Cloud Storage Decisions: Cost Versus Value

The marketplace for cloud storage services is already a hotly contested space – there are literally dozens of companies fighting it out in a variety of different verticals. Our directory of cloud storage services attempts to classify some of them, but breaks them down according to target audience and focuses on features. As the market for these services continues to evolve, a new and important distinction is occurring, which we call “cost versus value.”

Since storage itself is rapidly becoming a commodity (courtesy of bulk providers like Amazon S3, Rackspace, Microsoft Azure, and Google), the features, performance, and price of services is where end users will have to make their choices. And the trade offs of are real and interesting. A recent article captured this well comparing the services at Mozy and ElephantDrive. The author breaks down the relative strengths and finds that Mozy costs less but ElephantDrive offers more value. The take aways are pretty clear – if you are looking for the lowest priced option you go one way, but if you are looking for the most functionality or the fastest performance you go another. Our read is that as a home user with lots of data, you should consider the Mozy option but if you are running a small business or operating as a “power user” (and have an understanding of your actual data footprint) you will want to choose ElephantDrive.

This same question will be addressed within the other verticals and we are looking forward to the continued maturing of the competitors.

Slow restores, downloads a problem for Mozy

EMC-owned Mozy has been one of the leaders in online backup during the past couple of years, but some users are starting to grumble about the elements of the service that really matter.

The old adage in IT is that your backup is only as good as your last restore and as Beth Pariseau reports for SearchDataBackup.com the Mozy restore experience can be frustratingly slow. Pariseau cites a few examples from real users who have encountered poor performance when they needed a fast recovery.

This sort of issue is going to become more and more important in determining which cloud storage provider to go with if you are using it as a backup solution.

New storage demands drive online adoption…

Anthony Calypso reports that massive accumulation of valuable digital assets is turning consumers on to online storage. He cites Jonathan Steuer, a vice president and general manager for Iconoculture Inc., a Minneapolis-based cultural trend research company who says “consumers are having data storage issues that they’ve never had before … more of their assets are digital (i.e. photo content, MP3 files). As people accumulate more stuff, there is a notion of wanting to protect those [items]. It’s really part of the Web 2.0 world that we’ve seen building for a long time.”

Calypso notes that “Consumers might have an easier time breaking bad habits once they become aware of the online back-up options available today,” and recommends ElephantDrive, Mozy, and Xdrive as solutions.