Panzura Conducts Object Storage Symphony

Global file system supplier Panzura has released a platform called Symphony that simplifies data management for a range of third-party cloud and on-premises file and object storage systems, including ones from AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, NetApp, and Wasabi. The user interface is also integrated with IBM’s Fusion turnkey hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) system, which supports a range of storage and data management options.

Symphony is the data services platform Panzura acquired with its purchase of Moonwalk Universal earlier this year (terms not disclosed). For now, Symphony remains separate from Panzura's CloudFS object file system, though future plans call for integration, the company says.

Panzura's Single Pane for Data Services

Panzura's Symphony announcement is significant because it provides a single management interface for a multiplicity of file and object storage systems, which are becoming more strategic as firms shift to deploying unstructured data for AI inferencing and modeling.

Unstructured data, recall, includes image and video files, text messages, audio samples, social media entries, and the like. Comprising roughly 80% of most enterprise data, these items don't conform to a particular database schema, but they are increasingly valuable to companies looking to tap them in AI and analytics to identify business trends and opportunities.

Symphony offers a series of data management options aimed at ensuring data integrity, compliance, and risk management. The interface also offers visualizations that help identify data according to its “temperature” (with hot being most often accessed). This enables IT operations staff to better organize unstructured data for placement in the most cost-efficient storage tiers.

The platform also provides a "savings calculator" that allows operators to gauge the potential costs of shifting storage from one location to another in an IT estate (Panzura claims to allow customers to shift locations without downtime). A REST API provides the means of extending further functionality as needed.

“Panzura Symphony helps organizations navigate blind spots within expanding data estates,” said Sundar Kanthadai, CTO of Panzura, in a statement. “They can get compliant, stay compliant, and scale into every corner of their unstructured footprint with meticulous analysis and policy application.”

Panzura’s Market Opens Up

The market for so-called global file systems, in which Panzura is a key player, has been heating up and bringing long-standing vendors into increasingly active play. Panzura, for instance, has been in business since 2008 (though it relaunched under new management in 2020). Throughout its lifespan it’s been honing the capabilities of its core CloudFS system to enable enterprises to use object stores of their choice, including AWS’s S3, to create a system that consolidates that data and deduplicates it, while creating immutable copies of files to preserve data against any ransomware attacks.

Now with Symphony, Panzura illuminates a trend among object storage file system providers to deliver more granular data management and security functions to their products. Panzura competitors CTERA and Nasuni, for instance, have also been adding features for greater analysis, development, and data management. All three have an eye on organizing unstructured data for use in analytics and, with some help, for AI inferencing workloads.

Panzura has roughly 213 employees and has raised over $100 million in funding through a series of rounds. Investors include Kayne Partners and CIBC Innovation Banking. Customers include Fluor, Disney, Vanguard, and the New Orleans Saints, to name just a few. Symphony-specific customers include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, The Doctor Company, and Aurecon.

Futuriom Take: Panzura's Symphony data services platform is an example of the direction global file system providers are taking as the market for sophisticated analytics and AI inferencing heats up. Watch this space—it's starting to boil.