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IBM Cloud Object Storage

IBM Cloud Object Storage

Overview

What is IBM Cloud Object Storage?

IBM Cloud Object Storage is an IBM Cloud product in the endpoint backup and IaaS categories. It is commonly used for data archiving and backup, for web and mobile applications, and as scalable, persistent storage for analytics.

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Recent Reviews

IBM object storage review

10 out of 10
October 31, 2023
In our BMI application, we utilize IBM Cloud Object Storage to securely store and manage user data, which includes height, weight, age, …
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IBM Cloud is eezy peezy

9 out of 10
July 18, 2023
I had used IBM cloud object storage for training in my organisation. Signing up for the service is a very smooth process and in case there …
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Simple review

9 out of 10
June 20, 2023
As a student learning about cloud technology, I used IBM Cloud Object Storage to store and access your project files, datasets, code …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 5 features
  • Dynamic scaling (131)
    8.9
    89%
  • Security controls (136)
    8.7
    87%
  • Monitoring tools (131)
    8.4
    84%
  • Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime (129)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Lite Plan

Free

Cloud
Up to 25 GB/mo. For all terms go to https://www.ibm.com/cloud/object-storage

Standard Plan

There is no minimum fee, pay only for what you use

Cloud
For pricing and all terms go to https://www.ibm.com/cloud/object-storage

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://cloud.ibm.com/objectstorage/cre…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Features

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

IaaS provides the basic building blocks for an IT infrastructure like servers, storage, and networking, in an on-demand model over the Internet

8.4
Avg 8.1
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Product Details

What is IBM Cloud Object Storage?

IBM Cloud Object Storage can be used to store practically limitless amounts of data. It is commonly used as storage for web sites and mobile applications, data archiving and backup, enterprise file services, and analytics. Flexible storage class tiers with a policy-based archive lets users manage costs while meeting data access needs. The integrated Aspera high-speed data transfer option makes it easier to transfer data to and from Cloud Object Storage, and query-in-place functionality supports running analytics directly on users' data.

Features

Storage classes. Storage class tiers are available for active (Standard), cool (Vault), cold (Cold Vault) and dynamic (Flex) data

Archive. Age-based archive policy to move objects from any storage class to long term, lower-cost storage

Resiliency options. Options include Cross Region, Regional or Single Data Center

Integrated Aspera high-speed data transfer. Datacan be transferred to and from IBM Cloud Object Storage with no cost for data ingress

Query-in-place. Analytics can run directly on data at rest using IBM SQL Query

Data durability. Designed for 99.999999999-percent data durability

Encryption. Server-side encryption with encryption keys or IBM Key Protect

Identity and Access Management. Access control uses role-based policies


https://ibm.biz/Cloud_Object_Storage_product_page




IBM Cloud Object Storage Features

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Features

  • Supported: Service-level Agreement (SLA) uptime
  • Supported: Dynamic scaling
  • Supported: Elastic load balancing
  • Supported: Monitoring tools
  • Supported: Security controls

IBM Cloud Object Storage Screenshots

Screenshot of Cloud Object Storage set upScreenshot of storage bucket creationScreenshot of the Access Management interfaceScreenshot of the interface to create, add and management of Storage BucketsScreenshot of data uploadingScreenshot of usage details

IBM Cloud Object Storage Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesWorldwide
Supported LanguagesEnglish, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean.

Frequently Asked Questions

IBM Cloud Object Storage is an IBM Cloud product in the endpoint backup and IaaS categories. It is commonly used for data archiving and backup, for web and mobile applications, and as scalable, persistent storage for analytics.

Google Cloud Storage, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service), and Azure Blob Storage are common alternatives for IBM Cloud Object Storage.

