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What is Shared Cloud Storage? ¨C Benefits & Challenges

Gurbir Singh

Nov 17, 2022 / 3 min read

Synopsys Cloud

Unlimited access to EDA software licenses on-demand

Many organizations feel hampered by their on-premises storage solutions and look to the cloud for the answer. Shared cloud storage provides greater flexibility and often costs less than on-premises infrastructure, but there are some challenges to overcome if you want to use these solutions effectively. This article explains how shared cloud storage works, the benefits of this storage model, and how to avoid common pitfalls.

What is Shared Cloud Storage?

Shared cloud storage is a method of storing data from multiple customers on the same shared infrastructure. That does not mean that your cloud data isn¡¯t private, just that it doesn¡¯t reside on its own private storage hardware. Shared cloud storage is delivered as a virtualized service decoupled from the underlying hardware infrastructure. Each customer¡¯s data is stored in its own logical pool, which keeps it separate from everyone else¡¯s data to ensure privacy while allowing providers to distribute data across multiple servers in multiple locations.

Generally speaking, when someone says ¡°cloud storage,¡± they¡¯re talking about shared cloud storage from a public cloud provider. By comparison, private cloud storage is the term for storing data on dedicated, private cloud hardware.

The Benefits of Shared Cloud Storage

Shared cloud storage provides many advantages over on-premises and private cloud storage. The benefits of shared cloud storage include:

 

Scalability

Shared cloud storage can be scaled up or down on-demand as your requirements change without purchasing additional hardware. Some shared cloud storage uses elastic scaling, automatically adding or removing capacity to ensure you¡¯re only paying for the resources you¡¯re actively using.

 

Cost Reduction

Since cloud storage is so easily scalable, you can ensure you¡¯re only ever paying for the capacity you need, reducing waste in your billing. In addition, you don¡¯t need to purchase and upkeep any storage hardware, reducing operational expenses.

 

Availability

Shared cloud storage can be accessed at any time from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. In addition, most major cloud providers use globally distributed infrastructure, which ensures availability even if an outage or natural disaster affects one of their data centers.

The Challenges of Shared Cloud Storage

While there are many advantages to using shared storage in the cloud, there are some challenges to be aware of, including:

 

Lack of Control

When you move your data to the public cloud, you lose control over things like physical security, operating system patches, and network optimization. That makes it crucial to choose a trusted shared cloud storage provider. Before agreeing to migrate your data, you need to review their security certifications and service level agreements. In addition, you should shore up the cloud security measures you do have control over, such as authentication, access control policies, and firewalls.

 

Human Error

Misconfiguration of cloud security settings is a leading cause of data breaches. Often, these mistakes are due to a lack of training and experience. Your IT staff must be given the time and resources needed to learn how to configure your shared cloud storage and safely add integrations and APIs. Automation is also a key tool in reducing human error, so you may want to consider automatic configuration management and vulnerability testing solutions to bridge the skills gap.

 

Performance Degradation

Cloud storage resources themselves are often very fast. However, you may run into performance issues if you need to use that data with on-premises solutions such as EDA (electronic design automation) software. That¡¯s why moving these applications to the same public cloud where your data resides is often beneficial. For example, Synopsys Cloud delivers cloud-native EDA tools integrated with Microsoft Azure¡¯s public cloud, so you get chip design capabilities and shared cloud storage all in one SaaS platform.

Synopsys, EDA, and the Cloud

Synopsys is the industry¡¯s largest provider of electronic design automation (EDA) technology used in the design and verification of semiconductor devices, or chips. With Synopsys Cloud, we¡¯re taking EDA to new heights, combining the availability of advanced compute and storage infrastructure with unlimited access to EDA software licenses on-demand so you can focus on what you do best ¨C designing chips, faster. Delivering cloud-native EDA tools and pre-optimized hardware platforms, an extremely flexible business model, and a modern customer experience, Synopsys has reimagined the future of chip design on the cloud, without disrupting proven workflows.

 

Take a Test Drive!

Synopsys technology drives innovations that change how people work and play using high-performance silicon chips. Let Synopsys power your innovation journey with cloud-based EDA tools. Sign up to try Synopsys Cloud for free!


About The Author

Gurbir Singh is group director, Cloud Engineering, at Synopsys. He has a demonstrated history of leadership in the software industry. In his current role, he leads the development of the Synopsys Cloud product, which enables customers to do chip design on the cloud using EDA-as-a-Service (SaaS) as well as flexible pay-per-use models. Gurbir has run organizations to develop cloud SaaS products, machine learning applications, AI/ML platforms, enterprise web applications, and high-end customer applications. He is experienced in building world- class technology teams. Gurbir has a master¡¯s degree in computer science, along with patents and contributions to publications.

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