What Is Block Storage as a Service?

Let’s begin by defining what block storage as a service is and is not. As with many “as a service” offerings of late, it’s a subscription-based service that provides block data storage. This allows businesses to essentially rent data storage for an undetermined time. Although there are a few services available, they are not all the same. You should look at how the purchase process works, the service costs, whether it can be integrated with related services, and what level of management and customization takes place in the block storage device. Find out more in our new blog.

Benefits of Block Storage as a Service

Now that you’ve got a better idea of what it is, let’s take a quick look at some of the top benefits of block storage as a service.

1. High Performance: Since block storage is added to your on-premises server, it dramatically reduces the latency time during use. This low latency provides improved performance for your company’s efficiency, as workers are able to get more work done more quickly because of how rapidly the system can move data in and out of storage for their use.
2. Flexibility: How quickly will your next web campaign take off? Is the next product your big winner for the year? Either situation will call for the ability to scale rapidly and easily. Fortunately, block service as a service makes it easy to add more data storage modules to your server to keep up with the pace of demand. You can also move data across servers by simply changing the data’s destination route.
3. OS Booting: Although this will depend on whether your server’s BIOS can handle this type of activity, block storage as a service allows you to boot your operating systems directly from the storage block by incorporating a SAN.
4. Easy File Modification: If you need to modify a file, you can do so without interrupting the use of other blocks around it, which prevents performance issues in a busy work environment. By comparison, when using object or file storage, you would have to overwrite the entire file to make the space useable again, which can impact disk efficiency and available storage space.
5. Adjustable Parameters: It’s also fairly common to be able to customize performance for each block, as well as priority within the overall data storage system. This allows mission-critical apps to continue operating when storage space is tight, while less-critical blocks are sidelined to keep important data moving. It also makes it easy for novices to request their own storage space in a block without a lot of IT work.
6. Predictable Budgeting: In many on-premises storage situations, your monthly bill may scale a lot with usage, causing a significant difference from month to month and wreaking havoc with your cash flow and budget. This lack of predictability makes block storage as a service—with a single regular monthly fee—much more desirable to many companies because they always know what the bill will be at the end of the month.
7. Agility: In addition to being able to move data around within the same block data storage component, you also have the ability to move data between servers in a seamless fashion. This kind of agility allows your system to quickly adapt to your needs, shifting blocks around, moving data to another server, or otherwise automatically handling issues.
8. AI-Managed Autopilot: Although you won’t find this on every block storage a service option, HPE Greenlake block storage as a service offers an AI for managing your block storage, making it simple to ensure your digital assets have the resources they need at the right time. By studying your system and operation, your AI can determine when your system is likely to be overloaded and will make adjustments to compensate for heavier loads.
9. Multi-System Management: As another feature you’ll find with HPE Greenlake for block storage as a service, you don’t have to drive down to the office to fix a problem. Instead, you can manage multiple systems at the click of a button—or the tap of a finger—from a single device. This makes management much easier, so you can focus on what’s coming up instead of what just crashed.
10. Outcome Acceleration: Although you could continue to micromanage your system’s quirks and issues, you don’t have to do that with block storage as a service. This allows your IT team to focus on making updates, new systems, and upgrades in a more timely manner, while still being able to go home at a reasonable hour. This accelerates your IT process, taking you from going through digital transformation to the endpoint, so you can focus on running your business instead of handling technical changes to your business.

As you can see, there are many benefits to using block storage for your company’s storage needs, but adding it as a service gives you additional flexibility along with a predictable monthly cost. If you’re looking for an outstanding option to take your business to the next level, you may consider HPE Greenlake for block storage as a service. Designed to provide better flexibility for growing businesses, it provides everything you need to create a comprehensive but easy-to-use data storage solution for your company. Please feel free to reach out today for any questions, more details, or scheduling a demo of our block storage as a service solution.

Writer Miroslav Majernik