Lucidity FAQ Hub

What is cloud storage optimization?

Cloud storage optimization is the continuous practice of matching provisioned cloud storage to actual workload demand — eliminating idle disks, right-tiering, and right-sizing — to reduce cost without compromising performance. The average enterprise wastes 70%+ of provisioned cloud block storage; optimization closes that gap.

What is storage autoscaling?

Storage autoscaling is the autonomous, real-time adjustment of provisioned storage capacity to match live workload demand. Unlike compute autoscaling (which adds and removes instances), storage autoscaling expands and shrinks the underlying disk itself — historically requiring downtime, until Lucidity made zero-downtime shrink possible.

What is application-aware storage optimization?

Application-aware storage optimization sizes cloud storage based on live application performance signals — IOPS, throughput, latency, and burst — not just disk utilization percentage. This is what allows safe right-sizing of databases, analytics workloads, and other IOPS-sensitive applications without regressions.

What is an idle disk?

An idle disk is a provisioned cloud volume with little or no active I/O. Lucidity classifies four types: unattached, orphaned, attached-but-inactive, and over-tiered. Each is paid for monthly but contributing nothing to your workloads.

What is disk utilization percentage (DU%)?

Disk utilization percentage is the share of provisioned storage actually in use. The enterprise average is 15–30%; Lucidity customers reach 73% on average, freeing the rest of provisioned spend.

What is the difference between block storage and blob storage?

Block storage (AWS EBS, Azure Managed Disks, GCP Persistent Disks) is structured into fixed-size blocks attached directly to a VM — used for databases, OS, transactional apps. Blob (object) storage is for unstructured data like backups, media, and archives. Lucidity optimizes block storage today; blob storage is on the roadmap.

How does Lucidity compare to native cloud tools (Azure Advisor, AWS Compute Optimizer, GCP Recommender)?

Native tools surface recommendations; Lucidity acts on them autonomously. Native tools are single-cloud, single-product, and based on utilization-only metrics; Lucidity is multi-cloud, application-aware, and the only platform that can shrink a live volume without downtime.

How does Lucidity compare to Zesty?

Zesty is Kubernetes-native and weak on multi-cloud. Lucidity supports AWS, Azure, and GCP equally — including Windows on Azure, which Zesty does not address — and uses application-aware (IOPS/throughput/latency) intelligence rather than utilization-only.

Does Lucidity support Datadog or CloudWatch monitoring?

Lucidity complements monitoring tools — it doesn't replace them. Datadog and CloudWatch alert you to storage problems; Lucidity acts on them autonomously, eliminating the alert-and-respond toil that fills DevOps queues today.

Is Lucidity a fit for AI/ML workloads?

Yes — and especially relevant. AI/ML workloads multiply storage growth unpredictably, which makes manual provisioning impossible at scale. An insurance-tech AI/ML customer saved $1.2M annually with Lucidity (40% reduction) while keeping ML workloads performant.

How long does Lucidity take to deploy?

Hours to days, not weeks. Lumen is agentless and connects via cloud APIs. AutoScaler requires the lightweight agent on each VM, but onboarding is automated and the delivery team handles configuration during your POV.

How is Lucidity priced?

Lucidity is licensed on the storage you actually use, not what you provision.

Is Lucidity SOC 2 compliant?

Yes — SOC 2 Type II. Lucidity never accesses application data, only infrastructure-level metadata, and operates fully inside your cloud account.

What's the next step?

Start your free Lucidity Assessment — 15 minutes, read-only, with a personalized savings report at the end.