Press Releases

DreamHost Introduces DreamObjects Cloud Storage Service

DreamHost Introduces DreamObjects Cloud Storage Service

Inexpensive Object Storage Accessible via API or Third-Party Apps

LOS ANGELES, California—September 5, 2012—DreamHost®, a global web and cloud hosting company, today announced DreamObjects, an inexpensive, scalable object storage service that was developed from the ground up to provide a reliable, flexible cloud storage solution for entrepreneurs and developers.

DreamObjects is fully compatible with APIs of other popular object storage services, making it ideal for application developers looking for faster performance and better reliability. Individuals and businesses looking to backup or store their files, media, and data online can do so simply and quickly, paying for the storage they use.

DreamHost is notorious for packing as much value as possible into complex services hidden behind easy-to-use interfaces and plain-english messaging, and DreamObjects is no exception. The price per GB of storage is just 7 cents per month for usage-based billing, and monthly prepaid plans go below 5 cents per GB to store 50 TB or more of data from your truly awesome digital life or social media startup venture. Data transfer out of the service is a low 7 cents per GB, and there are no nickel and dime charges for API requests or other bothersome fees.

“DreamHost is on a mission to give every content creator, entrepreneur and developer the freedom to create on the Internet. We do this by launching and supporting awesomely-engineered, super-flexible, and uber-value web and cloud services, and DreamObjects is definitely in this illustrious category,” explained Simon Anderson, CEO of DreamHost. “In fact, the software we’re using to run DreamObjects is so high-voltage and super-secret that I can’t even say the name of it…without lisping at least.”

DreamObjects is powered by Ceph®, the revolutionary open source, massively scalable, distributed storage system. Ceph’s architecture delivers true storage virtualization and advanced redundancy, as the one-of-a-kind CRUSH algorithm intelligently replicates data across the storage cluster and continuously rebalances that distributed data to maintain the highest level of reliability. As an open source project, Ceph frees DreamObjects users from the restrictions of vendor lock-in, and because it runs on top of inexpensive server hardware, Ceph drives down DreamHost’s cost per gigabyte, which translates to big savings for their customers.

“Inktank is very excited to support DreamHost’s industry-transforming object storage service,” said Bryan Bogensberger, President & COO of Inktank. “By leveraging the massively scalable open source Ceph storage technology, DreamHost is able to innovate cloud storage and compete with the industry giants and, longer term, enable true hybrid cloud storage to those standing up Ceph in their own private data centers!”

Canonical Ltd’s Ubuntu Linux 12.4 powers DreamObjects and was selected for its performance and scalability. Kyle MacDonald, VP Cloud at Canonical commented; “Canonical is pleased to see another leading cloud provider building their cloud infrastructure on Ubuntu. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is the fastest, easiest and most cost effective way to build cloud infrastructures and it’s the reference operating system for both Openstack and the Ceph file system. With scalability and openness built in, Ubuntu is the best choice for delivering Dreamhost’s high performance cloud storage service.”

DreamHost has also selected the Opscode Private Chef framework to automate the provisioning and configuration of the technology powering DreamObjects.

“DreamHost is answering the enterprise appetite for massive storage capacity with a unique service combining cloud scale and data center reliability,” said Jay Wampold, VP of Marketing, Opscode. “By using Opscode Private Chef to automate its Ceph-powered platform, DreamHost is enabling businesses to store limitless amounts of data with the security of traditional storage offerings.”

API-compatible with Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files, DreamObjects also enables access to a vast third-party app ecosystem that provides additional functionality to DreamHost’s storage service. Users who already have data stored in S3 or Cloud Files can use DreamHost’s easy-to-use migration tool to automatically transfer data into DreamObjects.

Cloud storage company ElephantDrive was a user of DreamObjects early in its development. “We’ve tested DreamObjects as a storage platform for our backup and file synch services, and we think it’s a competitive and flexible solution that we plan on using to enable us to continue to drive innovation,” said ElephantDrive’s CEO Michael Fisher.

For more information about the DreamObjects cloud storage service, please visit the following site:

https://www.dreamhost.com/cloud/storage/

About DreamHost

DreamHost is a leading web and cloud hosting company with over 330,000 customers and 1.2 million websites, blogs, and apps hosted worldwide. The company offers a wide spectrum of web and cloud hosting solutions including Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Servers (VPS), Dedicated Server Hosting, Domain Name Registration, and the cloud storage service, DreamObjects. Please visit https://www.dreamhost.com/ for more information.

About Inktank

Inktank is the company delivering Ceph—the massively scalable, open source, distributed storage system. Launched by some of the leading developers of Ceph, Inktank’s mission is to help organizations fully leverage the transformative power of Ceph to decrease storage costs, increase operational flexibility and free themselves from restrictive and expensive proprietary storage systems. Inktank provides best-in-class professional services and support offerings to enterprises, service providers, and cloud platforms. Please visit http://www.inktank.com/ for more information.

About Ceph

Ceph is a massively scalable, open source, distributed storage system. It is comprised of an object store, block store, and a POSIX-compatible distributed file system. The platform is capable of auto-scaling to the exabyte level and beyond, it runs on commodity hardware, it is self-healing and self-managing, and has no single point of failure. Ceph is in the Linux kernel, integrated in KVM/QEMU and is integrated with the OpenStack™, and CloudStack cloud operating systems. As a result of its open source nature, this portable storage platform may be installed and used in public or private clouds. Please visit http://www.ceph.com/ for more information.

© 2012 New Dream Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
DreamHost is a registered trademark of New Dream Network, LLC.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Note: Press releases are snapshots in time that reference services, features, or policies that may have changed materially since the date of their issue. Please review the rest of our website for current information.

Press Contact

Brett Dunst

VP, Corporate Communications
brett.dunst @ dreamhost.com