Reviewers rate Dynamic scaling highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of IBM Cloud Object Storage are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(546)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(76-100 of 145)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
August 03, 2020

IBM Cloud in education

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I work as a website developer under Software Development Cell, USICT. The main objective of this organization is to deploy a seasonal website for a hackathon or admissions. Mostly it develops websites for the ACM chapter of the university. We as SDC, use IBM Cloud Object Storage for PDFs and to host images of the events mostly for static website hosting and static content distribution. Right now the service is used only by our SDC department.
  • Most durable and reliable when compared to an on-premises storage warehouse. Data written to cloud storage is stored across other regions to achieve almost 99% uptime and durability.
  • A secure way to keep user and organization data safe. With IBM Cloud an administrator can set role-based policies and access permission across each level.
  • Cost effective technique to store Terabytes of data.
  • Personally, there are few to count but sometimes the user experience does not appeal to me.
  • When compared to other competitors in the market, IBM lags behind in community meetings and meetup/on-line events and demos.
In the era of the data-driven world, IBM Cloud Object Storage gives the power to analyze BIG data. As an organization, we use Cloud Object Storage mainly for archiving data and for backup.
Priyadarshan Alok Joshi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am using IBM Cloud Object Storage for my personal analysis of stocks and returns using the Python language. I liked IBM Cloud Object Storage very much. It is fast, responsive, and efficient with lots of data fed in. I build linear and multiple regression models and run using the cloud and the response is very fast and insightful. Several things help me like the simplicity of the interface--everything fits nicely into the cloud interface.
  • Maintain formats well
  • Very easy to open and modify data
  • Interactive
  • Data is automatically deleted sometimes if a query is mistaken. They could add a pop-up to verify if we want to delete the data.
  • When running SQL commands and when I want to see the results, it would be better if they would pop-up in another window.
  • Make data addition more easy and in fewer steps
IBM Cloud Object Storage can be used anywhere. It is fast interactive and beautiful to the eyes. I like using IBM Cloud Object Storage for my personal use now and soon I will be shifting to the full version to use it extensively for all my technical work. I highly recommend any individual or a company to use IBM Cloud Object Storage
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
IBM Object storage was used in the implementation of IBM CMOD. Our business archived all kinds of statements and reports for a longer term. IBM Object Storage was used for the purpose of archiving data. Initially, we had the local storage, but eventually, considering the maintenance of the platform, the documents are moved to the cloud.
  • Easy to setup
  • Easy integration with IBM products
  • Scalable for needs
  • No issues with speed and connectivity
  • UI interface needs improvement.
  • Documentation and easy use of API.
  • Navigation on dashboard.
When using IBM products, IBM COS is an integrated way of storing the data on the cloud. There is a free plan to try out before using it or for testing proof of concepts. It can definitely serve as a backup point for enterprise infrastructures. It can be used to store any type of data.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am using IBM Cloud Object Storage for developing certain solutions with IBM Watson services. I store media files like audio and video files and also files with data like spreadsheets, CSVs, JSON objects. It is very easy to upload files to Cloud Object Storage and work with them. Most of the processes like adding credentials and adding them as streaming objects are pretty much automated. There is ample documentation available online and on the IBM cloud website for reference.
  • Easy to use over other clouds like file upload and download. Also the feature of cataloging helps in maintaining data repositories efficiently.
  • Adding credentials directly to services and development notebooks
  • Embedded IAM authentication helps in integrating with other IBM cloud services
  • Lite plan needs to provide more data storage capacity for new users
  • Need to provide data backup facility without extra charges
  • File operations should be allowed inside Cloud Object Storage
IBM Cloud Object Storage is one of the simplest and most effective cloud storage systems available in today's world.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are using IBM Cloud Object Storage to store copies of data that our custom software generates and transmits via SSH. We are using it per client (bucket per client). We are using it across our entire company and for our clients as well. IBM Cloud Object Storage solves our need to store encrypted data in a secure environment that can be programmed to send or receive when we need it.
  • Even though it is object storage, I can still use folder structure and store data.
  • It adds yet another layer of encrypted protection to our already strong system.
  • It was easy to set up and will be valuable to each and every client we help. Ease of use is pretty key.
  • Tech support was available via chat and helped us set up our bucket and other needs.
  • IBM Cloud Object Storage has errors in their documentation and they could fix the errors.
  • While tech support via chat was great, the chat interface was out of sync and very buggy. It must be fixed. It was very difficult to communicate with tech support.
  • The entire IBM Cloud Object Storage system is a bit confusing without the use of lots of documentation and some things that were supposed to be automatically set up were not.
IBM Cloud Object Storage is excellent for backup, storage of important files and fine for programming use-cases where files must be sent or received. It is relatively easy to maintain once set up and the learning curve is not too bad.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently, we are using it for testing purposes. The long-term goal is to use it as a data storage service for our activities with IBM Discovery. The fact that we get to use up to 25 GB in a free tier version and test it with API services, convinced us to move from Box to IBM Cloud Object Storage.
  • 25 GB of free storage.
  • Easy import of data.
  • API integration.
  • Process could be faster.
  • An interface that caters for people who are using other IBM services, i.e. Discovery.
  • To add it as a widget that can quickly be implemented when using other IBM services that need storage.
Appropriate scenarios: Plugging IBM Cloud Object Storage with other services, i.e. Discovery.
Inappropriate scenarios: Implementation steps are not suitable for a non-technical person. This is unfortunate because there are more people testing this type of service that are not software developers.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It has ensured confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of the Biometrics Civil, Pensioners and Beneficiary Register. This is mainly because it supports the applied biometrics models, i.e fingerprints, voice and multi-model biometrics data exchange with other systems for authentication, identification and verification purposes.
  • API biometrics data exchange.
  • Biometrics as a service web application development.
  • Low costs.
  • Scalability.
  • Availability.
  • Security.
  • Web Page Processing/Loading Speeds
Well suited for biometrics systems (template storage and security).
Kennedy Seijas | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The company generates tons of data each second when the main system is interacting with Amazon and eBay via APIs.

