Azure Native Qumulo... And now v2!

Azure Native Qumulo v2 reduces file system TCO & adds Global Namespace capabilities

A few years ago we were introduced to the team at Qumulo and were impressed with their scalability and user experience. We then began a project to build a software-defined release of their scale-out filesystem on Azure and, with the help of the Azure Native ISV team, to integrate Qumulo-as-a-Service in the Azure Portal. We wanted to provide an experience and tooling that would be familiar to Azure customers and intuitive whether or not they had prior experience with Qumulo and the power of their multi-petabyte, multi-protocol, performant filesystem with file-level analytics. The Qumulo team wasn't satisfied though. They had a bigger vision to do more and enable customers with the largest file data environments to modernize their experience and change the way they manage capacity, performance, and data availability. I am pleased to share the announcement below from our friends at Qumulo - read on and find out... what's new in Azure Native Qumulo Scalable File Service v2!

@Karl Rautenstrauch 
Principal Product Manager, Azure Storage

Disclaimer: The following post has been co-authored by our Azure Native ISV partner, Qumulo.

Challenging file storage requirements

Consider the following scenarios:

1.  A large media company needs to orchestrate video editing for broadcast quality production quickly, using a globally distributed workforce that requires high-performance, real-time concurrent file editing.
2.  A data scientist at a major energy company needs to run complex simulations using high-powered compute, but they need a performant data storage system that can load fresh data into the environment and receive outputs for analysis, accessibility, and later archiving.
3.  A children’s hospital has mountains of medical imaging data stored on premises and if it were accessible to the advanced AI tools in the cloud, it could be used to improve existing treatments and innovate on new ones.

A solid foundation

Microsoft and Qumulo have partnered to deliver a performant, high capacity, and cost-effective solution for scenarios like this and countless others, which have typically been difficult to migrate to a cloud-based solution due to gaps in the majority of cloud-based filesystems.

Azure Native Qumulo has always delivered a true multi-protocol solution that provides unlimited scale at a predictable cost in the Microsoft Cloud. We saw an opportunity to make it even better.

In conjunction with the Microsoft Azure Native ISV program, the Qumulo team embarked on a project we called ANQ.Next, to deliver new features that empower builders, architects, core IT leaders, and business teams to build and innovate on top of Qumulo’s Scale Anywhere™ file data solution. This program is automatically available to new and existing ANQ customers and promises greater flexibility at a lower price point.

Improving Customer Value

We are excited to announce that the pay-go pricing of Azure Native Qumulo v2 has been reduced by over 50%. ANQ v2 is now only $37 per TB/month and you can create your ANQ environment directly from the Azure portal. Discounts are available for volume transactions in the Azure Marketplace by contacting Qumulo directly.

In the Microsoft Cloud, you will only pay for the ANQ v2 capacity and performance you consume. Unlike on-premises deployments, there is no large upfront capital expense to support the capacity of your multi-year storage needs. The cost of file storage for your applications in Microsoft Azure can now align with the on-demand benefit of Cloud Computing.

Truly pay for what you use:

Enabling Scale Anywhere™

Azure Native Qumulo v2 now also includes Global Namespace capabilities (in private preview), which allows ANQ v2 and on-prem Qumulo environments to share data across a single namespace.

With Global Namespace, migration has never been easier or more seamless. Now you can point all your workloads to a single namespace without disruption to your application architectures. Once the ANQ v2 setup is complete, it does not matter where your workloads or data are located, you have access anywhere and everywhere...

Here's an example of how this works across Cloud and On-premises hybrid deployments:

How have we changed customer experience?

Let’s return to our customer scenarios and apply the new features enabled by ANQ v2 and Global Namespace:

1. The aforementioned media company can now deliver a shared, collaborative, media editing environment for their entire global editorial team.
2. The energy company can now have a rack on a rig receiving seismic data and make it immediately visible to the Microsoft Cloud HPC simulation environment. With ANQ’s AI trained prefetching algorithm, they can execute their demanding workloads without performance limitations.
3. Thanks to the lowered TCO of ANQ v2, the children’s hospital can now afford to explore the power of their data without increasing their costs. They can accelerate the transition from large CapEx to predictable OpEx to offer more financial incentives and focus on delivering better care by unleashing the power of cloud services on their data.

These are just some of the ways that Azure Native Qumulo v2’s improvements will transform applications across industries. We’re very excited for you to begin building a modern distributed file environment with the enhanced Azure Native Qumulo v2!

Learn more about Azure Native Qumulo v2 and view it on the Azure Marketplace.