Object-Based Storage Market By Component (Software, Hardware, Services); By Deployment Mode (On-Premises, Hybrid Cloud, Public Cloud); By Use Case (Backup & Archival, AI Workloads, Media & Entertainment, Surveillance, Medical Imaging); By Enterprise Size (Large Enterprises, SMEs); By Industry Vertical (IT & Telecom, BFSI, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Media & Entertainment, Government, Manufacturing, Others); By Geography, Segment Revenue Estimation, Forecast, 2024–2030

Introduction And Strategic Context

The Global Object-Based Storage Market will expand at a CAGR of 12.4%, growing from an estimated USD 9.7 billion in 2024 to nearly USD 19.8 billion by 2030, according to Strategic Market Research.

 

Object-based storage (OBS) isn’t new, but it's finally stepping into the spotlight as data growth outpaces traditional architectures. Unlike file or block storage, OBS breaks data into discrete objects — each tagged with metadata and stored in a flat address space. This structure makes it ideal for unstructured data, which now accounts for over 80% of global data generated.

 

The strategic appeal of OBS lies in its scalability. Enterprises, hyperscalers, and even edge platforms are pushing for storage models that can handle billions of files without choking on complexity or performance. With AI workloads, video content, IoT, and backup systems driving petabyte-scale demands, the flat, schema-less structure of object storage makes it a go-to architecture.

 

From a vendor standpoint, cloud-native object storage solutions like AWS S3, Azure Blob, and Google Cloud Storage have already proven the model at scale. Now, enterprises are looking to replicate that same elasticity and cost-efficiency on-prem or across hybrid environments — particularly in finance, healthcare, media, and government sectors.

 

Regulatory tailwinds are also fueling demand. New data sovereignty rules and cybersecurity frameworks (like GDPR, HIPAA, and CISA guidelines) are pushing CIOs to adopt storage that not only scales, but also supports immutability, versioning, and tiered access control — all strengths of object storage systems.

 

On the supply side, both established OEMs and new entrants are redesigning their OBS offerings around containerized microservices, software-defined storage layers, and hardware-agnostic deployment. This means faster time-to-value for customers and lower switching costs — a win for CFOs under pressure to modernize IT without ballooning spend.

 

Also worth noting: object storage is no longer confined to backup and archival roles. It’s now powering active workloads — like machine learning pipelines, analytics sandboxes, and media rendering farms. Some video production studios, for example, now ingest raw 8K footage directly into OBS clusters, skipping the file-storage layer entirely.

 

The strategic conversation has shifted. It’s not “should we adopt object storage?” anymore. It’s “how fast can we re-architect around it?”

Key stakeholders in this market include cloud providers, storage OEMs, managed service providers, large enterprises, content delivery networks, government data centers, and vertical-specific ISVs. Also in the mix: investors betting on long-term data infrastructure plays as digital transformation enters its next phase.

 

Market Segmentation And Forecast Scope

Object-based storage has evolved from a niche archival tool into a mainstream, strategic layer across hybrid and cloud-native environments. The market’s segmentation reflects that shift — with vendors tailoring solutions not only by industry but also by performance tier, deployment model, and integration depth.

This market can be segmented into the following key dimensions:

By Component

• Software

• Hardware

• Services

Most enterprises still adopt object storage as software-defined solutions, either layered on commodity hardware or deployed through containers. Services — especially around migration, cloud integration, and security hardening — are gaining traction, particularly in regulated industries.

 

By Deployment Mode

• On-Premises

• Hybrid Cloud

• Public Cloud

Hybrid deployments dominate in 2024, as IT leaders seek to blend cloud scalability with on-prem security. Public cloud-only usage still appeals to startups and content platforms, while large banks and government institutions lean heavily on hybrid and private models due to compliance needs.

Hybrid object storage is projected to account for roughly 47% of market revenue in 2024, driven by the need for data locality, performance tuning, and cost control.

