The Global Cloud Storage Gateway (CSG) Market is expected to experience rapid growth at a CAGR of 64.30 percent from 2014-2019, and vendors are taking full advantage of the growth potential.
Major cloud solutions vendors seem to be showing great interest in the Global CSG Market through acquisitions, which will indirectly help the market grow during the forecast period:
- October 2014: NetApp acquires SteelStore, formerly Whitewater, the CSG product line of Riverbed Technologies
- October 2014: EMC acquires Maginatics, which is one of the major vendors in the Global CSG market
- July 2014: EMC acquires TwinStrata, a competitor of StorSimple before its acquisition by Microsoft
- November 2012: Microsoft acquires StorSimple
Vendors in the Global CSG market are collaborating with both virtualization and cloud-based application vendors to increase the adoption of CSGs in networks. There is increased competition among the vendors to provide efficient and customized solutions to meet the storage requirements of networks.
In addition, entry into the market requires huge capital investment and strong technical expertise. Because most enterprises lack these capabilities, there are not many new entrants in the market.
TechNavio analysts have identified the top companies in the Global Cloud Storage Gateway (CSG) Market helping to fuel market growth during the forecast period:
Amazon
AWS Storage Gateway is a scalable and cost-effective storage solution for integrating on-premise storage and cloud storage. The data are stored in Amazon S3 or Amazon Glacier that offer low-latency performance by maintaining a frequently accessed data list. AWS Storage Gateway provides support for the following configurations:
- Gateway-cached volume: it enables the storage of primary data on Amazon S3 and frequently accessed data locally to improve the speed and cost benefits of primary data and maintain low latency for accessed data
- Gateway-stored volume: it provides inexpensive and durable backups that can be retrieved locally such as replacement capacity for disaster recovery. It also helps in adding snapshots of primary data asynchronously, which are stored locally to achieve low latency on accessed data
- Gateway-VTL: A VTL provides online access to virtual tapes for the data backup application. Backup data are stored in a virtual tape for frequent access. If not required frequently, these data are moved to virtual library shelves from the VTL
AWS Storage Gateway offers benefits such as security, compatibility, optimization for network frequency, and integration with other AWSs.
CTERA Networks
CTERA Networks is the leader in providing CSG solutions. The company provides a cost-effective package in the Global CSG market that includes cloud storage, data protection, local storage, functionality, and collaboration capabilities. The appliance features include NAS and backup functionalities. It uses on-premise storage for local sharing and speed and cloud storage for universal access and folder synchronization.
The data protection function includes an automated schedule for both local and cloud backup, optimized bandwidth with block-level duplication, cross-platform support, and restoration of VMs. CTERA Storage Gateway can be managed through its portal by reducing the on-site management and the cost.
The CTERA C series of products cater to the CSG requirements of cloud-based storage service providers. The company’s products help enterprises take the backup of local desktops and servers into the cloud infrastructure. Its products also provide data monitoring, control, and retrieval capabilities along with storage optimization.
EMC
EMC acquired TwinStrata, one of the leading vendors in the Global CSG market, to maintain a huge presence in the market. TwinStrata is famous for its CloudArray, a CSG product.
CloudArray comprises features such as it helps in keeping existing local disks for high-value applications and it handles backup tapes as well as automatically creates a backup through a replication process and archives it in the cloud. CloudArray’s benefits include reduction in cost, improved security, easy implementation, saving space, and WAN optimization.
Emulex
Emulex provides the E3S solution, which offers efficient CSGs. The E3S solution has pre-loaded software that detects data that are not frequently accessed and hosts them on a cloud storage infrastructure. In addition, the E3S solution is a block-based form of CSG equipment, which means that it can be integrated easily into an existing network infrastructure without any changes being made to the existing firmware or processes.
Microsoft
Microsoft acquired StorSimple in November 2012 to enter the Global CSG market. Currently, the StorSimple Storage Gateway solution is an integrated portion of the Windows Azure cloud. The Microsoft StorSimple 8000 series is the latest product in the market under the Storage Gateway segment. In this series, hybrid storage technology is integrated with the cloud. The architecture of StorSimple comprises an SSD at the top for frequently accessed data and an HDD for less frequently accessed data along with the cloud for inactive data.
Data access is dependent on each I/O in the SSD and on the GB rate in the cloud. The storage capacity is increased on demand. A snapshot of the data is stored in the cloud for disaster recovery purposes. The management of data is automated in StorSimple. Also, there is no need to worry about performance optimization, data protection, and capacity management separately.
NetApp
NetApp provides the SteelStore CSG solution, another major product present in the Global CSG market. Its CSGs eliminate the need for tape systems and tape management for the storage of data. It is possible to control the data that are hosted on a public or private cloud infrastructure through its CSG solutions. This benefits enterprises because it enables them to reduce their data storage costs and the risk associated with data storage and recovery during a disaster.
Agosto
“Founded in 2001, Agosto is one of the world’s most experienced Google for Work Partners and cloud product development firms. Based in Minneapolis, and with offices in Toronto, Agosto was an early Google Apps provider (2007) and remains committed to providing IT services including Google Apps deployment, and building products on Google Cloud Platform.
In 2014, Agosto was named Google Enterprise Global Partner of the Year for Cloud Platform and was listed for the fourth time on the Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The company also deploys Google for Work Maps and Search solutions, and provides managed services and support. Agosto’s clients include Jaguar Land Rover, The Minnesota Wild, and Famous Dave’s.”
Maldivica
“Maldivica enables the power of cloud storage. The Maldivica Storage Connector allows organizations to interact with cloud and object storage platforms using CIFS and NFS, instantly integrating legacy systems and applications. Maldivica allows companies to easily use object storage for active data archival, collaboration, content distribution, and the foundation for next generation applications. The Maldivica platform has no technology lock-in and can be deployed in conjunction with the growing ecosystem of tools and applications that support object storage APIs.”
Nasuni
“Nasuni is an enterprise storage company that provides global organizations with a simple, unified storage solution. By combining on-premises hardware with cloud storage, Nasuni delivers a secure, all-in-one data storage solution that provides local performance for users, simplified and centralized management for IT, and an easily scalable, complete storage service for the global enterprise. Nasuni is privately held and based in Natick, Mass.”
Panzura
“Panzura is the catalyst in the transformation of cloud storage into high-performance enterprise file systems. Panzura’s revolutionary global locking file system seamlessly combines the flexibility,performance and productivity benefits of distributed storage with the manageability, security and economics of centralized storage.
With Panzura, the cloud – public or private – not only serves as every tier of storage, it becomes the fabric that enables globally distributed teams rapid file access and easy collaboration. Panzura delivers one file system across hundreds of offices that allows users to work together as if they were in the same room.”
