It’s estimated that out of the 2.5 billion gigabytes of data which are created every day, 80% is comprised of unstructured content. To help make it faster, easier and more secure for developers to tap into and store growing volumes of unstructured data, including content such as images, documents and videos, IBM has introduced IBM Object Storage, an IBM Cloud service.
The service provides app creators with a scalable, API-accessible platform to store and retrieve unstructured data, as well as build apps around this content. Available in beta on Bluemix, IBM’s Cloud Platform, Object Storage also allows developers to access this valuable data from external apps.
As the volume of digital images, sound files, etc. grows, so does the value of this unstructured data – which is used by developers to build intelligent, useful and creative apps. However, this bulky data is challenging to store and seamlessly access.
This new technology, accessible on IBM Cloud, enables developers to compose and connect object-based storage (stored unstructured data) into their apps – using a single API to retrieve it rapidly and securely from apps both inside and outside of Bluemix, IBM’s Cloud Platform. This enables developers to build and scale their apps around this content, and in turn create new ways to tap into its value.
IBM has been building its portfolio of object-based storage to help developers utilize unstructured data – first with its November acquisition of Cleversafe, a portfolio that allows businesses to store and manage massive amounts of data throughout their organization, enabling them to scale and connect into large-scale content repositories, backup, and archives; and with this new announcement of IBM Object Storage.
Leveraging the OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) API for API-based data access and OpenStack Identity (Keystone) for authentication, IBM Object Storage offers developers:
- The ability to compose and bind apps to object files – both inside and outside of Bluemix
- Identity management and authentication to help protect against unauthorized access to object-based data.
- A service dashboard user interface for simple management
- Object browser, drag-and-drop upload and download from the developer’s desktop
- Industry-adopted OpenStack Swift API and SDKs to access the object store
- Service keys to access and use Object Storage with external apps and services
- Security isolation for each object storage instance within Bluemix
IBM launched Bluemix with a $1 billion investment in 2014. The open-standards-based Bluemix catalog includes more than 120 tools and services spanning categories of big data, mobile, Watson, analytics, integration, DevOps, security and Internet of Things.
More information is available about the IBM Object Storage in the Bluemix catalog.