This information is stored for later data analysis for marketing and production proposes. The Cloud Store is ideal for data backup and to improve security and reduce data risk.

Our entire organization has been benefited from this technology and making our job easier.
  • Very easy integration to various tools.
  • Replacement for offsite backup.
  • More efficient than tape backup for geographic redundancy.
  • Great for disaster recovery.
  • It would be nice to have more explanation videos for each section offered.
  • It would be great to have all the files of a particular project in a single bucket.
IBM Cloud Object Storage is well-suited to large amounts of unstructured data use cases such as videos, audio files, photos, email, web pages, and sensor data. It is constantly available, highly secure foundation, and a cost-effective. Also, it simplifies scalability and backups for customers.

It is a pay-as-you-go service available for storing large volumes of data, securely and reliably. So enterprises have more control of the data consumes and budget for it.

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Object Storage is being used by employees on a personal level to complete online certifications. It is also being used by some employees to work on a project team level to build successful python programs and their builtin features provided by IBM Clouds. I would recommend my friends/colleagues to use it.
  • Built-in compilers.
  • Certifications studio.
  • Bucket management.
  • Bucket naming convention.
  • Watson studio layout.
  • Paid membership fee.
IBM Cloud is very well suited in testing and developing online projects and help the users to complete the certifications for their built-in compilers. IBM Cloud storage service is very professional and mature. IBM Cloud also provides excellent features in DevOps tools like Kubernetes and other related tools.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Object Storage is being used by a cross-institutional research group for sharing data among researchers in different universities. Data sharing for files with huge sizes has become easy and organized.
  • Fast uploading/downloading, drag-and-drop options available for files
  • Detailed tutorials available
  • The user interface is cluttered. Very difficult to navigate to the relevant resources for a beginner. The navigation process is not obvious.
Sharing data greater than 1TB seems like a job for IBM Cloud Object Storage.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Object Storage is currently being used by the whole organization to upload files on the IBM Cloud.
As I work in a bank, security is very important and this is possible by offering the possibility of encrypting the loaded data by using Key Protect. We're also using it to archive infrequent accessed data for long-term retention.
  • File storage.
  • Data protection and security.
  • Query data in place.
  • Data archiving.
  • At first, it is not easy to master the user interface.
  • Encrypt data stored in IBM Cloud Object Storage.
  • IBM Cloud IAM roles can be enforced to be applied to IBM Cloud Object storage.
  • Flexible storage class tiers and low-cost archive.
  • Possibility to protect data against deletion or modification (Immutable Data Storage).
  • Possibility to use IBM SQL Query to analyze data in Cloud Object Storage.
Christian Bradley | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
It is currently being used by the whole organisation to backup data from Office 365 to address the compliance and security issues around Office 365 data. We currently utilise Veeam to facilitate the backups and IBM Cloud Object Storage to store the encrypted data from Exchange Online, Sharepoint and OneDrive for Business.
  • Ease of Use
  • Compatibility
  • Price
  • Storage Objects
  • Haven't found any yet.
Both Office 365 backups and Infrastructure network backups fit well with the aid of Veeam, it is also usable as a public storage location creating a public cloud for your data, in a safe, secure, encrypted environment.
Private cloud capabilities are massively increased based on the object storage and IBM have extremely competitive data rates.
April 13, 2020

