![]() Other cloud storage providers with an enterprise focus include Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Rackspace. Amazon S3 has aided in the rise of object storage, which presents data as unique objects with a flat address. ![]() privateĪmazon Web Services is the leading public cloud provider, ahead of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Still, most organizations prefer to use either a public cloud provider or to implement a private cloud they manage on premises for their critical application data. Amazon Drive, Apple iCloud, Box, Carbonite, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, SOS Online Backup, SugarSync and Western Digital My Cloud Home are among the leading consumer cloud storage options.Īlthough geared toward individuals, companies will sometimes use consumer clouds to store selected data in a private repository, often as a means to sync and share files across a distributed environment. This requires buying capacity on demand, as the need arises, or paying a nominal monthly subscription fee.Ĭloud services support Windows and Android devices, enabling users to create, edit and share documents across devices. ![]() The size of the files that can be uploaded may be capped, but users can purchase unlimited storage in the cloud if their budget allows. Users can upload documents, photos and videos without paying until they exceed the capacity limit. Some consumer-oriented public cloud providers offer free online storage with a capacity limit. Users pay only for consumed storage capacity, in a manner similar to an electric utility. Rather than paying outright for server and software licenses, customers receive a monthly bill for the cloud services, thus moving the cost from a capital expense to an operational expense. The key to storing data in the cloud is ensuring that it remains available, and the required level of availability influences the cost. This removes any worries about exceeding storage limitations with on-premises networked storage.Įnterprise uses include archive, cloud backup and long-term retention of data that is seldom accessed, but that must be readily available for competitive or compliance reasons. Users can scale computing resources on demand as the need arises, and then spin those resources down after the task is complete. The chief advantages of using a cloud storage provider are cost control, elasticity and self-service provisioning. The ability to rationalize costs by using the cloud can be especially beneficial to small and midsize organizations with limited budgets and IT staff. The level and type of services chosen are specified in a service-level agreement signed with the provider. Key attributes of cloud-based IT servicesĬloud-based computing services enable a customer to take advantage of a multi-tenant cloud environment without having to directly manage all the services. For example, customers can opt to lease infrastructure as a service platform as a service or security, software and storage as a service. Enterprises purchase compute, software, storage and related IT components as discrete cloud services with a pay-as-you-go license. This business model first hit mainstream enterprises with the rise of application service providers.Ī cloud storage provider also sells non-storage services for a fee. ![]() The delivery of IT services via the internet is broadly defined as cloud computing or utility computing. Users can then access those files using an internet connection. Rather than store data on local storage devices, such as a hard disk drive, flash storage or tape, customers choose a cloud storage provider to host data on a system in a remote data center. Both individual and corporate customers can get unlimited storage capacity on a provider's servers at a low per-gigabyte price. Customers can lease cloud storage capacity per month or on demand.Ī cloud storage provider hosts a customer's data in its own data center, providing fee-based computing, networking and storage infrastructure. A cloud storage provider, sometimes referred to as a managed service provider, is a company that offers organizations and individuals the ability to place and retain data in an off-site storage system. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |