Every business has different needs. Your choice of cloud service providers and the type of service depends on the requirements and preferences of your business. When it comes to data protection, two main options leave you in a state of dilemma: whether to select a hyperscale cloud vendor or cloud-enabled data protection vendor each having its own unique characteristics. The choice is not merely based on the cost alone, but the value-added services one gets.
Hyperscale Computing
Hyperscale computing is distributed computing environment that facilitates efficient scaling from a few servers to a large number of servers. Big data and cloud computing make use of hyperscale computing environments. It is associated with very large data centers owned by Google, Amazon and Facebook and platforms like Apache Hadoop. Clients who adopt hyperscale computing solutions can store and process large volumes of data effectively and in a cost-effective manner.
Cloud-Enabled Data Protection Vendors
Data protection refers to protecting or safeguarding important information or data stored in computers from corruption or loss. It may be used to refer to operational backup of data and disaster recovery/ business continuity (BC/DR). Various techniques like file locking, record locking, database shadowing and disk mirroring are used in the process of data protection.
Cloud-enabled data protection vendors either own and operate their own cloud or may partner with other cloud vendors to provide their data protection services.
Head-to-head
Hyperscale cloud vendors like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are providing large storage space that is affordable and readily accessible to the clients. Since the most common use of the cloud is still bulk data storage or backup, hyperscale cloud vendors and even traditional backup vendors who have started providing their own cloud would certainly offer the needed functionality. In order to survive the competition, the smaller traditional cloud vendors are ready to go beyond pricing options into providing added-value services to attract customers.
However, when it comes to data protection another choice becomes conspicuous and that is the aforementioned cloud-enabled data protection vendors. Although not all vendors own and operate their own cloud, their data protection centered service model makes them the first choice among businesses when their main focus is on data protection.
Hidden Costs and Backup Options
There are many characteristics that differentiate a cloud-enabled data protection vendor from a hyperscale cloud vendor although each category has variations among its own kind.
Hyperscale cloud storage vendor comes with an ongoing cost of storage which is paid usually on a monthly basis. In addition to this, the client will also have to pay network egress fees and data retrieval fees which may apply to even simple data storage and access. This implies that these hidden costs escalate according to the client’s need of storing more data. Furthermore, these hyperscale cloud vendors usually offer no other significant data management services beneficial for their clients. These arguments show the unfavorable face of hyperscale cloud vendors.
Nonetheless, if your main focus is not on data protection or if you have to consider equally important requirements like caution or regulatory and compliance requirements, there are features that hyperscale cloud vendors can offer which can help you strengthen your backup functionality. If your business needs to keep and maintain multiple copies of backup in separate locations, hyperscale cloud is the right place to look for. Hyperscale cloud vendors have large, geographically distributed cloud data centers that can provide you storage space features that match your requirements. What is more inviting is that they also allow you to select a faster-than-standard access time according to which your upcharge will be decided.
Predictable Costs and Data Protection
Unlike hyperscale cloud vendors, data protection vendors normally do not charge egress or data retrieval fees, making your bill more predictable in nature. A cloud-enabled data protection vendor is built mainly for the purpose of data protection although they do provide basic cloud services along with it. This feature makes them the first choice when it comes to data protection. The hyperscale cloud vendors have a cloud model that is designed for general purposes like storage, computing, SaaS and IaaS. Although they are matchless in the enormous economies of scale, they allow that too at affordable prices, but when it comes to data protection they fall short.
Cloud-based data protection vendors provide backup, recover, Disaster Recovery (DR), Business Continuity (BC) and High Availability (HA). They are sometimes referred to as backup-as-a-service (BaaS), recovery-as-a-service (RaaS), or disaster recovery-as-a-service (DRaaS). What is important to note is that not all services are provided by all these services, but are provided by all vendors and not all vendors call these services by the same names. You may need to go through each service carefully to understand what each of them mean for that particular vendor before deciding on a cloud-enabled data protection vendor that suits your business the best. You can read more on each of these features in Data Protection Cloud Model: The business advantages.
Hyperscale Cloud Model versus Data Protection Model
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