized modifications or deletions, such as in the case of cyberattacks and ransomware, or for compliance needs.
  Immutability protects data from unauthorized changes or deletions by allowing for a period in which data cannot be altered, ensuring the integrity of information—particularly important in regulated industries where data retention regulations must be followed.
• Control Console and APIs
  An effective Cloud Object Storage service must include an intuitive web control console, allowing for easy management of storage space, permissions, and specific functionalities. Equally important is the ability to perform the same operations via APIs, ensuring greater flexibility and automation in processes or integrations with third-party software.
• Compatibility and Integration
  Compatibility and integration with widely used API-based solutions are essential. Backup and Disaster Recovery (DR) software should already be compatible and integrated with the chosen object storage technology, simplifying the setup and management of storage space, automations, and replicas. For object storage solutions, the de facto communication protocol standard is the S3 (Simple Storage Service) APIs developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Permissions and Access Management
  The ability to configure permissions and access with the utmost granularity on each data item or group of data, using standard IAM (Identity Access Management) API functionalities, is crucial for ensuring secure and efficient data management.
• Geographic Locations and Data Replication Automation
  The ability to divide storage space into logical subspaces called buckets, and to choose from various geographic locations for their allocation, enhances flexibility and efficiency in managing enterprise data. Automatic data replication across different geographic locations within the same object storage service is critical to ensuring operational continuity and data security.
• SLAs and Customer Support
  Although the architecture of Cloud Object Storage is reliable, resilient, and relatively simple, a high-quality service must offer high SLAs (Service Level Agreements) with a minimum uptime of 99.9% and customer support in the local language, with 24/7 assistance. This ensures efficient and timely service at all times.

What the Market Offers

The public cloud market offers object storage solutions through hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, with prices varying based on “data temperature” and outgoing traffic. However, budget forecasting is complex as many providers charge additional fees for data transfers and other services, complicating the calculation of overall costs.
Providers like Wasabi, specializing in object storage solutions, offer a competitive alternative with high performance, simplifying management without additional costs and offering a single storage category for all use cases, even for frequently accessed data. Despite being a relatively recent player, Wasabi is gaining international recognition for the quality of its solutions and its innovation capacity.

Some national or European Cloud Service Providers offer object storage solutions based on open-source technologies that may be cheaper but often have limited features that do not meet market needs.

Retelit’s Solution

Retelit’s Cloud Object Storage, thanks to its strategic partnership with Wasabi Technologies LLC, stands out for its simplicity, reliability, and pricing that is over 80% lower than hyperscalers.
It offers a single high-performance storage solution (for “hot” data) with faster access speeds compared to other public providers, with no additional costs for outbound data or API/HTTP/FTP requests.
Support for standard S3 APIs, compatibility with various backup and DR software, and a redundant architecture on global data centers ensure full control and “11 nines” data durability, ensuring continuous protection and accessibility of data.
In Italy, Wasabi’s infrastructure is hosted at Retelit’s Avalon 3 data center, certified ANSI/TIA-942 Rating 4 (Tier 4). The Object Lock feature prevents modification or deletion of specific object versions during a configurable retention period, ensuring data immutability to protect against cyberattacks and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in regulated sectors.
Choosing Retelit means adopting an advanced Cloud Object Storage solution that meets the needs of any business, from SMEs to large enterprises, with a focus on security, scalability, operational efficiency, and support in Italian.

Insight provided by Enrico La Vela – Product Marketing Retelit