 

By Use Case

• Backup and Archival

• Media Storage and Content Delivery

• Analytics and AI Workloads

• Surveillance and Sensor Data

• Medical Imaging and Life Sciences

While backup and archival still represent a significant share, the fastest-growing segments are analytics and AI workloads. Organizations building training pipelines for generative AI or video analytics are now turning to OBS for fast, scalable ingestion — particularly when latency is less critical than throughput.

 

By Enterprise Size

• Large Enterprises

• SMEs

Large enterprises currently dominate, owing to the scale of data they generate and retain. That said, SMEs are rapidly adopting pay-as-you-go object storage services from hyperscalers, especially in the video, gaming, and healthtech verticals.

 

By Industry Vertical

• IT and Telecom

• BFSI

• Healthcare and Life Sciences

• Media and Entertainment

• Government and Public Sector

• Manufacturing

• Others (Education, Retail, etc.)

Media and entertainment continues to be the highest-consuming sector, given the high-resolution content lifecycle. But BFSI is emerging as a major adopter — driven by the need for secure long-term retention and real-time fraud analytics.

 

By Region

• North America

• Europe

• Asia Pacific

• Latin America

• Middle East & Africa

North America leads in both adoption and revenue share, but Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region, thanks to massive investments in hyperscale infrastructure in India, Southeast Asia, and China. Countries like Singapore and South Korea are also supporting local cloud providers to reduce reliance on global hyperscalers — a key tailwind for OBS vendors with regional footprints.

 

Market Trends And Innovation Landscape

The object-based storage market isn’t just growing — it’s reinventing itself. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a wave of innovation not just in the technology stack, but in how organizations think about storage altogether. Object storage has moved from a passive data lake role to powering real-time workloads, high-frequency analytics, and even production environments.

Trend 1: Cloud-Native Architectures Are Now the Default

Enterprise demand for Kubernetes-native storage has pushed OBS vendors to retool. The most successful platforms now expose container-ready APIs, offer S3-compatible interfaces, and integrate seamlessly into DevOps pipelines. Some providers are even offering CSI drivers for Kubernetes environments out of the box.

What used to be a storage decision is now a workload decision. If your object storage can’t keep up with microservices, it’s already outdated.

 

Trend 2: AI and Analytics Integration Is a Frontline Requirement

With AI workloads exploding across sectors, object storage platforms are being optimized for high-throughput ingestion and parallel access. That means tighter integration with frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Apache Spark.

Also, next-gen metadata engines are enabling smarter data discovery. Enterprises are tagging, indexing, and searching unstructured datasets without traditional file hierarchies — critical for AI models that rely on labeled input.

 

Trend 3: Tiered Storage and Policy-Based Automation

Storage isn't just about where data lives — it's about how it moves. Policy-driven tiering is now embedded into many OBS platforms, automatically pushing cold data to cheaper storage classes while keeping hot data ready for instant access. This is especially important for media houses, surveillance networks, and genomics platforms that manage both live and archival data.

Some systems now auto-adjust tiers based on access patterns, regulatory timelines, or user roles.

One media firm moved 400 TB of archived 4K content from on-prem NAS to tiered OBS and cut their monthly storage cost by 65%, without touching performance.

 

Trend 4: Growing Role of Immutability and Ransomware Resilience

Cybersecurity pressure is reshaping storage priorities. Object-based storage is increasingly used for immutable backups and tamper-proof data retention. Features like Write Once Read Many (WORM), object locking, and air-gapped snapshots are becoming standard — especially in healthcare, finance, and government.

This isn’t just about compliance. With ransomware attacks hitting every sector, having unalterable storage copies is now a frontline defense.

 

Trend 5: Edge Storage Is Driving Small-Form Object Systems

Edge computing is quietly driving a new wave of lightweight object storage deployments. Manufacturing plants, retail stores, and mobile medical units need local storage that behaves like cloud OBS — scalable, resilient, and API-friendly. Vendors are now delivering containerized OBS nodes that can run on small-form-factor hardware.

Think of it as S3-in-a-box for the edge — a critical enabler for industries that can't afford latency or rely on intermittent connectivity.

