Software-defined storage startup SoftNAS launched a free tool that calculates the cost savings associated with using SoftNAS SmartTiers. The calculator shows customers how much they can save on storage costs from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure by using the tiering feature.

SoftNAS SmartTiers is an automated feature built into the company’s cloud data platform, SoftNAS Cloud 4. The feature helps to move legacy data and applications from more expensive, high-performance block and SSD storage to less expensive object storage. According to SoftNAS, object storage is 20-times less expensive than SSD storage in the cloud.

The SoftNAS calculator estimates the optimal amount of public storage costs for use cases, and can help determine which applications and data should be moved to the cloud based on cost efficiency. It takes into account which cloud infrastructure vendor a company is using (AWS or Azure), how many terabytes of data will be stored in the cloud, use of high availability, how many tiers of storage the company needs, predicted year-over-year growth, Tier 1 and Tier 2 storage types, and the percentage of data kept in Tier 1 storage. It then reports potential cost savings over a three year period using SoftNAS.

SoftNAS launched its cloud platform last October. It includes three cloud-native software editions — Cloud Essentials, Cloud Enterprise, and Cloud Platinum. It works as an alternative to hardware-based storage, on-premises network attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SAN), and file servers. It replaces these with cloud object storage and helps scale it to enterprise needs. SmartTiers then helps enterprises or businesses migrate large applications and data into the cloud.

The platform represented a shift for the company as it rebranded itself as a hybrid cloud data platform provider. It had previously built a cloud-based object storage platform that supported public clouds. However, as the market shifted, SoftNAS wanted to position itself to be the cloud data control layer in the cloud stack.