smeup is expanding its internal adoption of Cubbit’s geo-distributed cloud storage to launch a fully Italian cloud-based object storage service, delivered from its own data centre network.
smeup in Italy operates as a partner for enterprises engaged in digital transformation. Through innovation projects, and by applying the expertise they have developed through the study of complex business processes, smeup optimises the components of clients’ business growth strategies, to enhance the value of company data.
As part of smeup’s current industrial plan, which aims to exceed €100 million in turnover, the company is seeking to expand and consolidate its presence in the cloud market. The traditional on-premises storage solutions used previously gave their users ample control, but created geographically fragmented data silos, which proved costly, inflexible and complex to manage. At the same time, public cloud services raised concerns related to data sovereignty, geopolitical risk and unpredictable costs.
In response, smeup has expanded its adoption of Cubbit, a specialist in geo-distributed cloud storage, as part of a Business Alliance Partnership that increases capacity to 3.2 petabytes, up from the initial 1.6 petabytes. The agreement has a dual objective – to enhance data management and resilience for smeup, and to accelerate the adoption of cloud storage services across the region through the launch of a fully Italian, secure, cost-competitive service.
Object Storage in the Cloud
In 2023, smeup successfully adopted Cubbit DS3 Cloud, a fully managed cloud object storage solution, achieving a 30% reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared to equivalent configurations previously run with US-based providers.
Cubbit DS3 Cloud places dispersed storage locations into an organised, continuous data domain in which users control exactly where the actual data is located and can keep track of compliance with GDPR and regional regulations. The nodes, physical or virtual, together form a self-healing, fault-tolerant object storage layer, or swarm, that is policy-driven. The swarm oversees and secures the redundant storage of objects, which are split, encrypted and encoded in smaller pieces and then distributed across nodes.
This design employs a level of automation. For instance, the storage nodes can use swarm intelligence to automatically manage data distribution, redundancy and self-repair. Should an entire node or region go offline, the data remains safe. The swarm instantly detects issues and autonomously initiates recovery. according to users’ policies.
Adopter and Provider
Users can also define and customise their own redundancy rules, and encrypt files using keys that they supply and control. Meanwhile, existing hardware is used as efficiently as possible, serving multiple workloads without wasting resources. S3-compatible gateways, giving instant access to the unified data layer, can be set up in the cloud, data center, or edge – wherever they are needed.
In line with its new corporate cloud strategy, smeup has chosen to both expand its internal adoption of Cubbit’s technology, and to become a provider of it. Smeup has launched its own geo-distributed S3 storage service for enterprises. To do so, the company has integrated Cubbit DS3 Composer – software-defined object storage – into its three data centres located in the Italian regions of Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy.
Multiple Service Tiers from A Single Platform
With Cubbit DS3 Composer, smeup can deliver multiple service tiers from a single platform, simplifying operations. It strengthens a fully Italian market product that achieves maximum resilience – as data is encrypted, fragmented and distributed across multiple nodes, files remain accessible at all times, yet are never exposed in full.
By combining this resilience with data sovereignty, flexibility, cost control and S3 compatibility, smeup can take advantage of cloud object storage solutions aligned with high security standards, such as NIS2, while expanding into new markets with solutions tailored for specific sectors.
Key use cases range from immutable backup repositories to cloud NAS for file sharing, application automation and file and document archiving, through to hierarchical storage management (HSM). As part of the partnership, Cubbit supports smeup via close technical and commercial collaboration, including training, sales support and joint go-to-market initiatives.
A Competitive Service
“smeup services have been strengthened by integrating Cubbit cloud storage into our portfolio," commented Gianluca Pellegrini, General Manager at smeup ICS. "Cubbit’s technology is synonymous with data sovereignty and strict GDPR compliance, giving us a high level of security and resilience for our customers, with critical assets hosted on geo-distributed infrastructure.
“We are not simply acquiring technology; we are actively investing in the country’s digital future by making available a scalable, secure, and reliable cloud platform. Owing to Cubbit, we have achieved our goal of having a flexible, distributed architecture and service, enabling us to keep our customers prices 15% lower than with our previous solutions.”
Alessandro Cillario, co-CEO and co-founder of Cubbit, said, “With DS3 Composer, European service providers can regain competitiveness in the global storage market without being forced into a price race to the bottom. This is exactly what smeup is doing by integrating Cubbit’s technology into its data centres to create its own geo-distributed, sovereign and competitive cloud storage service.” www.cubbit.io