 

Trend 6: Open Source and Vendor-Neutral APIs Are Gaining Ground

To avoid vendor lock-in, organizations are gravitating toward open object storage frameworks like MinIO, Ceph, and OpenIO. These tools offer high performance and flexibility, particularly for private or hybrid cloud environments.

At the same time, interoperability is becoming a hard requirement. Even proprietary systems now support S3-compatible APIs as a baseline, ensuring smoother multi-cloud operations.

 

Competitive Intelligence And Benchmarking

The object-based storage landscape is highly competitive — split between legacy enterprise players modernizing their stack, and cloud-native innovators scaling fast with software-defined offerings. There’s no single dominant force, but a cluster of influential companies shaping the market in distinct ways.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

As the pioneer of commercial object storage with Amazon S3, AWS sets the benchmark. It offers unmatched scalability and integration across compute, AI/ML, and analytics services. Its strength isn’t just tech — it’s ecosystem depth. Enterprises don’t just buy object storage from AWS, they build entire architectures around it.

That said, the complexity and costs of S3 at scale have opened space for competitive alternatives, especially in hybrid deployments.

 

Microsoft Azure

Azure Blob Storage has gained significant ground, particularly among organizations already committed to the Microsoft cloud stack. Its native integration with Azure Synapse, Purview, and AI services makes it appealing for data lakes and compliance-heavy sectors.

Azure also invests heavily in security and policy management features — a key differentiator in regulated verticals like finance and healthcare.

 

Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

GCP’s Cloud Storage offering is optimized for data analytics, particularly in conjunction with BigQuery, Vertex AI, and Looker. Google’s strength lies in high-performance object storage for training and serving AI models — making it a go-to for media, retail, and mobility firms running AI/ML pipelines.

Their multi-region durability model also appeals to businesses with global delivery needs and redundancy requirements.

 

IBM

IBM’s object storage platforms focus on hybrid cloud deployments and enterprise compliance. With long-standing relationships in finance and government, IBM delivers high-touch support, secure private cloud options, and object locking features.

Its core strength is integration — tying storage into AI, blockchain, and zSystems environments where IBM already has deep technical footholds.

 

Dell Technologies

Dell’s object storage strategy revolves around PowerScale (formerly Isilon) and ECS (Elastic Cloud Storage). These platforms are targeted at enterprises wanting private or hybrid cloud flexibility with centralized governance.

Dell differentiates itself through infrastructure control and performance tuning — attractive for organizations dealing with video rendering, genomics, or autonomous systems training.

 

Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi brings Japanese engineering to the object storage table, focusing on long-term retention, robust compliance features, and low TCO over decades. Its offerings appeal to government archives, energy sector players, and industrial IoT deployments needing deep storage without constant access.

They don’t lead in scale-out performance, but they’re strong in system reliability and data integrity.

 

MinIO

As an open-source object storage platform, MinIO is emerging as a favorite in Kubernetes environments and edge-cloud setups. It's lean, fast, and S3-compatible out of the box. Enterprises looking to avoid vendor lock-in are integrating MinIO into CI/CD pipelines, internal data lakes, and even ML workflows.

While MinIO doesn’t yet rival the hyperscalers in raw scale, it’s carving out serious space in developer-led deployments.

 

Regional Landscape And Adoption Outlook

Regional dynamics in the object-based storage (OBS) market are shaped by a mix of infrastructure maturity, cloud adoption policies, data sovereignty rules, and digital transformation pace. While North America continues to lead in absolute revenue, the growth story is increasingly shifting east — especially across Asia Pacific and parts of the Middle East.

North America

North America commands the largest share of the global OBS market in 2024. Enterprise cloud adoption is near-saturated, and the majority of large-scale AI and media workflows already rely on object storage as a default.

The U.S. market, in particular, is shaped by hyperscaler dominance — AWS, Azure, and GCP all operate massive data center footprints across key metros. OBS usage is embedded in sectors like streaming media, financial services, and healthcare. Cybersecurity mandates, including SEC regulations on data logging and HIPAA standards, have further pushed enterprises toward immutable object storage layers.

