Cubbit for Media uses the geo-distributed nature of S3 cloud storage to address rapid data growth and enable organisations to create and customise their own distributed cloud stores.
Cubbit for Media addresses the challenges of rapid data growth by taking advantage of the geo-distributed nature of S3 cloud storage to enable organisations to design their own cloud storage environments. Unlike conventional cloud storage, storing data in centralised data centres becomes unnecessary.
The foundation of Cubbit for Media is the company’s core product, DS3 Composer, used to quickly create geo-distributed cloud stores that operate according to the user’s own rules. Resources collected from any environment – public cloud, on-prem and/or edge servers – can be exposed and managed as an S3 object store repository through an SaaS control plane. From there, they can be organised in custom-designed networks that are also geographically distributed.
Cloud-based File Protection
Instead of the centralised model, files are uploaded to Cubbitʼs DS3 Composer, cloud-based software that protects files with several layers of security – encryption, fragmenting and then replication across multiple locations within geographically defined networks, or Swarms, chosen by the user. This approach opens several opportunities to media organisations.
For example, the data sovereignty concerns of different countries are an important factor for M&E organisations with a global footprint. Users can geo-fence an area, such as a city, where data is stored, addressing specific local laws and meeting those compliance requirements. Using DS3 Composer, businesses can meet compliance demands of NIS2, GDPR and ISO 27001.
Meanwhile the software maintains data control and hyper-resiliency against ransomware and regional or local disasters, delivering high levels of durability – long-term protection of the data itself against degradation or corruption, relying on data redundancy and geo-distribution to avoid lost or compromised data.
Extending Cubbit – for Media
With DS3 Composer as the core of Cubbit for Media, the system combines security, flexible hybrid-cloud and edge architecture at an affordable price. Cubbit's backend is highly parallelised and achieves throughput that scales with the size of the infrastructure, an advantage when moving large media files and another factor in hyper-resiliency.
Edge gateways are also available to help users to keep their active data close to where it is actually needed. They can be deployed according to user preference – in a data centre or at the edge, for example – and come with a local cache to speed up operations while saving network bandwidth. Because DS3 Composer’s geo-distributed infrastructure works with a single data domain, you can still save by operating on data locally at the edge, while automating data management and cybersecurity.
Cubbit for Media also integrates with most video management software applications – Veeam, Nakivo, Synology, QNAP and so on – so that users do not need to learn new workflow procedures. Regarding cost, data transfer fees, deletion fees or redundancy charges are not applied. Cubbit estimates that media companies can save substantially compared to AWS, and also compared to other types of affordable S3 cloud storage solutions.
Taking Advantage of the Distributed Cloud
As well as compliance, Cubbit for Media presents other ways that media companies can take practical advantage of Cubbit's DS3 cloud model, specifically for M&E workflows. Its on-demand storage creation capabilities, for instance, mean users can allocate storage resources based on real-time requirements, avoiding over-provisioning and under-utilisation. By also building more automation into their provisioning process, they can rely less on manual intervention.
As mentioned, Cubbit for Media integrates with existing media asset management and digital asset management (DAM) systems to keep workflows familiar through the S3 protocol. Content distribution processes can be simplified by managing media in a central, accessible location and, by using DS3 storage as origin storage for CDNs, users can be more confident of smooth playback without adding to costs.
Owing to its high-speed access to media assets, remote teams can also use Cubbit’s architecture for better collaboration and workflow efficiency. Active archiving can be set up to store and access archival content quickly and cost-effectively. Users only need to maintain a single, high-performance storage tier, which simplifies retrieval and reduces latency.
Localised, Sovereign Cloud Storage in Europe
WIIT S.p.A, a cloud computing services provider for businesses, has recently formed a Business Alliance Partnership with Cubbit. WIIT’s speciality is the provision of continuous hybrid and hosted private cloud services for critical applications. They will now begin using Cubbit's DS3 Composer to create and market their own resilient, geo-distributed, sovereign, S3-compatible cloud storage.
In the first stage of the project, stored data will be geo-fenced within WIIT's regions in Germany, and later on WIIT will apply the same geo-fenced localisation in Switzerland and in Italy.
This type of Business Alliance Partnership creates opportunities to deploy Cubbit's DS3 Composer on partners' infrastructures, and means WIIT can make geo-distributed systems available to their resellers and end-customers all in one – or more – specific countries. WIIT will be able to establish a customisable, geo-fenced S3 cloud storage very rapidly, fully hosted and managed by WIIT on its own strategic assets. In other words, Cubbit’s tools augment the technology stack WIIT currently supplies, becoming part of its Premium Cloud Company value proposition.
The two companies consider that this alliance will not only speed up the adoption of Cubbit's technology in Germany but also strengthen WIIT's expertise in hybrid and private cloud provisioning, as all WIIT's German resellers and MSPs will be equipped to deliver, within only a few minutes, the first European geo-distributed cloud to users. www.cubbit.io
