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The 28 Best Data Storage Companies for 2019 and Beyond

The 28 Best Data Storage Companies for 2019 and Beyond

The 28 Best Data Storage Companies for 2019 and Beyond

The market including the best data storage companies is mature and crowded with excellent products for a variety of use cases, verticals, deployment methods and budgets. Enterprise data storage solutions act as a central repository for information, commonly offering data management, protection, and sharing. Because enterprises are increasingly handling massive amounts of business-critical data, they require storage systems that are highly scalable, offer unlimited connectivity, and support multiple platforms.

There are several approaches to enterprise data storage, including Storage Area Networks (SANs), Network-Attached Storage (NAS), Direct-Attached Storage (DAS), and cloud storage. The importance of data storage is underlined by the exponential generation of new data and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Selecting the best data storage company to work with can be a daunting task, and we’re here to help. That’s why our editors have compiled this list of the 28 best data storage companies to consider if you are looking for a new solution.

Check out our online data storage best practices section for even more guides, advice and how-to content.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers a range of IT infrastructure services. The company’s cloud storage products include Amazon Elastic Clock Store (Amazon EBS), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and AWS Backup. Users can select from object, block, and file storage services as well as cloud data migration options when selecting their solution. The vendor’s various platforms also support both application and archival compliance requirements. In addition to data storage, AWS offers networking, content delivery, databases, application services, and archival.

Caringo offers object-based technology for accessing, storing, and distributing unstructured or file-based data. The vendor’s flagship product, Caringo Swarm, provides private cloud storage that enables users to deploy storage clusters without being locked into proprietary hardware. In addition to data storage, the provider offers enterprise IT, medical, high-performance computing, and media and entertainment solutions. Caringo’s storage platform is available via private, public and hybrid cloud environments. Users also have the ability to scale on-prem with a mix of x86 hardware.

Cloudian is an independent provider of object storage systems, offering S3 compatibility along with a partner ecosystem. The vendor’s flagship solution, HyperStore, offers scalability, flexibility, and economics within the data center. Cloudian’s data fabric architecture allows enterprises to store, find, and protect object and file data across sites. These processes can take place both on-prem and in public clouds.

Cohesity consolidates secondary storage silos onto a hyperconverged, web-scale data platform that supports both public and private clouds. The vendor’s storage solution enables users to streamline their backup and data protection, and then converge file and object services. Cohesity provides a single platform, a single GUI, and an app ecosystem, as well as machine learning capabilities. The provider offers two hyperconverged platforms; C3000 and C4000, as well as its distributed file system solution, Cohesity SpanFS.

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DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a provider of scalable storage and processing solutions, as well as professional services. Organizations have the ability to use DDN storage to capture, store and process, analyze, collaborate, and distribute data and content at a large scale. The solution is offered in two appliance options, and is also available as a software-only distribution. The vendor provides services to financial services firms, healthcare organizations, energy companies, government facilities, and cloud service providers.

Dell EMC enables digital transformation through hybrid cloud and big data solutions built on a data center infrastructure that brings together converged infrastructure, servers, storage, and cybersecurity technologies. The provider’s featured solution, Dell EMC Unity XT, offers multi-cloud enablement and an NVMe-ready design. Users can support virtualized applications, deploy unified storage, and address Remote-Office-Branch-Office requirements. The platform’s Unisphere management GUI also allows users to easily configure and manage storage. Dell EMC offers file and object storage solutions as well.

Fujitsu is a Japanese information and communication technology company that offers a range of technology products, solutions, and services. These services and solutions include consulting, systems integration, managed services, outsourcing and cloud services for infrastructure, platforms and applications, data center and field services, and server, storage software, and mobile technologies. Fujitsu provides all-flash and hybrid storage, hyper scale storage, and storage management software, as well as storage for backup and archive.

Hedvig delivers enterprise storage for environments running at any scale. The provider’s platform is a software-defined storage solution with distributed systems DNA, unrestricted by existing architectures that are unable to keep pace with scale-out applications. Hedvig also collapses disparate storage systems into one space, which creates a virtualized storage pool that provisions storage. It runs in both private and public clouds as well.

