Question: As a company, who is interested in maintaining internal security of data, is it in your best interest to trust all of your said data to a public Cloud storage provider like Dropbox, SugarSync, Skydrive and Google Drive or is it in your best interest to host all of your storage needs via a private corporate Cloud?
Why Public Cloud Storage Providers Rock
Here is the thing, we are not going to stomp all over Dropbox, SugarSync, Skydrive and Google Drive. As Cloud storage providers, the aforementioned brands have done a wonderful job bring dependable Cloud Computing storage solutions at a minimum cost to the masses. While some providers like Dropbox are more known and utilized than other providers like SugarSync (currently there are roughly 300 million Dropbox accounts), overall the storage services currently running are doing an excellent job at meeting/exceeding demand.
Amazon Cloud storage and their brothers in arms rock because they provide scalable storage solutions at a small cost with hardly any downtime or service interruptions.
A Question About Public Cloud Storage Providers
We have established why public Cloud storage provides like Google Drive rock. That stated, we need to ask a question. If you are a company who is vested in protecting internal data from the outside world, is it a smart choice to utilize public Cloud storage applications like Dropbox to store and secure your sensitive data?
While Dropbox and Google Drive are excellent choices to store and share data, they have never been the most secure Cloud storage solutions on the market. For all the benefits Skydrive and SugarSync provide, their one major downside is a lack of corporate encryption and personal hardened firewalls. This is where Cloud Computing storage solutions like Box.net come into play. Recognizing a need for corporate storage, Box.net provides their corporate clients with a safer Cloud storage platform however they still tell their consumers to protect themselves.
With even corporate Cloud storage providers like Box.net telling clients to protect themselves, should companies invest a single dollar into public Cloud storage solutions or should they opt to build their own storage platform utilizing an internal private Cloud deployment?
Why Private Cloud Infrastructure Rocks
In terms of Cloud storage solutions, a private Cloud (sometimes called a corporate Cloud) can supply your company with the storage scalability of Dropbox with the added benefit of internal firewall security. For the company in need of both data storage and solution security, the private corporate Cloud provides company with everything they need.
While the private Cloud is more secure than public Cloud storage options, it should be mentioned the private Cloud doesn’t come cheap. For the majority of small to medium sized companies, private Cloud Computing deployments are too expensive to manage on a monthly basis. For this reason, although Dropbox and Google Drive are not the most secure storage networks, they might be the only accessible storage providers for smaller companies.
But don’t fret. Although a private Cloud deployment might not be in your financial grasp, Dropbox, Box.net and SugarSync offer great storage solutions. Make no mistake about it, for a company looking to propel itself forward in our digital world, investing in Cloud storage providers is a must.