Nirvanix software underlies AIS enterprise-class cloud storage offering

An agreement between Nirvanix and enterprise-class data center operator American Internet Services announced yesterday will enable AIS to deliver enterprise-class cloud storage services from its San Diego data center using software provided by Nirvanix, the companies said.

Using the NIrvanix software, AIS also will have the ability to seamlessly shift data to public cloud infrastructure operated by Nirvanix, potentially to support applications such as disaster recovery or bursting, said Nirvanix Vice President of Marketing Steve Zivanic in an interview.

AIS is one of several cloud service providers, including Verizon, that have worked with Nirvanix to support a cloud-based storage offering.

Software is Nirvanix’ secret sauce
Nirvanix claims to be the only company currently offering hybrid public and private enterprise cloud storage solutions that own all the associated cloud intellectual property and services. Zivanic said communications service providers and companies such as Amazon have focused on delivering public cloud services but do not have expertise in selling the storage equipment that underlies private cloud deployments. Meanwhile, he said, storage equipment manufacturers have avoided offering cloud services because it would erode their margins.

If a customer of AIS or another service provider offering cloud services based on Nirvanix software were to want to deploy a hybrid solution, Nirvanix would likely need to step in to consult with the customer about its private cloud deployment. The customer would need to purchase software from Nirvanix that works with storage equipment from any manufacturer and supports seamless connectivity between private and public clouds, said Zivanic. Nirvanix has several patents for its software, he said.

“To keep storage in the cloud, you need an object store,” explained Zivanic. “Objects are blocks of data.”

The Nirvanix object store, he said, supports storage domains for individual organizations that can be subdivided into accounts, which in turn can be subdivided into sub-accounts. “Our software is designed to scale to millions of users and billions of files,” Zivanic said.

In addition, he said, “You need secure granular levels of multi-tenancy and you need to be able to do metered billing.”

As part of the new agreement, Nirvanix will manage the public cloud storage platform in the AIS data center. AIS will offer the cloud-based storage services to its base of Fortune 500 companies, who will pay for storage on a pay-as-you-go basis.