126 2016 has been a banner year for object-based storage (which we’ll refer to here as “OBS”). Thanks to recent advances, OBS platforms can now address a range of use cases beyond just backup and archive—including mobility, analytics, compliance, and media rendering and production. As the IDC MarketScape says, “The storage market is making strides in grasping what OBS is all about, and adopting it.”* According to a separate IDC forecast, OBS capacity will grow at a CAGR of 30.7% from 2016 to 2020, reaching 293.7EB in 2020. Likewise, OBS market revenue is expected to hit $19.8 billion that same year.** Much of this will be attributable to the hyper-scale deployments that Scality excels at. In the IDC MarketScape report, IDC advises buyers on important features to seek out in an OBS solution. Among these are strong hardware and software partnerships; massive platform scalability; and technologies such as erasure coding and replication, both of which boost efficiency and data resiliency. These are all key capabilities of the Scality RING. Our third straight year as an IDC MarketScape leader The highlight of the study is a comparative analysis of the 12 most noteworthy OBS vendors and their platforms, assessed in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses. As with the previous two IDC MarketScape OBS studies, Scality is in the leaders category. In the analyst’s own words, “This position reflects Scality’s deep understanding of what is required to be successful in the OBS market segment.”+ Contributing factors include such Scality innovations as a native scale-out file system within the object store—to support traditional file-based applications—and the 2016 introduction of Scality S3 server, our open source version of Amazon’s S3 API. The IDC MarketScape also cites our assertion of far greater cost-effectiveness than alternatives, based on the RING’s deployability on standard X86 servers and its multiple data protection schemes. “… object-based storage capacity is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30.7% from 2016 to 2020, reaching 293.7EB in 2020.” — IDC Worldwide File- and Object-Based Storage Forecast, 2016–2020** In summarizing, the IDC MarketScape states, “Scality’s biggest strength lies in the company’s experience. Being a beachhead OBS player in the market, Scality has combined experience and real-life application to develop a strong product.”++ The IDC MarketScape is bullish on the outlook for Scality customer and market growth, thanks to the appeal of our SOFS technology to traditional NAS users, plus strong investment backing and channel support from HP Enterprise, as well as from our other technology partners. * IDC MarketScape Worldwide Object-Based Storage 2016 Vendor Assessment, by Amita Potnis, Dec 2016, IDC Doc# US41918416 ** Worldwide File- and Object-Based Storage Forecast, 2016–2020 (IDC #US41685816, September 2016 + IDC MarketScape 2016, Potnis. ++ Ibid. Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
