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Tag: cloud-storage

  • Best Cloud Services for Syncing and File Sharing Services

    Cloud storage is swiftly transforming the way we share data, but it can also be incredibly confusing. There are so many options out there, both large and small, so how do you choose the best company for your needs? If your goal is to share files with associates and have the ability to sync that storage across your myriad of devices, here are some of the best in the business.

    Box is one great option, and users can sign up and start working completely for free. If you’re looking for added security and collaboration features, you’ll have to pony up for a Business account. But since those advanced accounts start at only $15 a month, even the smallest of businesses can get involved.

    If you’re not interested in those added features, you can stick with a free account that will give you 5GB of storage. Step up to 25GB for a $10 monthly charge, or pay $20 for 50GB. You’ll be able to share files and sync across all of your devices.

    For a service that’s simple and elegant, check out Dropbox. Once you’re signed up you’ll install a virtual folder right on your desktop, and you’ll move files in and out just as you would with a traditional folder. It will automatically sync everything, making it incredibly easy to use.

    A free account will only offer you 2GB of storage space, but a $10 monthly charge will get you a full 100GB. Dropbox even offers 500MB bonuses for each friend that signs up through your recommendation. It keeps past versions of every file, so you won’t ever lose anything, and the only drawback is that you won’t be able to upload to Dropbox from your email servicee.

    MediaFire has been around for quite some time, and they offer a great deal through their free service. Sign up, and you will receive unlimited downloads and storage space. However, the free account will only hold on to your data for thirty days. If you want to extend that, they have very reasonable Pro and Business accounts, which are both less than $50 a month. 

    Finally, check out a unique option, called SugarSync. It works much like Dropbox, but adds a ton of versatility. You can sync any folder on your computer, not just their dedicated virtual folder, and it has a great file manager. Their free service will give you 5GB, which you can raise as high as $250GB for only $25 a month. If you’re looking for a good mix of value and features, SugarSync is probably the winner.

  • European Officials Press for Better Cloud Computing Contract

    The European Commission met in Brussels this week to discuss the contracts offered to clients by cloud computing firms, concerned over future legal and privacy issues. Cloud storage has emerged as a viable data storage option for large and small businesses as well as individuals, saving time and money across the board. But according to a policy paper the EC recently released, security and privacy remain complex issues.

    The European Commission declared they are working to help the cloud storage industry, not add additional roadblocks. But they feel that the complicated privacy situation and possibility for expensive legal disputes will keep many European citizens from adopting the new technology. Their focus is the contracts these providers offer, which they feel are unnecessarily complex, and packed with confusing and contradictory disclaimers. The EC found that many of these contracts do not hold the provider responsible for confidentiality, the integrity of the data, or any reliable continuity of service.

    Since data stored in the cloud is often divided among several data centers which could be managed by more than one company, a dissatisfied client will find legal action next to impossible. The policymakers want to insure that this same workflow that makes cloud computing so attractive for consumers and providers doesn’t simultaneously give the providers a way to avoid accountability.

    When pressed, the EC regulators have found that cloud storage companies aren’t clear with their clients what they would do if data is lost or stolen, or even if they would do anything at all. The EC will work alongside the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to come up with a fair and balanced legal solution for these issues, but there is no timetable for when those findings will be announced.

  • Will Google Drive Deliver?

    For those new to cloud storage, Google Drive is a great option for a small business, a startup or even individual use. Each account comes with 5 gigabytes of free cloud storage on the Google system, and then you pay a variable rate per month based on the amount of additional storage you require. Many people are already jumping on board, adding the Drive to the wide range of Google products they already use. But is it worth the money?

    Early reviews say that it’s very easy to access and set up. The drive includes documents that will help even the computer novice get right in action. It integrates seamlessly with Google Docs, importing anything you already have there. It’s also incredibly secure. As long as you frequently change your Google password, you’ll have very little to worry about. Google Drive can only be accessed after two steps of verification, and their business support requires and receives the latest in online security measures.