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Hitachi Vantara assists enterprises with storing, enriching, activating, and monetizing their data. The provider offers four solutions under the umbrella of object storage: Hitachi Content Platform (HCP), HCP Anywhere, Hitachi Data Ingestor (HDI), and Hitachi Content Intelligence. Each provides object storage, file synchronization, sharing, and end-user data protection, as well as a cloud file gateway and search and analytic insights. Hitachi is also a major player in the backup and data recovery space. The vendor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd.

HPE SimpliVity provides hyperconverged storage by converging the entire IT stack in each node, consolidation up to ten devices, and apps in a building block for virtualized workloads. Prior to HPE’s acquisition of the company, SimpliVity delivered hyperconverged infrastructure on a range of industry-standard x86 platforms. Now, HPE SimpliVity provides its software-defined solutions that are built and supported by HPE. The vendor offers two platforms, HPE SimpliVity 380 and HPE SimpliVity 2600, which can both be integrated with an intelligent networking fabric.

Huawei Technologies is a telecom solutions provider that offers infrastructure application software and devices with wireline, wireless, and IP technologies. The vendor has three divisions in the United States: enterprise (IP networking and router, wireless, storage, and data center security), carrier, and consumer devices (smartphones and tablets). Huawei offers all-flash storage, hybrid flash storage, cloud storage, Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI), and data management. Its HCI platform, FusionCube for Cloud, enables resource-on-demand provisioning and linear expansion.

IBM offers a wide range of technology and consulting services, including predictive analytics and software development. The provider offers a range of storage options, including flash storage, Software-Defined Storage (SDS), data protection software, hybrid storage arrays, Storage Area Networks (SAN), and tape storage. Through these products, IBM’s solutions support hybrid cloud storage, converged infrastructure, and virtual infrastructure. The IBM platforms provide storage for blockchain, artificial intelligence, private cloud, and SAP.

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Inspur offers a portfolio of cloud and big data services, as well as cloud data center solutions. The vendor’s data storage capabilities are available via Active Storage and the infrastructure SDS (AS13000) platform. Inspur AS13000 is delivered as a hardware appliance, but a software-only solution is also available. The majority of Inspur’s customers are in China, with the government and transportation and logistics industries accounting for more than half its client base.

Kaminario provides all-flash storage, and was founded by storage professionals from Dell EMC, NetApp, and IBM. The provider’s data platform delivers real-time analytics, datacenter automation, and assured data access, which allows users to protect their digital ecosystem. Kaminario K2 is now in its sixth generation. The platform provides scale-out and scale-up architecture, which allows organizations to grow in capacity based on their needs. The vendor works with a network of resellers and distributors on a global scale.

NetApp is a storage, cloud computing, information technology, and data management solution provider. In addition to predominantly offering on-prem storage infrastructure, the vendor also specializes in hybrid cloud data services that facilitate the management of applications and data across cloud and on-prem environments. NetApp StorageGRID is an object storage platform whose primary access method is the Amazon S3 API. The tool offers hybrid cloud workflow, and adheres to SEC and FINRA regulations.

Nutanix provides cloud software, compute and storage infrastructure, and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions. The company’s converged compute and storage architecture can scale manage petabytes of data while running thousands of virtual machines. Nutanix Acropolis offers built-in AHV virtualization, networking services, platform services, and enterprise storage features like data protection and disaster recovery.

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Pivot3 provides Dynamic Hyperconverged and PCIe Flash Arrays, as well as hybrid cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The vendor’s offerings are optimized for server virtualization, virtual desktop, data center consolidation, video surveillance, business continuity, disaster recovery, and remote and branch office. Pivot3’s storage solution provides security, resilience, and management at scale for the user’s environments. Powered by its Intelligence Engine, Pivot3 automates the management of multiple mixed application workloads and reduces unplanned downtime.

