Linode, globally one of the largest independent cloud providers, is offering free Simple Storage Service (S3) – compatible object storage to both new and existing customers from March 1, 2020 through May 31, 2020. This offering would prove particularly beneficial for Indian startups and SMBs moving towards digitalisation and adoption of cloud services to make operations more mobile and accessible.
Research shows that nearly 65% SMBs consider high cost as the major barrier in cloud adoption. Traditional S3-compatible options seem affordable on the surface, but hide high transfer fees, which can balloon cloud infrastructure bills. Linode’s object storage solution provides Indian SMBs, startups and application developers a smarter and more cost effective alternative to control data. It also includes generous amounts of free transfer, resulting in savings of 900% or more over hyperscale providers like AWS and Google.
“Our mission at Linode is to make cloud computing simple, affordable, and accessible to all. Linode’s object storage is a great example of providing S3-compatible, high-performance storage without the exorbitant transfer fees, complexity and vendor lock-in that currently plague other hyperscale providers,” claims Ashwin Kumar, Director, Data Centre and Cloud Operations, Linode India.
Linode’s Object Storage is a preferred option for all types of SMBs. Object storage is a versatile, cost-effective method for storing static, unstructured data in the cloud. Use cases of object storage are diverse, ranging from simple multimedia storage to housing large datasets for advanced applications such as machine learning. However, high transfer costs have been an impediment to wider adoption of object storage, especially among SMBs for whom managing higher amounts of unstructured data has become critical. Linode Object Storage supports 250GB to 50TB of data and up to 50 million objects per cluster. Pricing starts at $5/month for 250GB of storage and 1TB of outbound transfer (after which storage and transfer rates are $0.02/GB), and always-free unlimited inbound transfers.
Existing SMB customers can create or maintain Linode Object Storage buckets in their Cloud Manager console or via the Linode API or CLI. New SMBs will receive object storage for free when they sign up. Like other products Linode released in the past, customer demand will help the company accelerate the roll out of object storage to its other data centers around the world.
Linode’s S3-compatible object storage product, which is a part of the growing commoditization of cloud computing services, is levelling the playing field for alternative cloud providers like Linode, and giving developers and SMBs infrastructure choice beyond the hyperscale cloud providers.
There is a free test drive of Linode Object Storage, for a limited time. The Linode S3-Compatible Cloud Storage promotion is valid from March 1, 2020 through May 31, 2020.