It refers to saving data to an off-site storage system maintained by a third party. Instead of storing information to your computer’s hard drive or other local storage device, you save it to a remote database. The Internet provides the connection between your computer and the database.
The origins of the word “cloud” in relation to computers is obscure, it appears that the use of stylised clouds in early network diagrams made some users call networks clouds. As the internet is a large network, some early adopters in the 90’s called the internet “the cloud”. This phrase was then given to today’s online storage solutions.
There are three main cloud-based storage architecture models: public, private and hybrid.
Uses for cloud storage
1. Access your documents – anywhere
Cloud storage enables you to open a document on any of your devices and in any location. No longer are your documents in the wrong place; providing you have internet access, you have your documents. This universal access gives you the flexibility to work where and when you want. Gone are the days of having to use email to transfer documents between home and work (with the inevitable issues associated with version control).
2. Work with others – anywhere
The capability allowing multiple people to collaborate and work on a document at the same time is revolutionising how teams work. This new affordance can deliver terrific improvements in efficiency. Typically, writing bids or tender documents can takes weeks to prepare as the document is passed between departments and authors; this can be reduced to a few days when all parties can work on the same document at the same time.
3. Take advantage of unlimited space
The cloud has virtually unlimited storage. Furthermore, services such as Amazon Web Services S3 storage can be set up with policies to control and automate access and archiving. No matter how large your local storage is, it seems to fill up – this isn’t a surprise as we are storing more and more multimedia data in the form of video, image and audio files. From a business efficiency perspective, storing your documents in the cloud removes the need for every user to hold a personal copy of documents, consequently saving disk space, and all users know they have the current version.
4. Enjoy business continuity – and backups that work
Having a copy of documents, systems and software keys backed up onto cloud storage typically costs less than burning it onto a DVD, and makes it all accessible from anywhere on the internet. Making an off-site copy of your data on a daily basis gives you more than a backup; it should be considered the cornerstone of your business continuity planning.
In the event of fire, theft or hardware failure, having your data stored in the cloud could get your business up and running again for the cost of a new computer.
5. Data security is a priority
Storing your data in the cloud introduces a new set of risks, but you can mitigate them using techniques such as data encryption, automation and password devices on your smart phone. The result is that cloud storage typically has a lower risk profile than the server in the back of your office.
Like taxes and growing old, data loss is not a question of if, but when. Data security is about protecting your data from loss, corruption and inappropriate access. Reducing the number of copies of documents, holding them off site and enforcing encryption can only help.
Benefits and Disadvantages of Cloud Storage
There are many benefits to using cloud storage, most notable is file accessibility. Files stored in the cloud can be accessed at any time from any place so long as you have Internet access. Another benefit is that cloud storage provides organizations with off-site (remote) backups of data which reduces costs associated with disaster recovery .
Unfortunately, the biggest disadvantage to cloud storage is that users are limited by bandwidth. If your Internet connection is slow or unstable, you might have problems accessing or sharing your files. Organizations that require a large amount of storage may also find costs increase significantly after the first few gigabytes of data stored.
SOURCES:
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/cloud_storage.html
http://searchcloudstorage.techtarget.com/definition/cloud-storage
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-storage.htm
http://www.barclays.co.uk/Startupsupport/Five-killer-reasons-to-use-cloud-storage
Serjim 