Canada is a quieter, but important, contributor — especially in government and education sectors where hybrid and on-prem OBS deployments are preferred due to national data laws.

 

Europe

Europe presents a complex, regulation-driven landscape. While adoption is high in Western Europe, especially Germany, the UK, France, and the Nordics, growth is moderated by strict data privacy laws like GDPR and region-specific cloud trust policies.

This has given rise to sovereign cloud initiatives and regional object storage providers offering GDPR-aligned platforms. In sectors like insurance, research, and public services, object storage is being used not just for cost savings but to demonstrate data governance compliance.

Eastern Europe is emerging as a price-sensitive but fast-growing OBS market, particularly in healthcare digitization and smart city projects.

 

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region, fueled by massive data creation from mobile-first populations, AI labs, smart manufacturing, and rising content consumption. Countries like China, India, South Korea, and Singapore are leading the charge.

China is a unique case. Its public cloud market is dominated by domestic players like Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud, which offer their own object storage solutions tailored for local regulations. Industrial IoT and government surveillance projects are major adopters.

India is seeing rapid OBS uptake across BFSI, education, and healthcare, driven by digital records mandates and cloud-native fintech platforms. A growing startup ecosystem is also leaning on OBS for analytics, app development, and compliance logging.

Japan and South Korea have high storage sophistication — object storage is already being used in robotics, autonomous systems R&D, and 5G network data capture.

APAC’s cloud-first leapfrogging is putting pressure on global vendors to localize their OBS offerings, both technically and culturally.

 

Latin America

Latin America is still early in its object storage adoption curve, but momentum is building. Brazil and Mexico are leading markets, supported by growing e-commerce activity, banking digitization, and cloud service expansion from U.S.-based providers.

Bandwidth limitations and legacy IT systems in some regions remain barriers, but that’s starting to change with fiber rollout and edge cloud investments.

 

Middle East and Africa

The Middle East is evolving quickly, particularly in the Gulf countries. Government smart city projects, digital health platforms, and national cloud mandates are fueling demand for scalable, secure data storage.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have publicly funded digital transformation roadmaps where object storage — especially with immutability and AI-readiness — is a key infrastructure layer.

Africa presents a more fragmented picture. South Africa shows strong uptake in telecom and financial services, but other regions face connectivity and capital investment constraints. That said, regional cloud data centers and mobile-first architectures may accelerate OBS adoption in the near term.

 

End-User Dynamics And Use Case

The adoption of object-based storage varies widely across industries and organization sizes — but one thing is consistent: end users are no longer treating storage as an afterthought. They’re expecting more than capacity — they want performance, scalability, compliance, and deep integration into their core applications.

Large Enterprises

These organizations have been early adopters, especially those in finance, healthcare, and media. For them, OBS supports everything from active data lakes to regulatory archives. Large companies often operate in hybrid or multi-cloud environments, and object storage serves as the connective tissue between on-prem and cloud — enabling smoother data mobility and governance.

OBS is also becoming central to how large enterprises implement zero-trust security strategies. Features like object-level immutability, role-based access, and lifecycle automation are essential for minimizing risk and proving compliance.

 

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

SMEs are embracing OBS for different reasons — mostly around affordability and flexibility. Cloud-native object storage allows smaller businesses to scale storage usage without large upfront investments. For SaaS startups and content creators, the S3 API has become a de facto standard, making integration easy and vendor options wide.

OBS is especially popular among SMEs building products that rely on large, unstructured datasets — whether it’s telemedicine platforms storing video consults, or edtech firms managing dynamic learning content.

 

Healthcare Providers and Research Institutions

Medical imaging, patient records, and genomic data are fueling the shift toward object-based storage in hospitals and labs. OBS supports HIPAA compliance and long-term retention, while allowing systems like PACS, EHRs, and AI diagnostics to pull from the same scalable data layer.

