Companies are collecting, analyzing, and storing more and more data over the years. As technology evolves, the amount of information collected is expected to grow even more rapidly. That is why the problem of information storage is becoming more and more urgent.
Furthermore, it is not only a question of choosing a storage facility. It is necessary to ensure the convenience of information usage, its accessibility, security, and recoverability. For many businesses, cloud storage helps to improve their competitiveness. In the article, we will try to explain why.
What is cloud storage?
Cloud storage is a space where corporate and personal data is stored securely and can be accessed over the Internet. Typically, databases are stored on servers managed by cloud providers. These are called public clouds, but there are private clouds if a company hosts its own servers in a data center. A combination of both is called a hybrid cloud.
There are many types of cloud storage solutions. You are probably already used to systems such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. They are widely used all over the world. However, for companies that need reliable storage for large amounts of data, there are some extra requirements. Therefore, they are looking for a provider offering enterprise-level systems, a rapidly scalable infrastructure that meets the growing needs of the business. Cloud4Y is such a provider.
How cloud storage works
In simple terms, to create a cloud storage system, you need a server connected to the Internet. Users connect to it, upload or download data and edit this data using a simple web interface.
However, this is not a good solution for business. Companies should have guarantees that their data is accessible and secure. The simple availability is not enough, you need to provide the ability to increase the resources. In other words, the storage must be fast, consistently available, capacious, and scalable.
For this reason, providers create cloud storage of hundreds or even thousands of data storage systems. Some of them are backup facilities, operating in the event of server failure or maintenance. Redundancy is an important feature of cloud platforms. With redundancy and backup, customers are confident that their data is safe. If necessary, storage capacity can be increased.
Major cloud providers try to anticipate all options including issues with the data center in general. To ensure that customers are not affected in case of a serious data center disaster, they implement systems of integration between two or more geographically distributed data centers. Even fire, an earthquake, or any other natural disaster will not prevent an ISP from providing services as long as data replication to the backup data center is performed.
No man-made system is completely fail-safe, but cloud solutions offer the highest level of availability, which is difficult to achieve in any other way.
Building even a small local infrastructure might be too costly and challenging for most companies. Purchasing and configuring equipment, regular upgrades, and maintenance – all this requires expensive specialists and significant costs. Public or hybrid cloud storage with pay-as-you-go pricing offers companies a quick and cost-effective option to get the necessary amount of resources.
Here are a few more advantages of cloud storage
Besides scalability and high availability, cloud storage has several other important advantages. Below are some of them:
Connecting from anywhere, from any device. The main requirement is the availability of the Internet.
Mobility. Employees do not have to carry flash drives or other data carriers.
Security. There are fewer vulnerable zones, which provides more comfortable business operations.
Up-to-date databases. Since the database is stored in the cloud, any changes become available to every employee. Real-time information updating enables remote teams to collaborate more effectively, control inventory, and have several employees working on a project at the same time.
Is cloud storage really secure?
Migrating to cloud storage is a bit like putting your savings in the bank. The main concern is the reliability and security of the storage facility. As we mentioned above, resource redundancy and multiple geographically distributed data centers provide much greater reliability than an on-premises system.
To assure companies of the reliability of cloud solutions, providers offer availability guarantees of 99.95% or higher under the SLA. If a provider fails to comply with the terms of the contract, it could risk penalties.
The issue of data security involves a number of regulations and requirements that the cloud provider and its infrastructure must meet. It is also important that the provider follows basic data protection procedures. These include:
- Encryption. Information is protected by encryption, and even if it is stolen, it is impossible to obtain valuable information without the encryption key.
- Authentication systems. User authentication can include either usual login/password, or more complex schemes that protect data from unauthorized access.
- User rights. Setting up access rights for different user groups depending on their roles and needs increases the security of the company database.
In addition, cloud storage providers have an extensive set of additional tools to protect against cyber threats.
Conclusion
Cloud storage solutions can provide enterprise-grade service at an affordable price, which is important for businesses. It is extremely difficult to achieve the same level independently. Cloud storage as a service with a pay-as-you-go model is flexible scalability, high availability, and security. Businesses can concentrate on their primary tasks, while the provider will take care of the IT issues.
