In 2015, we kept hearing the same request. It went something like: “I love your computer backup service, but I also need a place to store data for other reasons—backing up servers, hosting files, and building applications. Can you give me direct access to your storage?” We listened, and we built Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.
To build on my own words from the time, “It. Was. HUGE.” B2 Cloud Storage fundamentally changed the trajectory of our company. Over just the past two years, we’ve added more customer data than we did in our entire first decade. We now have customers in over 160 countries and they’ve entrusted us with more than an exabyte of data.
Brands like American Public Television, Patagonia, and Verizon’s Complex Networks—alongside more than 100,000 other customers—use Backblaze B2 to back up and archive their data; host their files online; offload their NAS, SAN, and other storage systems; replace their aging tape infrastructure; and as the store for the applications they’ve built. Many of them have told us how the low cost enabled them to do what they wouldn’t have been able to, and the simplicity to do it quickly.
I’m proud that we’ve been able to help customers by offering the most affordable download prices in the industry, making it easy to migrate from the cloud oligarchy, and offering unprecedented choice in how our customers use their data.
Today, I’m thrilled to announce the public beta launch of our most requested feature: S3 Compatible APIs for B2 Cloud Storage.
If you have wanted to use B2 Cloud Storage but your application or device didn’t support it, or you wanted to move to cloud storage in general but couldn’t afford it, you should be able to instantly start with the new S3 Compatible APIs for Backblaze B2.
In practical terms, this launch means that you can now instantly plug into the Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage service by doing little more than pointing your data to a new destination. There’s no need to write new code, no change in workflow, and no downtime. Our S3 Compatible APIs are ready to use, and our solutions engineering team is ready to help you get started.
But they’re not alone. We have a number of launch partners leveraging our S3 Compatible APIs so you can use B2 Cloud Storage. These partners include IBM Aspera, Quantum, and Veeam.
Cinnafilm, IBM Aspera, Igneous, LucidLink, Marquis, Masstech, Primestream, Quantum, Scale Logic, Storage Made Easy, Studio Network Solutions, Veeam, Venera Technologies, Vidispine, Xendata. These companies join a list of more than 100 other software, hardware, and cloud companies already offering Backblaze B2 to support their customers’ cloud storage needs.
For too long, cloud storage has been an oligarchy, leaving customers with choices that all look the same: expensive, opaque, complicated. We pride ourselves on being simple, reliable, and affordable. As Inc. magazine put it recently, B2 Cloud Storage is “Everything Amazon’s AWS Isn’t.”
With B2 Cloud Storage S3 Compatible APIs, we’re making the choice for something different a no-brainer. While there are all new ways to use Backblaze B2, our pricing is unchanged. We remain the affordability leader, and our prices have nothing to hide. With Backblaze, customers don’t need to choose what data they actually use—all data is instantly available.
While we’re opening this new pathway to B2 Cloud Storage, it doesn’t mean we’re changing anything about the service you already love. Our Native APIs are still performant, elegant, and supported. We’re just paving the way for more of you to see what it feels like when a cloud storage solution works for you.
We hope you like it.