CommVault has introduced a connector for its Simpana data-management software to provide integrated access to cloud-storage services such as Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure.
The storage company said on Monday that it has added the representational state transfer (REST) protocol, an industry standard for cloud communications, to Simpana 8. The add-on is designed to allow companies flexibility in terms of which cloud storage provider they choose, and without the need for scripting or the addition of cloud gateway appliances, CommVault said.
The backup and archiving software will integrate immediately with Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and the Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network (SDN), while compatibility with cloud storage from EMC and Iron Mountain will arrive soon, CommVault said.
The number of companies offering cloud storage services is increasing rapidly, with Microsoft the latest to join the trend with its Azure offering, which went into paid mode on Monday.
The move means Simpana now provides a single interface from which customers can manage all copies of their data, regardless of whether it is located locally, in branch offices or on cloud-based services, CommVault said.
The company said customers can use Simpana to move infrequently accessed backup and archive data to lower-cost cloud storage, while retaining the ability to manage the remotely stored data, including Oracle and SAP databases and Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint systems.
The software includes data deduplication and compression for reducing the data footprint before it is sent out of the datacentre to the cloud.
Cloud storage has become a hot topic in recent months, because storage needs are growing at a rate of 30 or 40 percent per year, while IT budgets remain flat, according to a study published earlier this month by Forrester.
However, the report found that few companies are currently planning to move data onto remote storage services. Three percent of respondents said they had already implemented cloud storage, while another three percent planned to implement such services in the next 12 months.
Forrester analyst Andrew Reichman said issues with guaranteed service levels, security, chain of custody, shared tenancy and long-term pricing need to be resolved before cloud storage can gain a significant base of users.
