Scality has released second generation ARTESCA object storage software with a 250 percent capacity increase, hardened security and Veeam v12 integration.
ARETESCA is Scality’s cloud-native S3-compatible object storage software, developed to complement its enterprise-class infrastructure RING object and file storage product with a lightweight alternative to supported MinIO, which has a $4,000/year entry point. Additional deployment options include VMware OVA (Open Virtual Appliance) format or as a complete software appliance system with a bundled and hardened Linux OS. It’s Scality’s fastest-growing product line.
Scality CMO Paul Speciale said: “ARTESCA makes data storage simple and secure for CISOs and their teams. It’s both affordable and easy to deploy in any environment, no strings attached. … ARTESCA 2.0 delivers the full package that today’s organizations are looking for — enterprise-grade security, simplicity and maximum performance at a price that won’t give CFOs heartburn.”
While RING software scales out to 100PB or more, ARTESCA is for use in the TBs to 5PB area where simple deployment and operations are needed. Like RING it can be used as both a Veeam performance and capacity object storage tier in a core data center but also as an edge backup target for Veeam in smaller datacenters. Scality suggested that RING is also suited to function as an archive tier.
ARTESCA 2 upgrades include security hardening for better malware protection. This has a new hardened Linux option that precludes OS access, reduces exposure to critical vulnerabilities, and limits a wide range of potential malicious attacks, we’re told. There is multi-factor authentication, unused network port lockdown, S3 object lock and auto-configuring of firewall rules, and asynchronous replication for virtual air-gapped offsite storage.
Access from Veeam is controlled by identity and access management policies. Specific Veeam v12 support includes Direct to Object and Smart Object Storage API, enabling added ransomware protection, data immutability and operational efficiencies. There is a simplified installer, shorter backup windows and restore times.
ARTESCA 2.0 will be available early June 2023. For new customers ARTESCA is free for 90 days starting early in the third quarter, with unlimited capacity. Software subscriptions start at less than $4,000/year for 5TB usable capacity with 24 x 7 support.
Background
Object storage software supplier Scality is 14 years old, has raised $172 million in funding, and reckons it will be profitable inside 12 months. It has 2EB of capacity under management for customers, encompassing some 5 trillion objects spread across 182,669 disk drives.
A conversation with CEO and co-founder Jerome Lecat provided an insight into its thinking about the object storage market and where it is going, such as towards an all-flash future.
Lecat said Scality is fully funded and should be profitable in a year.
Scality supports all-flash hardware configurations but sees little demand for them. Lecat said he doesn’t forsee the object storage market going all-flash because of energy savings compared to disk, saying: “I disagree that disk drives necessarily use more electricity than SSDs.”
This was a response to Pure’s Shawn Rosemarin predictiion that HDD sales will stop after 2028 through the combination of lower NAND prices, high electricity costs and limited electricity availability. The overall effect is that the TCO of flash arrays will be so much lower than disk as to prompt the start of a mass migration from spinning rust to electrically charged flash cells.
Lecat said disk drives lower their spin speed these days if they detect inactivity, and so save power.
He doesn’t see customer demand for all-flash object systems and, all in all: “I don’t think the all-flash object market is there.”
