Software has an insatiable appetite for today’s world. Serving as the straw stirring the drink, innovation is driving the software-defined and SaaSy reality of today and opportunity of tomorrow. Throw in the cloud, and the sky is the limit. An area feeling software’s impact is storage, and specifically scale. There are many ways to address storage but when it comes to large object storage, SwiftStack takes an interesting approach.

SwiftStack takes minimal credit for its effective method. As SwiftStack VP Marketing Mario Blandini stated to me at Editors Day Silicon Valley, “with growth in different sectors, there needed to be a new way of executing storage.” The best way to think of it is as that new, hip restaurant in town. It has that “new” vibe, that “new” style. Almost like a “storage fusion restaurant.” Plain and simple, this strategy is solving problems. So to continue the restaurant metaphor, finding a table could be tough.

Blandini explained “The idea is, you consume this storage and don’t care where it is. As the customer, however, you own the data. You want to know what it is.” SwiftStack self-defines as being like Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft (News - Alert) or Rackspace, but behind your firewall.

Blandini illustrated that the goal has always been unstructured data, because the database in the pointer and the data live in unstructured environments; “People want to get to a model so apps can be shipped anywhere.”

If you want on-premises and AWS for example, the hybrid approach allows one to ship data from one place to another. But utilizing SwiftStack software you take some on-premises tech (SwiftStack is hardware neutral), working in conjunction with AWS that offers the same space on premises and storage physically located in the cloud to enable the data to exist in both places at the same time.

An area that is utilizing the SwiftStack software to great success is media and entertainment – like the Pac-12 Network for example. People that produce video need an affordable, easily accessible option. Blandini highlighted that with the growing sophistication in media assets, and storage need, the budget remained unchanged. In addition, the classic model did not offer the appropriate level of data accessibility.

Blandini explained that in the early days, a horse may have been the fastest mode to transport data from point A to B, where today that role is taken on by a handful of hardware and software solutions working in concert in your data center. Ten years from now, Blandini believes the cloud will be pivotal, with data steering the ship – leveraging universal management, where actually business value can be assigned.

While only time will tell isfBlandini’s predictions are right, SwiftStack is certainly headed in the right direction. “It’s not that it’s a better restaurant, it’s just different...Our customers are doing some sensational things – and we’re letting that success shine through...” with the PAC-12 Network serving as a notable example.

What’s your object storage solution?