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Even if it feels like we’re already drowning in data, the truth is that ‘we ain’t seen nothing yet’. Fuelled by billions of new connected smart devices, powerful next-generation networks, and business’ need to capture all possible user data, we can expect the growth in total data to continue escalating rapidly.

InformationAge (http://www.information-age.com/data-forecast-grow-10-fold-2025-123465538/) cites IDC research that says we’ll be trying to wrap our collective heads around 163 zettabytes of data by 2025. Of course, these numbers have become too enormous to truly conceive, but suffice to say that number is 10 times greater than the data in circulation today!

The report adds that the majority of this will be created and managed by enterprises, rather than by individuals.

Deeper relationship

Low-cost public cloud environments are certainly the way forward for organisations looking to manage the explosion of data that they must capture and retain. But legacy data centre architectures and outdated hardware and software are making it increasingly difficult and costly to achieve professional data lifecycle standards.

It’s for this reason that the collaboration between Rubrik and Cloudian represents such an important step in modern, software-defined data lifecycle management.

In short, Rubrik provides end-to-end data management, access, protection, policy-creation and orchestration across multi-cloud environments, while Cloudian’s HyperStore offers object storage software and pre-configured hardware appliances. HyperStore is a fully S3 API compliant, fully software-defined cloud storage system.

Exponential thinking

“Managing the exponential growth of data requires entirely new thinking: exponential thinking,” says Anton Jacobsz, managing director at Networks Unlimited, a value-added distributor representing Rubrik in Africa

“Those firms still forging ahead with outdated, legacy hardware and software will ultimately be fighting a losing battle, as the volume of data starts to place massive strain on one’s traditional architectures.”

Jacobsz explains that, in contrast, the Rubrik-Cloudian tie-up offers local firms the opportunity to shift towards a future-proofed architecture that is limitless in its scalability and flexibility.

“As your cloud strategy evolves, you need a data management solution that can grow with you. Rubrik consolidates backup software, catalogue management, replication, and deduplicated storage into a single set of software - which can scale limitlessly as your data volumes increase.”

Reference architecture

In defining the architecture reference model, Rubrik’s recent white paper explained the most important synergies to be found between Rubrik and Cloudian:

·        Rubrik’s distributed architecture allows deduplication and other data services to scale linearly – maximising efficiency and savings, reducing data transfer and storage costs. 
·        By combining Rubrik with Cloudian HyperStore storage policies, users archive data in geographically separated regions or data centres. 
·        Cloudian HyperStore assigns different storage policies on a per bucket basis. 
·        For data protection, data can be stored using either replication or erasure coding (each having its own pros and cons). 
·        HyperStore also supports multiple compression algorithms that compress objects on the storage side to save space and cost. 
·        With Cloudian acting as the cost-effective storage archival, Rubrik’s UI can display real-time stats such as: amount of data archived, data downloaded, objects archived, and so on. 

The result – explains Jacobsz – is a solution that delivers near-zero recovery times without rehydration to primary systems, as well as a global file search for instant data access, no matter where the data is geographically stored.

“From a technical perspective, there is no longer any limit to what your data centre architectures can do,” he adds.

He points to the ‘quantum leap’ from DSL technology to fibre as an analogy – in that DSL has inherent capacity limitations, whereas fibre optics is theoretically capable of explosive growth in connection speeds.

“In much the same way that fibre optics enables limitless growth in data traffic, a fully software-defined, scalable data storage and recovery approach positions a business for a future of exponential change and opportunity.”

For more information about Rubrik’s solutions available in sub-Saharan Africa, please contact Richard Strydom at Networks Unlimited: richard.strydom@nu.co.za and visit www.rubrik.com