Storage Wars: Databases Becoming Just Query Engines for Big Object Stores?

What is Object storage?

Object storage, also known as object-based storage, is a computer data storage architecture designed to handle large amounts of unstructured data. Unlike other architectures, it designates data as distinct units, bundled with metadata and a unique identifier that can be used to locate and access each data unit.

These units – or objects – can be stored on-premises, but are typically stored in the cloud, making them easily accessible from anywhere. Due to object storage’s scale-out capabilities, there are few limits to its scalability, and it’s less costly to store large data volumes than other options, such as block storage.

Much of today’s data is unstructured: email, media and audio files, web pages, sensor data, and other types of digital content that do not fit easily into traditional databases. As a result, finding efficient and affordable ways to store and manage it has become problematic. Increasingly, object storage has become the preferred method for storing static content, data arches, and backups.

Object storage defined

Object storage is a data storage architecture for storing unstructured data, which sections data into units – objects – and stores them…