Get a Head Start on Another Year of Data Growth 

In the midst of year-end predictions, one area of data management is guaranteed: the volume of unstructured data continues to expand. According to IDC's StorageSphere forecast, 78% of all data stored is unstructured. And this segment of unstructured data is forecast to grow from 5.5 Zettabytes in 2024 to 10.5 Zettabytes by 2028, representing a 16% compound annual growth rate. This surge is driven by ongoing digital transformation and includes everything from video surveillance and medical imaging to sensor data from the Internet of Things (IoT), and now AI/ML models and the massive datasets necessary to train them. 

The upside of this unbridled growth is the immense potential value hidden in all that data in the form of business insights, operational efficiencies, and innovative new solutions and discoveries. However, to ensure they can extract all those insights and remain competitive in an increasingly data-driven world, organizations must invest in sophisticated infrastructure and AI analytics tools—not to mention find a way to effectively retain, manage, and protect that exponentially growing volume of data. 

Don’t despair. We have an idea that could help you free up funds to invest in your future, while affordably storing all your data.  

Use your 2024 budget to reserve all the storage capacity you’ll need for years to come 

Many organizations operate on a use-it-or-lose-it budget model—funds earmarked for one year don’t roll over to the next if you don’t use them. So, if you find yourself with unspent budget as 2024 winds to a close, you may be interested in learning more about our Reserved Capacity Storage payment model, which enables you to save even more money on Wasabi by purchasing capacity in advance in 1, 3, or 5-year increments.  

With your cloud capacity safely in place until 2029, you can apply all your future storage budget to other strategic initiatives, including AI. Not sure what you can do with all that cloud storage capacity? Let’s run through some of the most popular use cases for cloud object storage in general, and Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, specifically.  

Backup and recovery for cyber resilience 

By now, just about everyone in IT is aware of the benefits of using cloud object storage for backup and disaster recovery. Cloud storage is secure, durable, cost-efficient, and provides virtually unlimited storage capacity. With redundancy and automated replication across multiple data centers, it ensures high availability and even greater levels of protection. Most importantly, being in the cloud, it is offsite, making it easy to adhere to 3-2-1 backup strategy, the gold standard in data protection and business resilience. 

What you may not know is exactly how well-suited Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage is for protecting your most valuable and sensitive data. Wasabi is cyber-resilient storage, with multilayered security designed to keep your data and your storage account safe from bad actors, natural disasters, or human error. And, because we don’t charge for egress or API requests, you can test your backups as often as you like or retrieve your data in the event of an incident without being penalized with unpredictable extra fees. 

Data replication for disaster recovery or lower latency workloads 

Bucket or Object Replication enables you to create multiple copies of your data in the same or different storage region. By replicating data across different locations, you ensure that your data is recoverable and accessible in the event of a local disaster such as a power outage or weather catastrophe. Replicating data across regions also enables faster access for use cases where latency is a factor.  Our Object Replication feature makes data replication simple and cost-effective, helping to pave your way to a more performant and resilient infrastructure.  

Cloud tiering and active archiving for greater storage ROI 

Tiering infrequently used data from your on-prem servers to inexpensive cloud object storage is a great way to reduce your total cost of storage. Cloud tiering preserves on-prem capacity for your most critical primary data, delaying disruptive or costly upgrades. The hyperscalers all offer multiple tiers of service along with tiering services that automatically move data to the right tier of service: infrequently accessed data moves to warm storage tiers, while cold data moves to cheaper, less performant archival tiers of service.

Unfortunately, cold data can suddenly be hot—such as when a doctor pulls up a two-year-old patient record or old footage from a surveillance system or a client’s media project is suddenly required. Content or data locked away in cold storage may be needed at a moment’s notice, but how is IT to know what data will be needed when?  

Active archiving solves this problem 

Active archives are used when data must be preserved for business or compliance reasons but also need to be accessed occasionally. Higher-performing cloud storage tiers provide the accessibility required, but it can get a bit pricey with the hyperscalers.

On the other hand, our single-tier hot cloud storage is purpose-built for active archiving. With Wasabi, you get the same high performance as the hotter tiers of service from AWS S3 or Azure, but at a fraction of the price.

Most importantly, without egress or API requests, you’re not hit with unpredictable additional costs each month. You have immediate access to your data at prices closer to cold storage tiers—what we call a true active archive. 

Long-term retention for business and compliance requirements 

Regulatory frameworks such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, and GDPR require organizations in highly regulated industries, including healthcare, finance, aerospace, and telecommunications, to ensure that their data is not only available but also securely stored for long periods. In healthcare, for example, organizations must store sensitive data, such as medical images, for extended periods—sometimes for the lifetime of a patient. 

Once again, object storage is an ideal medium for retaining data for the long haul. Wasabi is a great choice here. We are fully compliant with all the major industry standards, including HIPAA, FERPA, and CJIS, as well as GDPR and regulations from a host of other standards bodies. We offer an affordable and reliable solution for long-term data retention to securely meet your compliance requirements without breaking the bank. 

Video surveillance backup and retention compliance 

Video surveillance is a growing use case for cloud object storage. High-resolution IP cameras and AI tools such as face and image recognition have transformed the industry, adding new capabilities to physical security and making surveillance innovation essential in industries such as retail and hospitality. But with those new capabilities comes a significant amount of unstructured video files that need to be stored, whether for compliance reasons or for future business insights. 

Wasabi is one of the few cloud storage providers that has invested heavily in solving the unique storage needs of the video surveillance industry. Whether you need a hybrid solution to connect your on-prem VMS to the cloud or are interested in direct-to-cloud storage solution, we have the solutions and the surveillance industry partnerships you need to succeed.  

AI/ML analytics and data lakes  

Finally, there’s AI/ML and analytics—the new “killer app” in the world of data management. As more organizations turn to AI to extract value from their data, they need increasing amounts of storage capacity to house the enormous datasets, AI models, and training outputs.

Our low-cost cloud object storage with no egress fees makes Wasabi an ideal choice. Our S3-compatible cloud storage works seamlessly with all major data lakes and analytics applications, including Snowflake, Datalakehouse, and Equinix. You can use Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage as part of a multicloud data lake implementation and avoid vendor lock-in by sourcing your compute and storage independently to utilize best-of-breed providers.  

Reserve your storage capacity today! 

These are just a few ways you can leverage your investment in Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage. 

Data growth is not a short-term issue. Data is growing in volume as fast as it is growing in value, which is why the problem of storing, managing, and protecting your data is not going to go away any time soon. 

Whether you have 2024 budget remaining or need to use 2025 dollars, the sooner you lock in your storage capacity with Wasabi Reserved Capacity Storage, the sooner you can re-allocate future storage budget to other critical business and IT initiatives. 

Check out Reserved Capacity Storage today and Request a Quote. Your future self with thank you.