Data Backup Digest

It was two years ago when Seagate first introduced the concept of their Kinetic Open Storage Platform, which allowed applications to access certain hard drives via an Ethernet connection in order to store objects through the use of key / value pairings. In an effort to bolster development of the new platform, Seagate has joined with a number of companies, some of which are direct competitors, in order to form the Kinetic Open Storage Project. As such, the joint venture hopes to facilitate “open source object storage on next generation, Ethernet-enabled storage devices.”

Now recognized as a collaborative project with The Linux Foundation, the Kinetic Open Storage Platform currently boasts no fewer than 11 industry brands. Consisting of some of the top names in IT today, the group is poised to make a real impact on the future of data storage.

Jim Zemlin, executive director with The Linux Foundation, spoke about the need for standardization regarding open source software and cloud computing in the 21st century. He was quoted as saying: “Storage technologies are becoming increasingly complex as the cloud, virtualization and container technologies converge. Open source software and standards can speed the evolution of storage technology to support these areas. The Kinetic Open Storage Project will allow industry leaders to address new challenges head on and support rapid growth through a community-developed protocol specification and libraries.”

Apart from Seagate, who pioneered the Kinetic Open Storage Platform to begin with, the Kinetic Open Storage Platform features contributions from Red Hat, Open vStorage, Digital Sense and Cisco. Other partners include Toshiba, WD, Cleversafe, Dell, NetApp and Scality.

Each partner is capable of bringing new concepts and innovative ideas to the collaborative effort. WD, for example, currently works with directly-addressed object storage technology through their subsidiary, HGST. NetApp currently boasts its own StorageGRID object storage solution, and Toshiba already has its own Ethernet-driven key / value store drives. This is in addition to the Ethernet key / value store drive offered by Seagate itself, known as the Kinetic disk drive.

Rocky Pimentel, president of the Global Markets and Customers division with Seagate, spoke highly of the recent collaboration. He was quoted as saying: “We are proud to be partnering with The Linux Foundation on the Kinetic project as we believe that this technology is the next great step in the evolution of massively scaled-out storage. By aligning the Kinetic project with our partners under the Linux Foundation the project now has strong validation within the industry and shows Seagate's support of open source technologies in providing solutions to the most challenging problems of data storage.”

While the Kinetic Open Storage Project certainly has a lot to accomplish, it’s safe to say that the large and diversified group of IT experts is dedicated to the cause. Moreover, the group already has the reputation and knowledge to get the job done.

If you are interested in finding out more details regarding the Kinetic Open Storage Project, its purpose or any of its partners, please visit the official wiki page at www.openkinetic.org.