Infinidat recently dropped two big releases back to back – the InfuzeOS Cloud Edition, and InfiniSafe Cyber Detection. So we caught up with the team to learn about the solutions, and how they further Infinidat’s core mission of returning business value to customers.
In their last appearance at the Storage Field Day event in 2018, Infinidat introduced the Neutrix Cloud 2.0, their enterprise-class storage service for multi-cloud computing. So we were naturally curious about InfuzeOS Cloud Edition which extends the InfiniBox platform experience to the public cloud.
Eric Herzog, CMO, gave Gestalt IT an in-depth briefing, outlining the key capabilities of InfuzeOS Cloud Edition, and the differences it has with the original product, InfuzeOS, of which it is an extension. But before diving in, let’s get a high-level understanding of the Infinidat primary storage portfolio.
Under primary storage, Infinidat offers two products – InfiniBox, an economical storage solution for general-purpose workloads, and InfiniBox SSA, a high-performance storage solution for intensive workloads. Both use their proprietary software-defined storage architecture powered by InfuzeOS. Loaded with guaranteed performance, availability and data protection, InfuzeOS, is said to be the only software-defined storage architecture to cover all platforms.
Next Stop, Public Cloud
So what is InfuzeOS Cloud Edition, and who is it for? In Herzog’s words, “It is a cloud instantiation of InfuzeOS” running on AWS. InfuzeOS Cloud Edition takes the functionalities of the InfiniBox family over to cloud, enabling hybrid-cloud deployments which more and more enterprises are gravitating towards.
The new solution is a push towards Phil Bullinger’s mission of innovating the software component to optimize the storage experience.
Same Features across Editions
Features that InfuzeOS on the InfiniBox SSA boasts are 35 microseconds latency, 100% system availability across the family with InfiniBox scaling to 17+ PB of effective capacity, unified block and file storage, AIOps integration, set-and-forget management, and performance and availability guarantees.
Built on top of InfiniBox is InfiniGuard, a modern data backup solution that provides up to 85+ PB of backup and InfiniSafe protected storage.
Herzog emphasized on the recovery guarantees of the platforms. Both InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA come with less than 1 min recovery guarantees, irrespective of data size.
“On primary storage, we’re the only company today that offers a guarantee,” he said.
For InfiniGuard, the recovery time is 20 minutes, the fastest in secondary storage.
The InfuzeOS Cloud Edition shares the same code base as InfuzeOS, and as a result, offers more or less, the same feature-set. These include enterprise data services like InfiniRAID, InfiniSafe, InfiniOPs, and Neural Cache. Other features include InfiniVerse – their AIOps analytics, ethernet-based block and file storage, and the exact same APIs and CLI.
Differences to Bear in Mind
However, it’s worth noting that InfuzeOS Cloud Edition also has certain differences with the on-prem products. Unlike the InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA which are built on a three-node architecture, the Cloud Edition is a single-node implementation.
Another thing to note is performance limitation. InfuzeOS Cloud Edition runs on AWS, which makes it performance-dependent on the cloud instantiation of AWS.
“You’re at the vicissitudes of the underlying infrastructure which we don’t control and in AWS, the default is 99.9% availability. If you want four nines or more, you will have to buy it,” said Herzog.
As a result of this, the guarantees available on-prem are not covered in the InfuzeOS Cloud Edition. However, Infinidat does provide users configuration recommendations for maximum compute and storage output.
So, what are the ideal use cases? Herzog said that the InfuzeOS Cloud Edition is designed to be used for a number of applications that includes DR and business continuity, backup, general storage for tiering and extra capacity, and storage standardization.
InfiniSafe Cyber Detection
InfiniSafe is the cybersecurity technology in InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA that provides data protection and cyber resilience. The core functions of InfiniSafe include immutable snapshots, logical and remote airgap, a fenced forensic environment, and near instantaneous recovery with a guarantee of immutability. These come at no extra cost to the users.
Cyber Detection is a new option that can be added on top of InfiniSafe for deep scanning of datasets, and identification of threats and known good copies of data with up to 99.5% accuracy.
InfiniSafe Cyber Detection leverages ML algorithms that sift through 200 points of determination using content-based analytics to determine changes in content and meta-data in each observation. The analytics help the algorithms make probabilistic decisions about the integrity of the data.
With each scan, InfiniSafe Cyber Detection generates an in-depth forensic report with deep threat intelligence on all potential issues. The post-attack dashboard is highly customizable, and features dynamic charts, diagrams and lists, visualizing the information. Operators can easily drill into them and study closely. Cyber Detection organizes alerts based on criticality leading to easy prioritization of tasks.
InfiniSafe cyber detection is a purchasable option. With Infinidat’s pay-as-you-scan plan, users require to pay only for the scanned datasets.
In Conclusion
Infinidat caters to what can be best described as a broad and heterogenous audience that constitutes very large accounts worth billions, to small outfits on limited budget. As a company that 25% of Fortune 50 companies rely on, it has a very high bar to meet. But as a provider for smaller clients, it also has to maintain a value factor, and Infinidat never loses sight of either. In all its releases, as in these, it’s focus on treading that fine line and delivering value for money is evident. Both the solutions enrich the Infinidat storage experience by extending the utilities of the InfiniBox platform, and optimizing it for more modern workloads – a feat that will likely bring more target audience into Infinidat’s fold.
For more information, be sure to check out Infinidat’s website. For more stories like this, keep reading here at Gestalt IT.
