Zamaan's Tech Blogs

I frequently get asked this question – my on-premises NAS is almost at capacity and my client does not want to spend more money buying additional storage. What are my options? This is where Wasabi Cloud NAS fits in perfectly! Let me explain.

Today, many companies mostly depend on their on-premises file servers to handle their data, but as demand for flexibility, scalability and cost efficiency increases, cloud NAS solutions like Wasabi Cloud NAS are gaining more traction. Wasabi Cloud NAS provides a seamless bridge from traditional on-premises storage to cloud storage, allowing organizations to access their files as if they were still on-premises but with all the advantages of cloud storage.

How does Wasabi Cloud NAS achieve this?

Wasabi Cloud NAS combines the ease of use of the NAS file format with the scalability of its cloud-based object storage. Wasabi Cloud NAS is a software application that you install on a local Windows Server or PC and pair with a target storage bucket in the Wasabi cloud. Organizations using Wasabi Cloud NAS can automatically set policies to determine which files to move to the cloud. This can be done when on-premises storage capacity hits a specific capacity limit or when files have not been accessed in a certain amount of time.

Here’s why moving your data to Wasabi Cloud NAS could be a smart move for your organization.

1. Cost Savings

Traditional on-premises file servers require significant investments in hardware, maintenance, network, licensing, energy and data center costs. By using Wasabi Cloud NAS, you eliminate the need for physical storage equipment, reducing both upfront and ongoing costs. Wasabi is known for its cost-effective storage model, offering significantly lower prices than many other cloud providers. You also avoid hidden costs like egress and API request fees.

2. Scalability Without Limits

Scaling storage on-premises is challenging and complex, requiring additional physical space, hardware, and a lot of planning is required. With Wasabi Cloud NAS, you have virtually unlimited scalability, and as your storage requirements grow, your solution can easily grow with you. This flexibility is extremely useful for businesses with high growth or seasonal spikes in storage needs, as you can add capacity without complex provisioning or capacity planning.

3. Enhanced Data Protection and Security

Features such as Data Immutability, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) & Multi-User Authorisation are built in to help protect your data against cyber threats, including ransomware, internal threats and unauthorized access. Data immutability ensures that files cannot be deleted, changed or modified, providing an added layer of protection and making it an ideal for safely storing data long-term. Wasabi also uses enterprise-grade security, encryption, and compliance features to keep your data safe.

4. Reliability & Recovery

Wasabi Cloud NAS simplifies recovery by ensuring that your data is stored off premises, improving resilience against data loss. Wasabi’s infrastructure offers durability of up to 11 nines (99.999999999%), giving you confidence that your files are protected and available whenever you need them. In addition to this, Wasabi Cloud NAS offers immediate restores in the event of accidental deletions, malware, or mitigation in the event of a ransomware attack. If your local, on-premises storage fails, the replacement hardware can be repopulated with file stubs from the cloud within minutes. There is no need to wait for all files to be restored. Users can begin accessing their data almost immediately.

5. Accessibility and Remote Work Support

As remote work continues to be a priority, cloud storage gives access advantages that are difficult to achieve with on-premises servers. Wasabi Cloud NAS allows your team to access files from any location with an internet connection, supporting remote work and improving collaboration. This capability is especially useful for distributed teams, enabling them to work together on files without needing to be on-site.

6. Reduced Maintenance and Operational Complexity

Managing and maintaining on-premises file servers requires dedicated IT resources, regular updates, and potential downtime for upgrades and repairs. Wasabi Cloud NAS minimizes this complexity by handling maintenance, security updates, and infrastructure upkeep. This means your IT team can focus on other strategic priorities, rather than spending time managing and troubleshooting storage hardware.

7. Compliance Management

Wasbi Cloud NAS delivers the tools that meet compliance requirements, including data retention, immutability, and encryption for organizations that are highly regulated. Retention policies and immutability can be easily setup, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and FINRA. Wasabi’s compliance capabilities offer peace of mind by making it easier to meet industry compliance standards.

Most organizations already have NAS in their environment. Offloading your data from an on-premises file server to Wasabi Cloud NAS provides significant cost savings, enhanced security, scalability, and flexibility that are hard to achieve with traditional on-premises NAS infrastructure. This is something organisation should explore.

Published: January 9, 2025 12:45pm