One example: A cancer research center in South Korea transitioned its 1.2 PB of genomic and imaging data to an on-prem OBS cluster. Not only did it improve access speed by 40%, but it also enabled researchers to run real-time pattern recognition models across datasets — something that wasn’t possible with their old file-based storage.

 

Media and Entertainment

No surprise here — this sector is among the heaviest consumers of OBS. Video post-production workflows, content libraries, and OTT platforms all rely on object storage for its ability to handle massive files, distribute content globally, and support versioning without file system overhead.

As video quality moves from 4K to 8K and real-time streaming continues to rise, object storage becomes the only scalable solution that can support this growth without spiraling costs.

 

Government and Public Sector

Governments are leaning into object storage for secure record keeping, surveillance archives, and open data initiatives. National cloud projects often list S3-compatible storage as a core requirement, enabling agencies to shift away from siloed data centers toward unified storage platforms.

Data sovereignty concerns are also driving investment in private object storage clouds that give public institutions more control over location, access, and retention.

 

Recent Developments + Opportunities & Restraints

Recent Developments (2023–2025)

• IBM expanded its object storage software portfolio in April 2024 with enhanced ransomware protection and AI data preparation capabilities, targeting hybrid cloud environments.

• MinIO closed a Series C funding round of $100 million in late 2023, aiming to scale its open-source object storage platform for enterprise-grade AI and analytics workloads.

• AWS introduced support for S3 Express One Zone in 2024, a high-performance object storage class optimized for latency-sensitive applications — primarily aimed at media editing and AI inference.

• Dell Technologies upgraded its ECS platform with automated data tiering and expanded Kubernetes support, as part of its 2025 push to modernize storage for containerized workloads.

• Google Cloud launched dual-region object replication in 2024, strengthening its compliance and disaster recovery capabilities for sectors like BFSI and public sector.

 

Opportunities

• AI/ML Data Infrastructure Growth: The surge in AI model training and inference — especially in industries like biotech, retail, and autonomous mobility — is fueling demand for high-throughput, object-native storage environments.

• Hybrid Cloud and Sovereign Cloud Integration: As governments and regulated sectors look to retain control over sensitive data, demand is rising for OBS platforms that support hybrid models with flexible deployment and S3 compatibility.

• Edge Computing Enablement: Object storage at the edge — particularly in lightweight, containerized formats — is opening up new use cases in manufacturing, energy, and remote healthcare.

 

Restraints

• Vendor Lock-In Concerns: Enterprises still hesitate to go all-in on proprietary object storage platforms due to long-term cost uncertainty and migration complexity.

• Latency-Sensitive Workloads Still Favor Block/File Storage: For certain real-time transactional workloads, object storage hasn’t yet met the performance threshold, limiting its applicability in high-frequency trading, ERP systems, and legacy apps.

 

7.1. Report Coverage Table

Report Attribute	Details
Forecast Period	2024 – 2030
Market Size Value in 2024	USD 9.7 Billion
Revenue Forecast in 2030	USD 19.8 Billion
Overall Growth Rate	CAGR of 12.4% (2024 – 2030)
Base Year for Estimation	2024
Historical Data	2019 – 2023
Unit	USD Million, CAGR (2024 – 2030)
Segmentation	By Component, By Deployment Mode, By Use Case, By Enterprise Size, By Industry Vertical, By Geography
By Component	Software, Hardware, Services
By Deployment Mode	On-Premises, Hybrid Cloud, Public Cloud
By Use Case	Backup & Archival, AI Workloads, Media, Surveillance, Medical Imaging
By Enterprise Size	Large Enterprises, SMEs
By Industry Vertical	IT & Telecom, BFSI, Healthcare, Media, Government, Manufacturing, Others
By Region	North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & Africa
Country Scope	U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, UAE, South Africa
Market Drivers	– Surge in AI/ML training workloads – Growth in unstructured data across verticals – Shift toward hybrid and sovereign cloud storage
Customization Option	Available upon request