Introduction to Wasabi Cloud Storage

Wasabi is a relatively new cloud storage service that offers cheap and fast object storage for businesses. Founded in 2017, Wasabi aims to disrupt the cloud storage market dominated by Amazon S3 by providing storage at 1/5th the cost of S3 while delivering faster-than-S3 performance. In this article, we’ll take a look at what makes Wasabi different and who can benefit from using it.

Key Features of Wasabi

Here are some of the standout features of Wasabi cloud storage:

• Low cost – Wasabi charges a flat fee of $5.99 per TB/month with no extra fees for egress or API requests. This is significantly cheaper than S3.
• High performance – Wasabi claims speeds up to 6x faster than S3 for common operations like uploads and downloads.
• Amazon S3 compatibility – Apps using the S3 API can be easily migrated to Wasabi.
• Extreme data durability – Like S3, Wasabi stores data redundantly across multiple facilities and claims 11 x 9s durability.
• Strong security – All data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Role-based access control allows managing permissions.

Use Cases for Wasabi

Here are some examples of companies and use cases that can benefit from Wasabi’s low-cost, high-speed cloud storage:

• Media companies – Wasabi is great for storing large amounts of video, audio, images, and other media files.
• Gaming companies – Game developers can store large binaries and files needed for games.
• Scientific research – Research organizations can store experimental data sets and backups cost-effectively.
• eCommerce businesses – Wasabi provides inexpensive storage for all the files associated with an online store.
• IoT data – The huge amounts of log data generated by IoT devices can be stored affordably.
• Backups – Wasabi is a good option for low-cost storage of backups and archives.

Getting Started with Wasabi

It’s easy to get started with Wasabi – simply sign up for an account, create a bucket, and start uploading files. Some tips for using Wasabi effectively:

• Use a client like Cyberduck or CloudBerry Explorer to easily manage Wasabi buckets and objects.
• Set up automatic replication to a second Wasabi bucket for an extra layer of data protection.
• Use Wasabi’s lifecycle policies to automatically transition less accessed data to even cheaper storage tiers.
• Monitor usage and spending in real-time using Wasabi’s billing console.

Conclusion

Wasabi provides an affordable and high-performance cloud storage service that can benefit businesses looking to reduce their storage costs without sacrificing performance, security, or compatibility. With its Amazon S3-compatible API, Wasabi makes it easy for companies to adopt its cloud storage without having to rewrite their applications. Give Wasabi a try to see if its disruptive approach to cloud storage could be a good fit for your storage needs.

Advanced Wasabi Features

In addition to its core storage capabilities, Wasabi offers some advanced features that further differentiate it from alternatives like Amazon S3:

Immutability

Wasabi buckets and objects can be made immutable, meaning they cannot be deleted or modified for a user-defined retention period. This protects against accidental deletions and malware. Immutability is useful for securing important data like legal/compliance documents, medical records, and archival data.

Data Recovery

Accidentally deleted data can be recovered by contacting Wasabi support, providing a safety net against human errors. Wasabi keeps deleted objects in a temporary area for a period of time before permanently erasing them from disks.

Access Controls

Beyond just bucket-level permissions, Wasabi offers more advanced access controls. For example, pre-signed URLs can provide time-limited access to private objects without requiring logged-in credentials.

Compliance and Security

Wasabi has obtained compliance certifications that matter for regulated industries like healthcare and finance:

SOC 2 Type 2

This audits Wasabi’s information security practices, control objectives, and controls. Achieving SOC 2 compliance demonstrates Wasabi meets high standards for data security.

HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has requirements concerning protection of medical data. Wasabi enables covered entities and business associates to maintain HIPAA compliance.

PCI DSS

Companies that handle credit card transactions must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Wasabi meets applicable PCI DSS requirements.

Competing with Amazon S3

Although Wasabi aims to disrupt Amazon S3, it faces stiff competition given AWS’s market-leading status. Some advantages Wasabi touts over S3 include:

Lower Cost

Wasabi’s pricing of $5.99/TB/month clearly beats S3’s starting price of $23/TB/month for the frequent access tier. Bulk retrievals and data egress also cost extra on S3.

Faster Performance

Wasabi benchmarks show it can outpace S3 for many storage operations like uploads and downloads thanks to its focus on hot cloud storage.

No Vendor Lock-in

Migrating away from S3 often proves challenging. With its S3-compatible API, Wasabi makes it easy to switch cloud storage vendors.

Conclusion

Wasabi brings an appealing combination of performance, price, and compatibility to the cloud storage industry. Companies looking to reduce storage costs without sacrificing security or flexibility should give Wasabi serious consideration. While challenging Amazon S3’s dominance will be difficult, Wasabi’s innovative approach has a lot of appeal for the right use cases.