What Qumulo is Hearing from Customers

In this presentation, Brandon Whitelaw, VP of Cloud at Qumulo, discusses the evolving landscape of data management and the challenges customers face in adopting hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. He highlights that the traditional approach of consolidating disparate file systems into a single scale-out system is no longer sufficient, as most companies now operate across multiple clouds and geographic locations. Whitelaw points out that 94% of companies have adopted multi-cloud strategies, often using different clouds for different workloads, which adds complexity. He emphasizes that file data, once considered secondary, has now become critical, especially with the rise of AI and other next-gen applications. However, many file systems struggle to operate efficiently in the cloud, often offering only a fraction of their on-prem performance at a much higher cost.

Whitelaw explains that one of the key challenges is the inefficiency of moving data between on-prem and cloud environments, particularly when using traditional file systems that are not optimized for cloud performance. He notes that many companies end up creating multiple copies of their data across different systems, which increases costs and complexity. Qumulo aims to address this by providing a unified data fabric that allows seamless access to data across on-prem, cloud, and edge environments. This approach reduces the need for data replication and ensures that data is accessible and performant, regardless of where it resides. Qumulo’s solution also includes real-time file system analytics, which helps optimize data access and performance by preemptively caching frequently accessed data.

The presentation also delves into the technical aspects of Qumulo’s cloud-native file system, which is designed to leverage the scalability and cost-effectiveness of object storage like AWS S3 or Azure Blob, while overcoming the performance limitations typically associated with these storage types. By using advanced data layout techniques and caching mechanisms, Qumulo ensures that data stored in object storage can be accessed with the performance of a traditional file system. This approach allows customers to benefit from the elasticity and cost savings of cloud storage without having to rewrite their applications. Whitelaw concludes by emphasizing the importance of providing a consistent, high-performance data experience across all environments, enabling customers to focus on their workloads rather than managing complex data pipelines.