Pure Storage is an all-flash enterprise storage provider that enables broad deployment of flash in data centers. Its technologies enable Software as a Service (SaaS) organizations, cloud service providers, and enterprise and public sector users to deliver secure data to power their DevOps and modern analytics environments. The vendor’s platforms accelerate random I/O-intensive applications such as server virtualization, desktop virtualization (VDI), database (OLTP, rich analytics/OLAP, SQL, and NoSQL), and cloud computing. Pure Storage also enables users to adopt next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Qumulo is an enterprise data storage startup whose solutions are available on Qumulo storage servers, on hardware from companies such as Dell and HPE, and natively on AWS in the public cloud.  The provider was formed by professionals from Isilon Systems, Adobe, and Wily Technology. The vendor offers Qumulo File Fabric (QF2), a scale-out NAS tool that runs on-prem and in the public cloud, as well as preintegrated Qumulo Core appliances. Qumulo’s software is available on the AWS Marketplace, third-party hardware, and standard hardware that the company sells direct to consumers.

Rackspace provides hybrid cloud-based services, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and web hosting. The vendor offers Cloud Files and Cloud Block Storage, and public cloud services are offered in data centers in the central and eastern United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Hong Kong. Though many know Rackspace as primarily a web hosting and managed service provider, the company has shifted its strategy toward public cloud tools.

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Red Hat offers open source software, operating system platforms, middleware applications and management solutions. Red Hat Ceph Storage supports block and object storage access and file access, as well as the underlying storage for the company’s data analytics infrastructure solution. The platform supports modern workloads like cloud infrastructure, data analytics, media repositories, and backup and restore systems.

Scality is a venture-backed software provider that delivers large-scale storage management and infrastructure solutions. The vendor’s flagship solution is called RING, and makes x86 servers scale to hundreds of petabytes and billions of objects. RING has an end-to-end parallel architecture and a patented object storage core that increases availability and durability. The platform integrates with applications through standard storage protocols such as NFS, S3, OpenStack Swift, and Cinder. Scality offers its services to telecommunications and media companies throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan.

StorageCraft offers a converged primary and secondary scale-out storage platform with integrated data protection, which supports on-prem, cloud-based, or hybrid deployments. The vendor offers data protection, data management, and business continuity solutions as well. StorageCraft’s flagship platform, OneXafe, is a converged data platform that unifies enterprise data protection with scale-out storage in a configurable solution. OneXafe also offers reduced operational complexity and cost of ownership, in addition to business continuity and Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) features.

SUSE is an open source software provider that delivers software-defined infrastructure and application delivery solutions. SUSE Enterprise Storage (SES) is based on Ceph and provides unified access for block, file, and object protocols. The provider is one of eight founding organizations on the Ceph Advisory Board, and a contributor to the Ceph open source community.  SES is delivered as software or as reference architecture through hardware OEMs with Dell EMC, Supermicro, HPE, Lenovo, Huawei, Fujitsu, and Cisco.

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SwiftStack provides private cloud storage, offering the benefits of public cloud on infrastructure IT controls. The vendor’s public cloud storage offerings come from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. SwiftStack storage can be addressed over file services or via object APIs for use in content delivery, active archive, collaboration, and other data-centric workflows. SwiftStack is the main contributor to the OpenStack Swift project, as well as 1space and ProxyFS, which are dedicated to hybrid/multicloud and file access. SwiftStack has recently expanded its focus on Amazon S3 API support to adjacent areas such as hybrid cloud storage.

Violin Systems is an enterprise storage provider that supports cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-prem environments. Violin storage platforms are powered by Concerto OS, an integrated storage operating system. In addition to storage, the vendor also provides a combination of data protection, business continuity, and data reduction through its integrated services. Violin offers server, desktop, private cloud, and hybrid cloud storage solutions, as well as a range of hardware.

Virtustream provides cloud computing management software and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to enterprises, service providers, and governments. The provider is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, and was acquired by EMC in 2015. This resulted in EMC’s managed services and some cloud-related assets being combined with Virtustream’s offerings. The vendor’s solution, Virtustream Storage Cloud (VSC) delivers an archive-focused object storage service based on Dell EMC’s storage appliances. Virtustream has multiple data centers in the U.S., as well as data centers in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK.

Western Digital provides data storage solutions that enable organizations to manage and preserve digital content. The provider is most known for its line of consumer Hard Disk and Solid-State Drives for desktop and laptop computers. However, Western Digital offers an enterprise-class data storage solution called ActiveScale. The recent introduction of two-site asynchronous replication and the ability to deploy selected Docker containers on the platform itself are real strengths of the product.

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