Case Study — NTT Communications

NTT Communications is one of the world’s top three telecom companies and sits in the Fortune Global 500. NTT Communications enterprise cloud, dubbed Biz Hosting Cloudn Object Storage, is NTT’s cloud hosting service. NTT relies on Cloudian HyperStore^® software to bring robust Amazon S3-like services and limitless scalability to its cloud as the company combines flexibility features, straightforward data management, and full customization with expanded global reach.

The IT team at NTT Communications knew its legacy storage systems could not provide the required scalability and ironclad data security at the aggressive price points that its customers demanded. If the company was to compete with the world’s other significant service providers, the team needed to switch from its outdated distributed file storage scheme to the much more agile object storage model in order to optimally manage its many petabytes of user data. These technical requirements lead the Biz Hosting Cloudⁿ Object Storage team to consider Cloudian HyperStore.

One hundred percent Amazon S3 API compatibility was a requirement. Access to the entire S3 application ecosystem was critical in order to expand its user base and satisfy customer demand for flexibility. Cloudian HyperStore was the only solution that provided that.

It was especially important that the storage solution was field-proven and used by other top cloud service providers. With hundreds of HyperStore deployments to enterprises and cloud service providers worldwide, Cloudian HyperStore fit the bill as one of the only hybrid cloud solutions to meet the company’s rigorous product standards.

Cloudian HyperStore

Cloudian HyperStore is an ideal software solution for companies who offer public cloud storage. Unlike legacy solutions, HyperStore is designed specifically for hybrid cloud scenarios and includes necessary management features such as multi-tenancy, multi-currency rating plans, billing, quality of service (QoS), and an S3 API that allows service providers like NTT Communications to deliver Amazon S3-like services to customers.

Cloudian fundamentally changes the way storage is managed. Object storage jumpstarts adoption of STaaS by enabling service providers like NTT Communications to deliver StaaS via its own commodity servers. In fact, the HyperStore object storage platform is based on the same technology as that of Web 2.0 pioneers, including Facebook and Amazon.

The combination of HyperStore software and commodity hardware ideally suits the cloud service provider business model. In fact, Cloudian object storage software addresses all the operational requirements of cloud storage. It is self-managing and seamlessly mitigates hardware and site failures by replicating content across physical resources. Cloudian is fully multitenant and simplifies storage provisioning by allowing end-users to self-provision their storage. Service providers can create an elastic storage infrastructure that easily expands or shrinks based on application demand or end-user requirements. Service providers can operate a very cost-effective cloud storage business and focus on providing exceptional services to their customers and no longer be involved in LUN or volume management, time-consuming data migration, backups, and similar time-sinkers.

The Future with Cloudian

Unmatched scalability and data protection features keep NTT Communications coming back for more. The ability to create highly scalable storage systems that broadly deliver comprehensive S3 features with 100% API fidelity, perfectly resonates with NTT Communication’s mission to provide customers with unlimited scale-out storage capacity. Robust data durability across multiple data centers enables NTT Communications to always keep customer data secure. All of this helps position Biz Hosting Cloudⁿ Object Storage as an attractive alternative to other global service providers.

CUSTOMER CHALLENGES

• To provide unlimited scalability and ironclad data security at aggressive price points
• To find a solution with 100% Amazon S3 API support
• To migrate from distributed file storage to object storage to better manage multiple petabytes of user data
• Quick solution implementation

 

CLOUDIAN FEATURES & BENEFITS

• Field-proven hybrid cloud solution
• Unlimited scalability
• 100% Amazon S3 API fidelity
• Pre-packaged STaaS features
• Usability features, including: multi-tenancy, multi-currency rating plans, billing, quality of service (QoS)

 

HOW SERVICE PROVIDERS BENEFIT FROM USING CLOUDIAN

• Reduced acquisition cost with high-density commodity servers and storage
• Reduced complexity with the elimination of backups, volume/LUN management, and costly data migrations
• Value-added services, including: Storage-as-a-Service, Backup-as-a-Service, Archive-as-a-Service, and File Sync & Share, as well as 100% support for all S3 applications
• Future-proofing with the ability to start small (terabytes) and easily expand to petabytes as requirements grow