Azion Object Storage: how to store and deliver data at global scale

For years, cloud storage operated under a centralized model, where moving data out of the origin region or between services, incurred egress fees. This model, combined with the concept of data gravity, shaped application architectures that prioritized billing efficiency over performance. As workloads became increasingly distributed and event-driven, these limitations became clear.

In this context, Azion Object Storage, now in General Availability, emerges as a scalable solution integrated with a distributed infrastructure, enabling efficient data usage without the friction of centralized storage.

In this article, you’ll learn what Azion Object Storage is, its key benefits, practical use cases, and when it makes sense as part of your data architecture.

What is Azion Object Storage?

In modern architectures, controlling where and how data is used is just as important as storing it. Integrated with a distributed infrastructure, Object Storage eliminates egress fees for data consumed within the platform’s own network, allowing information stored in buckets to be used by applications, Functions, and distributed pipelines with no additional data-movement costs.

Compatible with the S3 protocol, the product is designed to manage large volumes of unstructured data such as images, videos, documents, backups, and logs, with high scalability and performance.

Instead of a traditional directory system, data is organized as objects with metadata and unique keys, offering a flexible and efficient way to store and retrieve content.

Key benefits of Azion Object Storage

Scalability and high availability

The service automatically scales as data volume grows, while the distributed infrastructure ensures high availability without the need for manual replication across regions.

Low latency and global delivery

By bringing data closer to end users, the solution reduces response latency across different geographic regions, critical for platforms with a distributed audience.

Predictable costs and network efficiency

Rather than incurring recurring charges for transfers between regions or services, the distributed architecture minimizes unnecessary data movement, making costs more stable and predictable.

S3 compatibility and flexibility

An API compatible with the S3 protocol simplifies integration with existing tools and pipelines, without requiring applications to be rewritten.

Security and access control

Granular permissions per bucket and per operation, along with integration with APIs, CLI, Runtime, and S3 credentials, allow you to tailor security strategies to each workload, with centralized management via the Azion Console.

Object Storage use cases

Distributed AI & RAG

With the adoption of Azion AI Inference, Object Storage acts as a repository for vector databases and documents used in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) workflows. In this model, Functions query knowledge bases stored in buckets to generate context-aware AI responses keeping all processing and data access within Azion’s distributed network.

Just-in-Time Media Processing

For large-scale image processing, Object Storage enables storing a single high-resolution master image and applying dynamic transformations through the Azion Image Processor. Resizing, cropping, and optimization are performed in real time (on the fly), reducing the need to store multiple variants while delivering content in the best format for each device.

High-Scale Static Websites

In Jamstack applications (React, Vue, Astro), Object Storage serves as a highly available origin for static assets. During the build pipeline, files are uploaded to buckets and distributed across Azion’s global delivery network with automatic caching. This model absorbs traffic spikes predictably, without disproportionate delivery costs.

Object Storage vs. centralized storage solutions

While traditional models attempt to optimize costs by tuning cache layers, Azion Object Storage embeds data distribution at the core of the service, changing both the economics and performance of content delivery.

Real results: how HeroSpark reduced costs and accelerated its platform with Object Storage

HeroSpark, a leading digital education (EdTech) platform, faced common scaling challenges: high storage and distribution costs, slow content delivery for some users, and an overburdened technical team dealing with attacks and operational maintenance.

Before adopting Azion Object Storage, HeroSpark struggled with high storage and file-distribution costs, inconsistent user experiences across regions, and a technical team overloaded with maintenance and attack mitigation.

With the implementation of Object Storage, integrated with acceleration and distributed processing capabilities, the company simplified its architecture and improved global platform performance. The results included a 20% cost reduction, a 30% improvement in content delivery speed, and the freeing up of more than 200 hours per month for the technical team to focus on strategic development.

Check out the full success story.

What to expect from Object Storage

More than just a place to store files, Object Storage is designed to be an active component of your infrastructure:

1. S3 Compatibility

Rewriting code just to migrate providers creates significant technical and operational friction. That’s why Azion Object Storage adopts an S3-compatible API, allowing existing applications to continue working unchanged.

You can use standard market tools like the AWS SDK, s3cmd, and rclone without proprietary plugins. Data migration or legacy system integration is as simple as changing the API endpoint to s3.azionstorage.net and configuring your credentials. If it works with S3, it works with Azion.

2. Native integration with Functions

While most storage solutions require slow HTTP requests for access, Object Storage integrates directly into the runtime of Azion Functions. Using the native Storage class, you can access data with minimal latency, eliminating external authentication complexity within your code.

Example of high-performance read and write:

import Storage from "azion:storage";

async function handleRequest(event) {
  const bucket = "assets-bucket";
  const storage = new Storage(bucket);

  // Write logs or state directly from the network
  await storage.put("access-log.txt", "User accessed endpoint");

  // Read configurations or AI models instantly
  const config = await storage.get("model-config.json");

  return new Response(config.content);
}

3. Integration with Data Stream

Observability is critical in distributed systems. Object Storage integrates natively with Azion Data Stream, allowing it to function as a cost-effective, efficient data lake.

You can configure applications to send access logs, WAF security events, and performance metrics directly to a bucket. This centralizes telemetry data in a standardized format ready for compliance archiving or later analysis without complex ingestion costs.

4. Public Buckets

For use cases such as hosting static assets (images, CSS, JS) or distributing public files, Azion Object Storage supports Public Buckets.

By configuring a bucket with public read permissions, you expose objects for direct access. When combined with Azion’s content delivery network (Applications), these buckets become the perfect “Origin” for high-performance static websites.

How to get started with Object Storage

To get started with Azion Object Storage, you can:

• create buckets via the Console, API, CLI, or Runtime;
• configure permissions and access policies;
• upload objects via the API or the S3 protocol;
• use buckets as origins for static applications or integrate them into existing pipelines.

We know data migration is often the hardest part of switching providers. That’s why Azion Object Storage is fully S3-compatible. You can move your data today using the tools you already have installed on your machine.

View the documentation.

When it makes sense to use Object Storage

The product is especially useful when:

• your application requires global delivery with low latency;
• egress costs represent a significant portion of your bill;
• your architecture is read-heavy;
• you seek cost predictability;
• you want to reduce dependence on centralized solutions.

Conclusion

Object Storage represents an evolution in how organizations store, manage, and deliver data. By combining S3 compatibility, distributed infrastructure, elimination of egress costs, and global scale, it becomes a compelling option for modern workloads.

If your organization aims to improve performance, reduce costs, and simplify storage operations, Azion Object Storage deserves consideration as part of your data architecture.

See how the solution can transform your operations. Get started and schedule a demo.