What encompasses cloud-native storage?

Cloud-native storage refers to storage solutions that are specifically designed to optimize the development, deployment, and management of applications in cloud environments. This type of storage takes full advantage of cloud infrastructure characteristics, particularly flexibility and scalability.

The essence of cloud-native storage lies in its ability to support elastic resource usage, where resources can be provisioned and de-provisioned dynamically based on the needs of applications. This responsiveness is critical for applications that may experience fluctuating workloads, as cloud-native storage can automatically scale to meet these demands without requiring manual intervention.

Moreover, cloud-native storage typically integrates smoothly with various cloud services, ensuring that applications benefit from high availability, durability, and performance. Such features are a fundamental part of modern cloud architectures, enabling organizations to build and innovate quickly.

In contrast, solutions focused solely on on-premises applications or those that rely on specialized hardware do not harness the full range of benefits that come with cloud-native approaches, such as integrated management and native support for containerized applications. Local data backups alone do not encompass the broader, scalable, and flexible capabilities essential for cloud-native environments.