Very fast, secure

Ben Holmes | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Used in moving custom files for data science exploration in collaboration with Watson Studio.
  • Very fast
  • Easy to use
  • Cheap
  • Connections are bit difficult to configure.
  • Security is difficult understand.
  • Providing access is a difficulty.
Ad hoc movement of data into IBM's stack of applications on the cloud.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I only use it for my learning section via Courser. IBM Cloud looks very similar to some competitor's products. However, there are a few companies have a much larger market share in the cloud space.
  • No credit card information needed for a free account.
  • Simple to use.
  • Fewer users.
It is good to use for an individual but from an enterprise perspective, it may not be a great option since the coverage and the service are still not comparable to some market leaders. As a result, I would give a 7 out of ten due to the reasons mentioned above.
April 13, 2020

IBM rocks

Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use IBM Cloud Object Storage for my assets like images, videos. It helps me a lot because I don't have many storage resources, as videos are very large in size. IBM Cloud Object Storage is fast and I can access my assets or I can store my applications there so that whenever I require, I can download them from IBM Cloud Object Storage, which is very helpful.
  • Easy to use interface.
  • Fast access.
  • UX experience.
IBM Cloud Object Storage is well suited in storing large files. Like tons of GB of applications we can easily store in IBM COS. It is easy to use, as IBM is a very trusted brand it almost provides 99% availability, we can also protect our assets by keeping them private, so that it requires some password or key to access.
April 10, 2020

Great product

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use it for personal purposes to test data sets, and it works great for this use.
  • It's easy to access.
  • Great community help.
  • Free storage.
  • Difficult to navigate between notebooks.
It's well suited for the cases where a user wants to test smaller data sets for free.
Bobby Iliev | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using the IBM COS for our Kubernetes cluster.
  • Really well documented.
  • Native integration with K8s.
  • Easy to provision.
  • Better documentation regarding Kubernetes integration.
It is quite handy if you have a Kubernetes cluster as it comes with out-of-the-box integration.
Christopher J Evans | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We have been using IBM Cloud Object Storage since 2019. Overall, it fits very well for the needs of my department: it is quick, easy to use, and easy for first-time users. Creating object storage instantly is the best feature, literally, it takes 10 seconds. The user interface is easy to use and easy to learn. I have a stable and robust parallel file system thanks to IBM. The support desk is so helpful. When I am in need of help, I can reach them quickly. Their response times are satisfying my needs. Lastly, it is secure. I know my data is in the hands of a trusted company, IBM.
  • Secure, stable, and robust parallel file system
  • Easy integration to various tools
  • Connection speed, high bandwidth
  • None
  • None
  • None
As a chemicals company, we have a huge archive that consists of chemical syntheses data. This data needs to be stored securely. Recently, on-premises solutions have become unsustainable for our company. Hard drive faults, data breaches, and regulatory compliance needs make it harder to keep data on the company site. Thus, we decided to switch to the cloud. IBM provides fast and secure service. Their pricing scheme is affordable. Their support team really helped to facilitate the migration of tons of data to IBM.
Keldon Alleyne | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am testing IBM Cloud Object Storage for testing machine learning models and workflows, and potentially for use in a cross platform videogame (using other IBM Cloud services for processing)

As a games developer I need to offload as much processing as I can. I've not fully made use of it yet, but my tests have shown IBM's Cloud offering and the Cloud Object Storage to fit smoothly into some workflows (due to the diverse range of integrated services).

It's still in early stages, but so far I like what I've seen.
  • Integrates with other IBM Cloud services
  • Email reports and notifications I can observe at a glance
  • Very flexible offerings (including low cost storage)
  • Good pricing
  • The UX for IBM's cloud platforms can take some time to get used to
  • IBM's cloud platform pages are quite heavy, making navigation a bit of a chore
IBM Cloud Object Storage could be used for CDN, or as a replacement for Amazon's cloud storage services.

I've never looked at IBM Cloud Object Storage as a service I would use in isolation, but with the range of cloud services available (including Kubernetes, etc.) it's quite easy to roll out services on the IBM cloud platform.

