'Net Features : cloud storage

Riak CS Lets Users Replicate Data Globally

Michael Garrity — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:46:00 GMT

Customers can now replicate Riak Cloud Storage (Riak CS) data across multiple data centers to assure its users that they can avoid disruptions from outages and serve content faster to multiple geographic locations, all while building upon its existing compatibility with Amazon S3.

The cloud storage service from Basho Technologies will now allow customers to spread their stored data over a series of data centers located around the world, and the integration of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure guarantees high availability. Basically, Riak CS customers will now be able to replicate their stored data on any data center they want on their own terms, in addition all of the benefits of using AWS, just to sweeten the deal. This solution also reduces some of the risks commonly associated with AWS.

Moreoever, these new replication capabilities will break large data objects into smaller blocks that will be streamed to the underlying Riak cluster, where they will then be replicated for high availability. A manifest for each object will be maintained, allowing the service to retrieve each block from the cluster and present the full object to the end-user. Global information, bucket information and manifests will all be streamed in real-time from a primary implementation to a secondary site for multi-site replication, and objects can be replicated in either “full” or “real-time” sync modes.

Riak CS, built upon Riak, the open source distributed NoSQL database, was just released by Basho last year, and the Amazon S3 integration, which provides Riak CS customers with access to S3 tools and frameworks, was only announced early in 2012.

DreamHost's Cloud Storage Service Goes Beta

Michael Garrity — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:10:00 GMT

DreamHost, the Web hosting and cloud computing company, is diving into the cloud-based object storage industry with its new DreamObjects service, which is built upon the open source Ceph file system originally developed by – who else? – DreamHost.

In addition to the Ceph file system, DreamObjects was built on a variety of other open source tools, including the Ubuntu Linux 12.4 OS distribution from Canonical and the open source Chef tool for automated provisioning and configuration. DreamHost will also be contributing code back to these open source communities.

Over 300,000 developers and entrepreneurs, across the world, currently make up DreamHost’s customers, and the company has been designing much of DreamObjects’s functionality based on that audience’s needs thanks to initial feedback.

Among the primary features of the DreamObjects service is API compatibility with other major object storage services (including Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files). It will also come with easy-to-use interfaces and simple pricing schemes that come standard with the service.

Pricing starts at seven cents per GB per month, and can dip below five cents per GB per month for some monthly prepaid plans. To transfer data from the service it will cost seven cents per GB.

Initially, DreamObjects will be offered as a public beta, and interested users can sign up on DreamHost's website. The company also plans to offer a free two-month trial of DreamObjects with 10GB of storage and 20GB of transfer data, only charging the regular rates for overage beyond the trial-sized resources.

Secure Sharing with the Cloud

Michael Garrity — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:40:00 GMT

Plenty has been written about the baggage that security concerns attach to the cloud. These problems are obviously multiplied when it comes to sharing documents and information up there. This continues to be among the biggest hindrances to rapid cloud adoption for some companies.

Many companies recognize this, however, and have been working to find the best solutions available. Yesterday, it was announced that secure mobile messaging platform TigerText was offering API integration with Dropbox that would let users securely send documents using the cloud storage service. All of the documents will be encrypted so that they can’t be downloaded, copied, or forwarded, and the pairing offers additional features like a pre-set lifespan and file attachment recall at any time.

The two companies worked to make sure this integration would be worthwhile for everyone, from the average Dropbox customer that shares files with friends and family to businesses sending highly sensitive information.

“Anyone who has information that they would like to be able to share through messaging, but won’t build a platform themselves, can now have an extension to communicate in a secure fashion,” says TigerText President Brad Brooks.

This new Dropbox integration feature will be immediately released to consumers, and will be offered to enterprise organizations by the week’s end. To start, users can access their Dropbox accounts using the TigerText iOS app, with Android and Blackberry availability to come.

Cloud Platform Box.net Partners with HP

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:30:00 GMT

Cloud storage platform Box.net announced a partnership with HP today to bring the company’s offerings to select HP desktops.

Starting today, HP Elite and HP Pro desktop business PCs users have access to offers from Box that include increased storage capacity and enterprise synchronization for use in collaboration and content management in the cloud.

