I often enjoy a thoughtfully written article rating products or features that pertain to my interests. So, why not share my opinions on what’s already here and upcoming in the CTERA platform that I get to watch transform customer file storage, protection, and presentation?
Since joining CTERA almost 2 years ago, it’s safe to say that my perspective has shifted from a longtime customer to a vendor insider. However, the most important things we do in Service Delivery are more than just masterfully deploying our solution to our customers. We empathize and empower, identifying what they need from their data and how best to ensure those needs are exceeded.
Because of this, Service Delivery gets to play with every new feature and acts as a feedback pipeline to the development team on the continuous evolution of the product. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some incredible customers, and seeing our platform not only succeed, but continue to increase in value with the introduction of essential features is a special level of satisfaction.
So, without further ado, the following is my humble opinion on our 5 biggest impact features, both currently available and those whose potential is soon to be realized.
#5 Streaming & Media Savvy Features
First up, streaming and media file features. I’ve retained some of my bias as a former media customer, just how critical it is to see CTERA continue releasing features that make working with large media files elegant and intuitive for agencies. CTERA File Streaming has been a major leap forward, allowing for the opening and editing of a file in seconds, long before it’s fully cached locally. How this feature removes the barriers to using a caching platform like ours is game-changing, making “waiting for a file download” a thing of the past. In combination, seeing our media file preview features that are making their way into Portal 8 has me very excited for how we can begin to introduce Digital Asset Management type features onto the portal and I’m very much looking forward to how these features mature and add value.
#4 Storage Routing & Zones
It feels like yesterday that I was introduced to Zones and Cloud Storage Routing and now I can say that they have been used extensively on every large customer I work with! Zones came first, and allow for our Edge Filer devices to only be aware of the data the customer specifies. Not only does this allow for effective data governance when using a single global file system, but the exponential reduction in synchronization traffic (even when it is only metadata) means that the platform’s efficiency is supercharged.
With the introduction of Cloud Storage Routing, this gets even more exciting. Large customers with regional sites are now able to be selective about where they are storing their blocks. This means that an Edge Filer in Japan can utilize an S3 bucket in Japan, even if the Portal is located in the US. Less distance = less latency and more throughput and it’s been incredibly satisfying to see these intelligent data strategies employed in the field.
#3 Ransom Protect
I feel like the initial goal of the Edge Filer was to provide file presentation that was indistinguishable (from the user perspective) from more classic file server technologies but provided the myriad of back-end advantages that come with a platform that is continuously synchronizing with the cloud such as file versioning and multi-site synchronization. CTERA Ransom Protect is a major leap forward, further providing consolidation of features that were only possible before with a complex assortment of individual products. Using AI analyzing countless attack styles, the CTERA Edge Filer can now detect and shut down ransomware attacks before the impact spreads. I have extolled the virtues of the CTERA Portal’s ability to restore entire directories with an ease I have never experienced from another backup platform, but not needing to ever do that is even better. Especially when every other article you read in the infosec world is in relation to how crippling and expensive a recent attack was.
#2 Edge to Cloud
I’m reasonably certain that this is the most compelling reason many companies choose our technology. So, while this may be our longest-standing “feature”, it never fails to astound me just how ridiculously scalable this makes our platform. To have a true global file system, centralized with the CTERA Portal hosted anywhere, facilitating the synchronization, protection, and management of data, it’s then served out via the CTERA Edge Filer to allow for fast local file access to every corner of the world. Add our Zones and Multi-Cloud capabilities to this mix, and you’ve got an incredibly dynamic ecosystem. I love watching this come together for a new customer.
#1 CTERA Fusion (S3 Connector)
Being the dreamer that I am, nothing excites me more than the opportunities that present themselves by being able to interact with your own massive data lakes via standardized S3 protocol using CTERA Fusion. Sure, we adeptly store, protect, and present your data, anywhere you need it, but the next step is tapping into the potentially limitless value of it with powerful AI-based tools.
What would happen if you had access to intelligence that could reference decades’ worth of information your company has generated? What if you possess a massive trove of images and no longer have to pour investment into the manual curation and entry of metadata to make images searchable by keyword? Providing these types of God-level abilities into the content your company generates will undoubtedly usher companies into the AI renaissance. The limitations will only be in the imagination of the developers creating the use cases.
Picking only 5 was more difficult than I anticipated. Special mention to Drive Connect, CTERA Agent, CTERA Migrate, CTERA Vault (WORM), and the many other components that make CTERA the infinitely valuable platform it is today and will continue growing its value into the future.