    But what about the price? After that first set of free storage, the next 25 gigabytes will only cost you $2.49 a month. The highest amount of storage they currently offer is 16 terrabytes for $799 a month, which only major international corporations will require. So if you compare that to the price of physical storage options, as well as the added price of requiring backups for all of those devices, and you’ll find it’s an incredibly good deal. Of course, you’ll also have the benefit of being able to access your content from any device that’s internet-connected. So if you suffer a theft or a fire, or are simply traveling and need one of your stored documents, all will be available to you. Google Drive is new to the market, and some may be cautious about taking advantage of the completely altered workflow. But at that price and those capabilities, you can rest assured your money is being well spent.

  • TwinStrata and Veeam Software Team Up to Deliver Cloud Storage for VMware Backups

    TwinStrata has announced that it is jointly delivering "a highly efficient, cost-effective" solution for the creation and storage of VMware backups with Veeam Software, winner of Best of Show at VMworld 2010.

    According to the company, TwinStrata’s CloudArray software, when used in conjunction with Veeam Backup & Replication, gives organizations easy access to secure, highly scalable, pay-as-you-go Cloud Storage for their VMware backups.

    TwinStrata’s CloudArray is the first purpose-built software solution to enhance data protection at a substantial cost savings compared to traditional off-site storage, delivering simple, affordable, and secure storage solutions to IT environments.

    With this new joint offering from Veeam and TwinStrata, companies using tape systems or disk-to-disk backup for data protection can select CloudArray as the backup target for Veeam Backup & Replication. To ensure data security and privacy, CloudArray encrypts data prior to transporting it to cloud storage. When combined with Veeam Backup & Replication’s advanced deduplication capabilities, the two products offer a high degree of savings for both bandwidth and end point storage requirements.

    In addition, CloudArray Compute-Anywhere allows businesses to restore on-site, offsite or in the cloud.

    "This combined solution will enable a whole new level of business agility, efficiency and cost management for businesses that need to backup their VMware environments," said Doug Hazelman, senior director, product strategy, Veeam Software. "Together with TwinStrata, we can provide companies with economical off-site storage with all the availability, security and performance characteristics of local data storage – available any time, anywhere."

    "We are an agnostic infrastructure services organization that works with multiple vendors to find the most efficient and cost-effective solution for each client," said Jason Schuerhoff, vice president of sales, Sublime Solution.

    "We often recommend the Veeam and TwinStrata strategy because many of our clients don’t have the ability or flexibility to conduct offsite backups for disaster recovery purposes. However, the combination of these two products lets them back up and replicate their virtual infrastructures into the cloud as if they were local, thereby giving them access to the information at any time and from anywhere. Plus, they avoid the cost associated with co-location infrastructures. Most small and medium sized companies will find this solution pays for itself within 12-18 months," he added. 

    Related news
    TwinStrata Improves Its CloudArray Cloud Storage Software
    TwinStrata Unveils Cloud Storage Enablement Strategy

  • Nitty-Gritty of Cloud Storage: Interview with Robert Peglar, Xiotech

    Xiotech has been leading the way in redefining the value of storage since 1995 and stands as the world’s largest privately held storage company.

    The storage industry has been a hot bed for innovation and debate with discussion on local storage versus cloud storage, and the pros and cons of each.

    Xiotech offers a wide array of services that tend to cater to the small and mid-tier businesses where they have made a name for themselves. Just recently they have expanded their services to larger enterprises, and have recorded the same successes they’ve seen with their smaller partners.

    VP of Technology for Xiotech, Robert Peglar states that "Xiotech has been a pioneer of virtualization and have done innovative work in the space." Robert Peglar serves a dual role, working externally with customers and industry professional.

    The other role is the internal role, working to get product out the door, and plan a road map of the future with the technology trends that they should be taking advantage of.

    Robert shares that many things separate them from their competition to include: ease of use (through virtualization), intuitive user interfaces and web services.

    Robert Peglar

    "There’s not a real need to know all the nitty gritty of the storage equipment, web services give you what you need and you’re done," Peglar comments.

    Many companies find it hard to understand storage and for some the learning curve is too high. Xiotech provides simplicity in accessing and integrating into their own company’s growth.

    "The staff and training required is greatly different from competitors and much less rigorous. Anyone can access their storage systems. Storage should just work with automatic processes such as self healing and self checking processes without the need of constant hands on," Robert says regarding how easy it is for people to access their systems.

