Cloud technologies are increasingly penetrating all areas of activity. The speed, stability, comfort of using the cloud led to the fact that it began to be used to achieve a variety of business objectives. This article will consider the best alternatives to cloud storage services.
Using Cloud technologies
The development of information technology today is associated with the use of cloud technologies. The transition to virtual infrastructures, the spread of cloud computing is making changes not only in the IT industry but also in all spheres of society. The main features of cloud technologies are the ability to scale the infrastructure for data storage and dynamic capacity management, which will free the user from managing complex technology.
The essence of cloud technology, therefore, is to transfer data processing from personal computers and workstations to servers on the World Wide Web. In the field of computer modeling, this means the deployment of software packages on the Internet. The user becomes not the buyer of computer programs and complexes, but their tenant, who is provided with various services. The form of purchase and sale of goods with the alienation of property rights from the seller to buyer changes to the form of lease, in this case – the sale of not a product, and services for its use by the customer without changing the owner of the product.
Cloud computing now includes the following technologies:
- SaaS: Software as a Service – access to applications managed by the service provider;
- PaaS: Platform as a Service – providing an integrated platform for development, testing, deployment, and support of cloud applications;
- IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service – transfer by enterprises to outsource their own IT infrastructure and service to its enterprise, while enterprises lease the infrastructure of data centers, but continue to own their own business applications.
SaaS provides off-the-shelf application software that is fully serviced by the provider. It is a background of private cloud storage. This solution maximally covers business needs and is easy to administer, which removes the unnecessary burden from the company and associated costs.
On the other hand, this solution is the least flexible, and, as mentioned above, you cannot cook borscht according to your grandmother’s recipe here. There is only an opportunity to choose from the already available functionality.
Best options of cloud storage services
Among the top-rated cloud services are:
- Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization service that serves as the file system for the rest of Google’s services. It allows you to sync files between your online account, computers, and mobile devices. There is version history, OCR, powerful online viewer, search. It also provides 5 GB for free.
- Dropbox is available to users of almost all popular operating systems. It is historically the first cloud storage system. In general, this service cannot boast of a large amount of space on a free plan – only 2 GB. However, thanks to the loyalty program, you can increase the total volume of your space up to 16 GB. To do this, you need to invite friends and share about Dropbox on social networks.
- OneDrive is cloud storage from Microsoft, which is very tightly integrated into the new Windows 10. That is, you no longer need to look for a desktop client on the company’s website, because it is immediately available to you after installing the system. After registering with OneDrive, you have 5 GB of free space available for free. You can upgrade your storage from 5GB to 50GB for as little as $ 1.99 / month.