Scality, a leader in object storage solutions, has launched Ring XP, a specialized version of its existing Ring platform designed to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) data lake use cases, promising microsecond (µs) storage access times. The introduction of Ring XP is a direct response to customer needs for petabyte (PB)-scale data lake aggregation. This innovation provides rapid input/output (I/O) performance for various tasks that are crucial in data-heavy environments, including data cleansing, security, immutable backups, and extensive metadata handling.
Customer-Driven Innovation
The development of Ring XP is deeply rooted in customer feedback and explicit requirements, showcasing Scality’s commitment to listening and reacting to market needs. Paul Speciale, Scality’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), emphasized the burgeoning demand for a solution specifically tailored to handle small object data common in AI processing. By focusing on attributes such as fragments of imagery, character strings, and numeric sequences within logs, which are typically extracted from vast, PB-scale datasets, Scality aims to deliver a product that excels in both performance and efficiency.
The key enhancement in Ring XP is the adoption of a simplified version of the S3 object storage application programming interface (API). This streamlined API strips away performance-draining features, allowing for dramatically faster access speeds when paired with the all-NVMe flash hardware. This advanced configuration is crafted to meet the high-performance requirements of AI data lakes, ensuring that data retrievals and writes are executed with minimal latency, thus offering significant advantages over conventional storage solutions.
Competing in the High-Performance Storage Market
Ring XP is poised to compete directly with high-performance storage solutions from industry giants like IBM, Pure Storage, and Vast Data. The decisive factor contributing to Ring XP’s superior performance lies in its pared-down S3 connector combined with all-NVMe flash storage. Traditional S3 API connectivity often includes various storage functionalities, such as versioning, replication, and additional management features, which tend to introduce latency and hamper responsiveness.
In stark contrast, streamlined versions of the S3 API, like AWS’s S3 Express Zone One, reduce features to achieve lower latencies. Scality’s new Ring XP goes even further, offering latency of under 500µs for data retrievals and under 700µs for data writes. This positions Ring XP as an elite solution for organizations requiring rapid, scalable, and efficient data access. Speciale highlighted that while the Amazon S3 stack is feature-rich, it inherently introduces tens of milliseconds of latency. Scality addresses this challenge by providing even faster access options, contingent upon the right hardware setup, setting new industry benchmarks in low-latency data storage.
Activation and Use Cases
Current Ring customers who possess the necessary hardware can activate Ring XP functionalities by purchasing the appropriate license. Scality’s product lineup, which includes Artesca and Ring, targets different segments of the market. While Scality Ring is crafted for larger environments starting at 5PB, Artesca is tailored specifically for object storage within backup applications.
Numerous real-world examples highlight the capabilities of Scality’s Ring solutions. A major U.S. bank has harnessed Ring to aggregate massive amounts of data for fraud detection through Splunk, managing capacities reaching tens of PBs. Similarly, the European air travel pricing optimization platform, Amadeus, relies on Scality for its Splunk-related operations, handling a daily data turnover of 1PB. Furthermore, the French genomics research firm SeqOIA utilizes Ring as its primary bulk storage system, underscoring the versatility and robustness of Scality’s solutions.
Addressing Evolving Data Storage Demands
Scality, a leader in object storage solutions, has introduced Ring XP, an advanced iteration of its Ring platform aimed specifically at meeting the increasing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) data lakes, boasting microsecond (µs) storage access times. The release of Ring XP is a strategic move to address the requirements of customers needing petabyte (PB)-scale data lake aggregation. This new offering ensures swift input/output (I/O) performance for critical operations in data-intensive settings, such as data cleansing, security, immutable backups, and extensive metadata management. Ring XP is designed to empower enterprises by improving efficiency and performance in managing vast volumes of data. This innovation is set to revolutionize how organizations handle data-heavy processes, providing a significant boost in speed and reliability. By enhancing the existing capabilities of the Ring platform, Ring XP allows businesses to tackle modern AI challenges head-on, ensuring they can scale and optimize their data operations effectively.