    Patented ISE Technology

    Xiotech is known for having patented the Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) back in 2007, offering improved performance, advanced capabilities, and improved system telemetry.

    "In typical RAID arrays the more drives you add the more the performance begins to degrade, but with the ISE in place, you see consistent and reliable performance no matter how many drives you install. This allows us to put a 5 year guarantee on their ISE products because we know it’s going to work, we put our confidence in it," Robert explains.

    The ISE offers scalability to grow with the company from 1TB to 1 PB, without seeing a single drop is performance.

    Allowing users to make adjustments to the ISE is one of their key selling points as well because Xiotech has truly focused on making their products customer centric with ease of use.

    "Standardized web services have streamlined the process which is easier for the end user to log in access, conduct business, and leave," comments Peglar.

    Cloud Storage

    Xiotech offers both virtualization and cloud storage. Some use the terms synonymously, but there is a distinct difference when looked at more closely. Virtualization would be a first step to cloud storage, but it still requires on-site equipment and man power to maintain, but simply localizes all software, applications and user information in one spot while allowing other computers to route through in order to gain access.

    Cloud storage is completely off-site, requires no equipment or manpower and simply offers you a place to store data, access software applications, share information and communications. Physical storage is slowly becoming a thing of the past, cloud computing is the way of the future.

    Currently the real drive for cloud interest is economic. The sheer cost of maintaining on-site equipment is becoming outrageously expensive considering the maintenance and manpower required to do it.

    A downside to cloud storage is the perceived security risks, perceived latency issues, and reliability issues. Robert states that "industry professionals across the globe are working on to boost the waning confidence in cloud computing due to these perceptions." There is no doubt that progress is being made everyday and that soon more and more companies will move towards the cloud as a way to manage their storage and data.

    Robert made sure to note that the same issues exist with local storage, but some put more emphasis on the cloud due to perceived lack of control. It’s easier for people to manage downtime and other issues when they feel like they have control on internal equipment, but putting that same faith on equipment that you can’t see or touch is another thing.

    When asked about how companies are balancing what needs to be physically at the location and in the cloud, Robert says, "I believe most company will end up using a combination of both, physical on premise and cloud."

    Cash for Disk Clunkers

    One of the more eco-friendly marketing efforts to assist companies around the globe was the start of the Cash for Disk Clunkers. Xiotech is once again taking the lead in encouraging companies to turn in their old arrays that are now too inefficient and less powerful to be of any use.

    "Some of the older systems require reinforced floors just to store. It’s an interesting marketing ploy, playing off the federal initiative for the cash for clunkers program. There’s been a huge user response for this to the point where they go to the offices to inquire on the process. It’s an effort to promote efficiency, getting rid of the old one which is costing a lot to maintain, to include some of their own older models," states Peglar.

    It’s definitely an interesting economic incentive for those interested in participating and a bonus with regards to their efforts to protect the environment from improper disposal of old equipment.

    Most recently Xiotech made an appearance at the SC09 Conference (Computing for a Changing World) and Interop New York where they focused on helping provide knowledge and insight to help IT and corporate decision-makers achieve business success.

  • Research: Bringing Cloud into the Datacenter Transformation

    “Datacenter transformation is a stark reality facing most customers in the Asia/Pacific region,” says IDC.

    Based on its recent datacenter research, the ageing and somewhat inefficient datacenters that were built seven-ten years ago are struggling to keep up with the current technology – leading to high operational costs, poor utilization levels and increasing complexity.

    “However – the report says – the current economic environment has led many CxOs to mandate CAPEX restrictions, which has forced CIOs to look for ways they can do more with the same.”

    Datacenter transformation is a broader discussion than cost and capacity, and one which aims at building an IT architecture that is more agile and adaptive for the business. IDC states that this need is driven by the increasing pervasiveness of IT, which is driving businesses to use the same or even more IT than before- even when the IT budgets are not expanding.

    “This has caused a dilemma for the CIO, and they are forced to think about new ways to build their IT fabric such that its more elastic, flexible and agile,” the company says.