Users that purchase a new HP Compaq Pro 6500 or 6200 Series PC will receive a free Box account with 10 GB of storage – double the size of a typical Box account – with the option to upgrade to additional capacities at a reduced annual rate. Box.net is also offering those purchasing a new HP Elite 8200 Series PC a Box account with unlimited storage and sync at no cost for one year.

Box.net was listed in Website Magazine’s 50 Top Sites for Web Designers in March 2011.

Strong Dropbox Alternatives To Consider

Michael Garrity — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:30:00 GMT

With over 25 million users, around 200 million files shared per day and some estimating their worth at nearly $5 billion, it's safe to say that Dropbox is probably the most popular Web-based file hosting service available today.

However, this does not mean that Dropbox is the only option that you have to host files for your business online. In fact, over the last few months, the service has been under scrutiny for what many claim are potentially major problems with their security features. If these allegations concern you, or you just want to try something different, it may be worth looking into one of the other cloud-based online storage units on the Web. After all, you have plenty to choose from.

Of course, not all file hosting is created equal. Some systems are better for storing media, some are more business-oriented and some focus more on security. That is why Website Magazine has put together this list of three of the best Dropbox alternatives available today for your business.

Box
This is probably your safest bet as far as Dropbox alternatives go. It's a simple interface that allows for easy sharing of content (as a link or folder) with anyone inside or outside of your company. They offer 5+ GB of storage to start for free, with a 25 MB file size limit, and you can get up to 500 GB of storage for your business if needed, which is the most offered by any service on this list. However, Box really displays their superiority with their mobile prowess. With free apps available for the iPhone and iPad and a ton of mobile capabilities, Box is the best mobile file hosting service out there. In the end, though, Box is really a business-focused service; they are especially great for enterprise customers who will require more than three users to have access to the service and they seem geared towards companies with distributed working teams. Among their many features are the ability to share project files, add comments, assign tasks, start discussions and create new content.

SugarSync
SugarSync is the closest alternative to Dropbox available from a feature and price standpoint. Unlike Dropbox, however, SugarSync offers 5 GB of storage for free and then provides paid personal and enterprise packages beyond that. It is a folder sync system that allows users to back up their data online and then access that data across multiple platforms, which makes your files available on any connected sync point or via a Web browser. This also includes mobile syncing; so, when you're out and you come across some important content or data, you can autmatically add it to your storage unit. It also lets users separate photos from files, which is something you can't do in Dropbox. Other features include: a file editor within the Web app, media streaming, folders selection, permissions/passwords settings and file versioning.

SpiderOak
Again, this sync, share and backup service has a lot of the same features as Dropbox, but with one big difference. The focus for SpiderOak is on their "zero knowledge" security features. In fact, this is the best file hosting service available on the Web for those businesses whose biggest concern is security. One of their top security features is two-factor authentication, which provides an additional layer of security on top of regular password protection. Like Dropbox, they provide 2 GB of free storage. As far as sharing features go, they allow you to sync to mulitple computers, provide version history of your files and have mobile apps for both iOS and Android. They also have what are called "Share Rooms," which are kind of like Google+ circles in that they allow you to put people in "rooms" and then select which rooms are able to view certain files, which is a natural extension of their focus on security. SpiderOak also provides users with a ton of information their files by saving the complete version history and it is easily accessible and easy to find by date-stamp.

Zmanda Introduces ZCloud

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:18:00 GMT

Open source backup and recovery software Zmanda today announced ZCloud, an open API that should simplify the development of backup-to-cloud applications by providing am interface for storage cloud and backup software vendors.

“Storage clouds represent a radical shift in secondary and tertiary storage. With increasing Internet bandwidth and economies of scale of storage cloud vendors, IT managers will realize dramatic cost and complexity reduction for their off-site backup needs,” said Chander Kant, chief executive officer, Zmanda. “By normalizing the idiosyncrasies of specific clouds, ZCloud enables a vibrant ecosystem needed to serve this growing demand.”

By enabling this API, a storage cloud immediately becomes a potential destination of ever-growing eco-system of backup-to-cloud applications. The storage cloud vendor does not need to worry about specifics of backup and recovery process. Instead they can continue to focus on scalability and robustness of their core offering.