The clout of cloud

The clout of cloud


As data grows, so do storage sites

04:46 AM Jun 07, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO - When people had only one or two computers, file sharing was not a big worry. Now, as people gain an arsenal of computers, smartphones and tablets, it has become a chore.

The annoyance of emailing documents to themselves or using thumbdrives has given new life to an old idea - online storage. People simply save their Word documents, spreadsheets and photos in "the cloud", a Web-based file cabinet accessible from any device with an Internet connection.

A number of companies focused on online storage are quickly gaining users and attention. New investment is driving a boomlet in the niche business, adding to an already lengthy list of competitors such as Dropbox, YouSendIt.com and Box.net.

Google began acclimating people to the notion of storing documents in the cloud with its Google Docs feature in 2005. And online back-up or storage services like MobileMe from Apple and Windows Live SkyDrive from Microsoft, are now familiar. What has changed is that more people have discovered a need for them.

Mr Aaron Levie, chief executive ofBox.net, an early online storage company, said that the increased adoption of mobile devices and ubiquity of online connections had created a bigger need for companies like his.

According to a study done in America by Forrester Research, nearly 60 per cent of adults with online access own at least two Internet connected devices. Just under 3 per cent have at least nine different gadgets. If that seems to be a lot, think about this: A person may have a home computer and a work computer and other members of the family may each have computers. Then count smartphones and tablets and it is not hard to get to a large number of machines.

"It just sort of clicked," said Mr Levie. "There ended up being a tremendous amount of interest."

"Our vision is to simplify the lives of millions of peoples" said Mr Drew Houston, chief executive of Dropbox, where 25 million users upload files at the rate of 300 million a day.

"You don't have to worry that you have some files on your Mac, some stuff on your work computer and then some more on your iPhone."

A growing number of people believe him. Dropbox stores 100 billion files on its servers and Box.net said it has 6 million users.

The sales pitch for online storage is that it lets users make changes to a Word file, for example, so that there is a single version available from both their work and home computers. It is a process known as synchronisation, or sync for short. Users can also collaborate on a document with colleagues or share video clips and photos with friends. Saved files are accessible from any Internet connected device.

Backing up files is an added benefit. Users no longer risk losing their children's photos if they forget their mobile phone in a taxi or their home work if their hard drive crashes.

Mr George Hamilton, an analyst with Yankee Group, said that online storage largely appealed to tech-oriented consumers, although it has been gaining more mainstream adoption recently.

Mr Houston says he saves nearly everything to Dropbox including copies of his driving licence and passport. "I have five or six laptops, and they are totally interchangeable," he said.

But one thing still worries consumers: Security. While there are no known cases of exposed documents on these services, well-publicised hackings and thefts at big companies like Sony, RSA Security and the email marketing firm Epsilon Data Management worry the late adopters. "I wouldn't want to put anything with a Social Security number on a cloud-based storage service," said Mr Hamilton. THE NEW YORK TIMES


Source: www.todayonline.com