With the support for stateful applications in Kubernetes maturing and enterprises use Kubernetes in production, the day 2 data operations are coming into focus. As organizations use Kubernetes to run databases, big data and ML/AI operations, they have to focus on the data management capabilities like snapshots, backup and recovery, data governance, etc.. Many traditional vendors are stepping in to solve these problems but I have been tracking three startups that are more focussed on these capabilities with deeper integration with Kubernetes. Robin, Kasten and Portworx are three startups that offer Kubernetes native data management capabilities. In this blog post, I will briefly highlight these three startups.
Robin
Robin.io delivers high performance storage and data management solutions for Kubernetes. They offer Robin Platform, a hyper converged Kubernetes platform, and Robin Storage which works with various Kubernetes platforms like Google Kubernetes Engine and Red Hat OpenShift to provide high performance storage necessary for stateful workloads along with the data management capabilities for day 2 operations. Robin platform is useful for running databases and other stateful applications like Big Data and ML/AI which requires high performance storage. Their platform extends Kubernetes support for stateful workloads to make it reliable to operate at a scale needed for today’s enterprises.
Robin Advantage
- Focus on high performance to meet the needs of big data and ML/AI workloads. They could provide bare-metal like performance
- Appstore like developer experience that offer agility, making DevOps seamless
- Advanced data management capabilities like snapshots, backup and restore that is application aware. The latter point is critical because moving data independent of the applications adds additional overhead in the recovery process
K10 by Kasten
Kasten.io’s K10 platform focusses on enabling a comprehensive data management solution for Kubernetes applications. K10 is natively integrated with Kubernetes, bringing data management capabilities across hybrid cloud and multi cloud. Their policy driven data management platform gives enterprise IT teams control over the data, thereby, ensuring compliance at all times. K10 platform offers features such as backup and recovery, application migration, copy management and disaster recovery.
Kasten Advantage
- Their policy driven approach to data management is very attractive for me. One of the biggest issues enterprises faces as they embrace hybrid cloud and multi cloud is the control over their data. A governance focussed data management solution helps solve this issue
- The User eXperience focussed on both developers and operators is interesting
Portworx
Portworx Enterprise is another mature data platform focussed on storage and data management capabilities for Kubernetes. Portworx Store is the Kubernetes native storage that works on any cloud or hardware On-Premises. Portworx Data management provides the backup and migration for Kubernetes applications. Portworx Security integrates with existing IAM system to ensure data security. It allows users to bring their own security key. Portworx Central offers the necessary monitoring capabilities for storage admins.
Portworx Advantage
- Built in HA makes Portworx storage attractive for enterprise workloads. When combined with their monitoring features, it becomes a solid enterprise cloud native storage solution
- The focus on security is important and makes it attractive for enterprises
This is not an exhaustive list of companies in the space. As we speak to enterprise customers and users, we have come across these companies and thought it is worth highlighting them for their focus on day 2 data operations. If you are a vendor focussed on cloud native data management, contact us for a briefing.
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