    IDC says it has discussed this type of IT within the scope of what we called as the dynamic IT infrastructure.

    However, transforming the current IT complexities to reduce the rigidity has been an arduous task for most IT heads, and one that they have continued to battle with over the past few years. The arrival of cloud computing has revived the hopes of CIOs to consider a new way of attacking this old problem, as IDC claims.

    IDC believes that over the next few years, we will see increasing interest in cloud computing from organizations. But these organizations will have to start planning on building a more dynamic IT framework as a precursor.

    According to the research, this is especially true for enterprises that are considering to build their own private or internal clouds. The current chaotic IT environment with its complexities and redundancies will pose a huge challenge in migration, and indeed this has left many CIOs stumped about where to even start.

    "There is a lot of pent-up demand for revamping and building new datacenters that have been postponed due to the ongoing recession" says Avneesh Saxena, Group Vice President for Domain Research at IDC Asia/Pacific.

    "Meanwhile the demand for IT has not gone down and CIOs worry about coping with the turnaround as and when it comes through. This has to lead to the emergence of a adaptive and elastic IT framework – whether inside or outside the organization," he added.

  • ParaScale Launches Open Private Cloud Storage Platform

    ParaScale introduced ParaScale Cloud Storage software R2.0 – version 2 of its PCS clustered NAS system. The new release targets enterprise storage administrators who must economically scale capacity and performance, and service providers who want to offer a variety of storage cloud services.

    ParaScale’s open solution leverages any commodity hardware running Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS or CentOS, and can integrate applications directly onto storage nodes. PCS R2.0 also provides integration capabilities into virtualized environments and web services.

    This latest release of ParaScale Cloud Storage software reflects the growing realization by global customers that existing approaches to managing their stored data assets prevent them from rapidly delivering a pool of storage that easily scales capacity and performance independently and economically.

    The company claims PCS R2.0 removes these obstacles as a software-only solution that can be downloaded from the web and applied to any standard Linux platform to enable hundreds of commodity servers to be clustered together as a file repository, as a storage cloud with massive capacity and parallel throughput, or as a disaster recovery option for virtualized environments.

    One of the key features of PCS R2.0 enables ParaScale to function as a back-up for virtual machines and their respective data. In the event of a failure, the virtual machines can be booted directly from ParaScale and be up and running in seconds without having to move around VM images.

    According to Arun Taneja, principal, Taneja Group, the power and scale of cloud compute and storage begins to make sense in an open and interoperable environment where resources can be provisioned as needed, any commodity hardware can be added to grow the cloud including repurposed servers, and new applications can be leveraged to create a virtualized data center.

    “ParaScale provides a unique open alternative to other cloud storage platforms and is developing an ecosystem of partners to integrate applications like back-up and disaster recovery, content management, and data migration on its storage servers,” he said.

    “Storage teams in 2010 are going to face the issue of getting ready for growth with budgets and headcount frozen at 2009 levels. How are they going to pull off this magic? By going outside the box, by looking at technologies that the innovators are using and not old workhorse NAS technologies from 1990,” said Sajai Krishnan, CEO, ParaScale.

    “Release 2.0 represents a significant step to provide our customers with a simple solution to store and manipulate any type of Tier II file data on higher-performance, more scalable, more accessible, and cheaper storage,” he added.

  • Imeem App Helps iPhone Users Overcome Storage Limits


    Imeem has launched its Mobile social music application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

    The main thrust of the online streaming service is the ability to search and play millions of user-posted songs through a free downloadable app.
    But it also offers users cloud storage for music libraries and data files.

    By creating an imeem account on its Web site, you can upload up to 100 songs for free.

    It offers a VIP Subscription service for USD $29.99 per year, which allows 1,000 uploads, while USD $99.99 a year gives 20,000.

    The app is likely to prove popular with iPhone owners, particularly those with 8GB handset who find it isn’t sufficient to hold large playlists and music collections.

    The iPhone app follows one launched for Android last year.

    Dalton Caldwell, founder and CEO of imeem, said MyMusic enables music lovers to browse and stream their personal imeem music library.

