Due to the explosive growth, the management and storage of unstructured data is becoming increasingly challenging for organizations. However, this unprecedented expansion is a double-edged sword: while the opportunities to exploit this treasure trove are plentiful, there are also challenges in orchestrating it. Another key factor impacting data management is that, according to Gartner, by 2025 75% of enterprise data will be created and processed at the edge – outside of traditional centralized data centers or clouds. Today, companies around the world are grappling with an increasing number of data-related issues, from cyber threats and compliance issues to the complexities of data sovereignty.
VP Product and Partnerships at Cubbit.
Navigating the Cybersecurity Challenges of 2024: A Closer Look
One of the most important concerns in the field of cybersecurity is data sovereignty. Despite the efforts of major cloud providers to adapt to strict regulations such as NIS2, ISO 27001 and GDPR, the landscape remains fraught with complexity. For many organizations handling sensitive data, dependence on cloud service providers inherently poses a host of hurdles, particularly regarding the location of data storage (whether within or outside national borders) and the jurisdiction under which the business operates , with the Cloud Act being a big problem.
Data independence and control have never been more crucial. The market is flooded with cloud storage solutions, but once data is integrated within these systems, transferring it to alternative environments (be they other clouds, data centers or on-premises) becomes difficult, leading to potential vendor lock-ins that hindering innovative hybrid and multi-cloud strategies.
The threat landscape is also evolving. On the one hand, we are witnessing an increase in regional disasters, ranging from data center fires to earthquakes, affecting service continuity. On the other hand, ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, targeting vulnerabilities on both the client and server sides with unprecedented precision. For this reason, a ransomware attack can be considered even worse than a natural disaster from the user’s point of view.
Cost considerations further complicate the scenario. Expansion efforts by cloud providers that involve building new physical locations not only increase environmental and sustainability concerns, but also lead to rising costs. Additionally, the hidden fees charged by some of the leading cloud storage providers (for egress, 90-day deletion policies, redundancy, and more) make cost predictability a significant challenge. Often these additional costs can match or exceed the initial storage costs, effectively doubling the financial burden on organizations.
Centralized and distributed cloud: what’s new
At first glance, cloud solutions offered by hyperscalers seem widespread. However, they often rely on a centralized infrastructure, with the data housed in a few, albeit large, data centers.
Distributed cloud storage takes a fundamentally different approach by separating the control plane from the data itself. This facilitates data storage in multiple locations, both on-premise and across multiple cloud platforms, increasing redundancy and resiliency. This paradigm shift is groundbreaking for several reasons. Not only does it eliminate many traditional barriers and pave the way for more robust multi-cloud strategies, it also takes flexibility and resiliency in data storage and management to a whole new level. In this model, the service provider retains control of the control plane, but the actual computing resources can be deployed and moved flexibly throughout the organization. Whether within a single public cloud ecosystem, across multiple cloud environments, or within a private data center, the essence of distributed cloud lies in its ubiquity.
Control and sovereignty, reimagined
One of the key benefits of the distributed cloud is the unprecedented level of control it provides. Indeed, the distributed model eliminates the common problem of vendor lock-in, while also allowing organizations to accurately determine the geographic boundaries where their data resides. This could mean parts of your data being stored securely in France, Italy, Germany or literally anywhere you want, providing unprecedented levels of redundancy while meeting data localization requirements. In addition to data sovereignty, distributed cloud storage facilitates comprehensive independence across all facets of data management, allowing organizations to comply with evolving regional, European and global regulations without relinquishing control to third-party vendors and hyperscalers.
The importance of this cannot be overstated, especially in regions where data management and digital sovereignty are crucial. In this context, the distributed cloud uniquely addresses the need for sovereignty, cost containment and policy management, and provides a balanced compromise between the on-premises and public cloud models. It combines the control over IT infrastructure traditionally associated with on-premises storage with the scalability and flexibility of public cloud services.
Applications and benefits of the distributed cloud
Distributed cloud storage technology is versatile and supports a wide range of use cases, from backup and disaster recovery to fostering collaboration and housing extensive data lakes for AI and machine learning efforts. The latest advancements deliver unprecedented resiliency through encryption, fragmentation, and replication across customizable storage networks, enabling MSPs and enterprises to build and deploy their own hyper-resilient, sovereign, 100% S3-compatible object storage network in minutes. with full control over data, infrastructure and costs.
For MSPs and VARs, this autonomy transforms them into independent object storage providers, allowing them to offer secure and compatible storage solutions, maintain direct customer relationships, and enjoy greater profit margins. Full customization also means that MSPs can create tailor-made industry clouds designed to meet the specific requirements of the industries and regions in which their customers operate.
In contrast, companies benefit from a hybrid model that combines the best aspects of cloud storage and on-premise solutions, minus the disadvantages.
The distributed cloud’s ability to tailor storage networks to specific national compliance requirements such as GDPR, ISO 27001 and CCPA further underlines its utility. Designed to prevent any single point of failure, the architecture can guarantee up to 15 nines of data durability and minimizes the risks of downtime and data breaches, making it particularly suitable for scenarios where cybersecurity, digital sovereignty and independence are business-critical.
Finally, this model optimizes resources by reusing what is already present in corporate buildings and data centers. This extends the life of the storage hardware while reducing carbon footprint and electronic waste. This environmentally friendly approach not only addresses environmental problems, but also meets the growing demand for sustainable IT solutions.
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