The Hut Group (THG) is deploying a new data storage and data access system to better support its evolving e-commerce platform.

THG has selected SoftIron’s HyperDrive as the storage backbone for its global THG Ingenuity e-commerce platform.

The deployment comes as THG prepares for more international growth after raising £1.88 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) in September 2020.

SoftIron’s open source Ceph-optimised storage solution is designed to tackle mission-critical issues around e-commerce sites such as scalability, resiliency and cloud-native flexibility, with Ceph supporting universal block, object and file storage.

The implementation will help THG build a “resilient, agile infrastructure” while retaining its CarbonNeutral certification and avoiding vendor lock-in, said THG.

Schalk Van der Merwe, chief technical officer at THG, said: “While open source solutions may seem like a ‘science project’ for non-tech companies, for us, being cloud-agnostic and free of lock-in are strategically important within our architecture.”

He added: “We love the ‘task-specific’ approach SoftIron is taking to make open source Ceph deployable and manageable at scale for enterprises like ours, while at the same time creating efficiencies that reduce our environmental footprint.”

The THG e-commerce platform is currently supported through 24 data centres across the UK, Europe, the US and Asia, and HyperDrive is already being used in the UK, Germany and the US.

Phil Straw, chief executive of SoftIron, said: “HyperDrive storage appliances are the ultimate productisation of Ceph, providing enterprise-grade capabilities in a package that delivers the best of both worlds in raw performance and green efficiency.”

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