    "People can upload up to 20,000 songs of the music they own directly to imeem.com, and then enjoy the songs on the go whenever they want without taking up additional storage on their mobile device," he said.

    imeem Mobile is now available from Apple’s App Store.

  • Nirvanix Strengthens Cloud Storage Team With Three Appointments


    Cloud Storage service provider Nirvanix has announced three new appointments to its management team.

    Stephen Foskett joins the company as Director of Consulting, Arvind Gidwani as Director of Solutions Services and Brian Schwarzentruber as Solutions Architect.

    Jim Zierick, President & CEO of Nirvanix, said the new additions will be focused on educating the market in general on how to leverage the benefits of Cloud Storage while meeting or exceeding their existing storage SLAs.

    Foskett has 15 years of experience consulting with leading companies to optimize their storage strategies, as well as serving as a writer, speaker, and blogger in the storage industry.

    A Microsoft File System Storage MVP, he will continue his public writing, speaking, and storage community activities. He previously managed enterprise IT strategy consulting services at Contoural, GlassHouse Technologies, and StorageNetworks.

    Gidwani brings in-depth expertise in infrastructure areas including storage, networking, backup/recovery, disaster recovery, security and data center design, among others.

    In his nearly two-decade career, he has held IT management and system architect positions at Drivecam Inc., Qualcomm, Cisco Systems and Applied Materials Inc.

    Most recently he was at Stratoform Technologies where he worked with leading enterprise customers on IT strategy and the enabling of Cloud Computing for the Oracle E-Business Suite.

    Schwarzentruber brings 20 years of experience in management at startup and public companies to Nirvanix. He most recently served Senior Engineer at Continuity Software Inc., implementing software and service solutions to a market that included enterprise and Fortune 500 accounts.

    He served as a senior consultant in the strategy practice at GlassHouse Technologies, providing storage and backup technology optimization, reference architecture and remediation consultation to businesses seeking storage technology implementations to match their business requirements.

  • ParaScale CEO Says 2009 To Be Year Cloud Storage Breaks Out


    Cloud computing – including cloud storage – will transform the industry and become the predominant way in which IT is consumed.

    That’s the prediction of Sajai Krishnan, CEO of Silicon Valley start-up ParaScale.

    He said there has been a rapid heightening of interest recently in all things cloud – applications, computing and storage.

    As a result enterprises are increasingly turning to cloud storage as a way to enable flexible computing power over the Internet, according to Krishnan.

    "We believe the impact of cloud technologies will be transformational and cloud will be a major way by which IT is consumed as we move forward," he said.

    Sajai Krishnan, CEO ParaScale

    Krishnan said a company could buy cloud storage – where the company builds a private or internal cloud – or rent it – where the company rents by the GB per month from a public cloud storage service provider.

    Regardless of whichever method was chosen, he said the advantages of cloud storage would soon be as mainstream as the architectures that came before it, including 3-tier web applications, client/server and mainframe.

    But like most emerging technology there had been some initial hesitancy towards adopting it.

    Krishnan said that in 2008, many companies were wary of the risks and vulnerabilities of participating in the cloud computing model.

    So despite the buzz around the technology being high, adoption was feathered.

    “This all changes in 2009 – the economic downturn and the addition of private cloud solutions to complement public offerings are creating an environment that enables incremental adoption of cloud storage on a very broad scale," he said.

    Krishnan said discussions with end users had shown that the overwhelming majority indicate they are considering both public and private cloud storage.

    He identifies several considerations driving the adoption of storage clouds. These include:

    • Building storage clouds is becoming as simple as installing a new application on your laptop. This is enabling service providers and the enterprise to embrace this technology with minimal effort.
    • Cloud storage can start small and scale-up as needed. Organizations are no longer over-building to address the potential for rapid growth. Instead the drive is to put in place an architecture that is extremely flexible and that can scale on demand using commodity hardware and standard client access.
    • Clouds are designed to be self-managing and don’t require heavy IT manpower. Storage tiering, provisioning, and data movement are
    • time consuming tasks that are automated in cloud storage.
    • Storage clouds can be tuned for specific uses or applications. For example, clouds can be tuned for archival very cost-effectively, or
    • for streaming media performance.