It also feels more stable and secure than most. That's entirely subjective, but their informative status updates make me feel confident in the service.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In the university we do not have organizational subscription to IBM Cloud Object Storage. Instead, we subscribe to it individually and it is paid by research funds. Thus, each researcher can customize their object storage based on their need.
My research simulates the parts of the brain and as a whole those parts act like a brain. Each simulated part is defined as an object on the cloud service and works together.
IBM's Cloud Object Storage allows me to use powerful devices working simultaneously to achieve my simulation goals.
  • Resilient storage.
  • Powerful infrastructure.
  • Customizable service.
  • Scalable infrastructure based on my needs.
  • Cluster working scheme on various locations.
  • Quick responding support desk.
  • Confusing user interface for beginners.
  • Inadequate tutorials on the web related to IBM COS.
IBM COS was recommended to me by my colleague from the university when I was in need of a cluster of computers. Until now it has worked perfectly, and I am glad to know about COS. I can securely store my research data while I process them with the power of machines brought together by cloud infrastructure. Also, its monitoring dashboard is really fruitful. I can follow and define where there is a bottleneck on my code. Thus, I can optimize my app based on these logs.

I recommend it to my colleagues who need powerful and robust computing infrastructure. Apart from computational power, it serves well as a backup point.
Iyed Yacoubi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I advise my Veeam customers to use IBM Cloud Object Storage for cloud backup externalization projects.
  • Flexible infrastructure
  • Cheap storage
  • More integration with Veeam for Direct restore to IBM
  • Veeam Native IBM instances backup
IBM Cloud Object Storage has a good price, is flexible, and has a decent integration with Veeam.
Mahmut Halil Öztürk | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IBM Cloud Object Storage was recommended to me by my supervisor as a solution to satisfy my higher process power needs. As a part of my research project, I have been developing a real-time climate data tracker database and analyzer. The weather data for one place is millions of lines of data as the sensors record data per second. Therefore, I need bigger storage, a faster connection, and good processing power. IBM is the best solution for my needs so far.
  • Fast connection speed
  • Strong infrastructure
  • Strong process power
  • Scalable for needs
  • Affordable
  • Hard to learn at the beginning.
  • Lack of language support.
I recommend IBM's product to those who need to process huge data in a quick way. Even though I optimized my code for the best results, it was slow on my personal cluster. However, after I switched to IBM, it became faster and I got results real quick. My real-time climate data tracker database and analyzer code contains data recoded by sensors per second. Big storage and fast data transmission are essential for this research. IBM saved my life on this.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use IBM Cloud Object Storage for pursuing IBM Data Science and Engineering Professional Certificate offered by IBM through Coursera. IBM Cloud Object Store helped me access my data files to be incorporated in my projects conveniently in the form of a cloud object. Thus, helping me to access my data files in a convenient manner through the cloud and my data is always available to me.
  • APIs could be easily integrated.
  • XLS files could be added to a Jupyter Notebook through IBM Cloud Object Storage in IBM Watson Studio.
  • SQL files could be added to a Jupyter Notebook through IBM Cloud Object Storage in IBM Watson Studio.
  • CSV files could be added to a Jupyter Notebook through IBM Cloud Object Storage in IBM Watson Studio.
  • Simplified documentation for the services provided.
  • I would like to see better offers for students and researchers using the platform.
  • I would like to see resources hosted in India as well.
For a student using the Lite Plan of the IBM Cloud Object Store if there is a need for CSV, XLS, SQL files in a Jupyter Notebook, then IBM Cloud Object Store will definitely be helpful in keeping the data files on the cloud. As a student using the Lite Plan, only one instance can be used by the user, I suggest this number to be improved for the students and researchers.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
I'm part of my organization's IBM practice and we provide consulting services to our client on usage and fitment of IBM products based on the industry they belong to and the problem they want to solve.
We usually deal with cloud products but also have high expertise within core IBM products category as well. I'm currently exploring using COS along with IBM Watson Studio to create analytic solutions for my client.
  • Working with large data.
  • Search indexing.
  • Free service data limit.
  • File format support beyond CSV.
  • External datasource OOTB support for packaged vendors.
Well suited for:
  • Dashboards
  • Aggregated data and text key-based search indexing
  • Where you need to pay as you go and don't have a huge data requirement
  • As a free data storage service for faster time to market services like dashboards and data refinement flows
  • Non RDBMS related requirements
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