Weighing over a ton and occupying almost a whole room, the first hard drives were introduced in 1956 by IBM. They had a capacity of just over 3700 kilobytes of data and were considered a technological revolution back then.

With the evolution of faster computers, our dependency on data has increased manifold. We have now moved ahead from bulky storage devices to chips that can hold petabytes of data and fit on a pencils nib. But then again, physical storage was deemed impractical for companies expanding through the world. This is wherecloudmigration came into play.

Cloud storage is storing digital business data in the cloud, across multiple servers, instead of a physical device.

Cloud storage is another example of storage as a service, where the storage capacity and maintenance are provided by vendors and delivered on-demand. Its in high demand after the massive migration of big organizations to the cloud platform. Cloud storage offers businesses a virtual infrastructure accessible, scalable, and customizable for their data needs.

While physical storage services need several devices and servers at multiple locations, cloud storage stores data in virtual servers hosted by internal and external vendors.

Cloud storage is essentially moving your organizational data from physical devices to online servers. It works through data servers connected via the internet.

The data blocks or files are sent to the cloud using the internet and are stored in more than one server to ensure accessibility. These files can be accessed through a user interface that can be customized for each stakeholder.

Multiple data servers ensure that the data has been replicated and backed up for any unforeseen circumstances where a server fails.

Cloud storage works differently with different kinds of computing platforms. Lets take a look at the different cloud computing models and how storage works in them.

Private cloudstorage provides a personal cloud storage platform with in-house resources. It uses a single physical server to instantiate multiple virtual servers and gives the organization full control over the storage capacity and architecture.

Public cloudstorage platforms provide you with a cloud space that several other companies share. The main advantage of using such platforms is the increased accessibility and scalability of the storage platform. Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google cloud storage are the most common examples of public cloud storage platforms.

Hybrid cloud storage solutionsgive organizations a choice to segregate their data between private and public cloud platforms. This ensures that sensitive applications security is upheld and the scalability of public cloud storage is also leveraged simultaneously.

Cloud storage can be classified based on the architecture used to store data. It can be broadly classified into three categories.

Object storage is used for storing unstructured data such as media files in repositories known as containers or buckets. This storage option allows for greater flexibility and scalability in terms of the type of data being stored. It also accounts for easier data access and permissions.

Applications that need to share and store files employ a file storage system to access the data hierarchically. Its a simple storage system to store and retrieve well-organized data files.Cloud collaboration softwareprovides dedicated file-based storage and sharing solutions.

Block storage allows dedicated storage blocks for files of equal size. It makes up for a high-performing storage and retrieval system because of the storage blocks modular nature. Its generally used to store databases, virtual machines, and email servers.

Every viable cloud storage solution needs to fulfill certain requirements to be used in a business scenario. Let's have a look at the most basic requirements of a cloud storage solution.

Cloud storage services need to be durable and resilient towards natural disasters, data losses, and server failures. They need to be more robust than physical storage to be a viable investment option.

Cloud storage has the advantage of being accessed remotely, even if the user is not present near the physical infrastructure. They should be accessible over multiple mobile devices and regions and contribute to the ease of data retrieval.

Data security is a big responsibility for cloud storage providers since theyre considered to store sensitive data. Data centers need to be encrypted over multiple layers and should be only accessible with proper authentication.

In a world dominated by digital data, cloud storage has opened up avenues for efficient deposit and retrieval of business data. Cloud storage is responsible for making data easily accessible for businesses around the world. Lets have a look at the benefits of using cloud storage.

Cloud storage provides users with a platform to conveniently upload files all across the globe. It enables businesses to send organized data in the form of files and get multiple users to work on the same set of data from various locations.

When multiple users are working on the same set of data or files from different locations, cloud storage helps synchronize the changes made. It also ensures that the data in every device accessing the storage is up to date and accessible. Data syncing helps reduce the redundancy of data over a single platform and speeds up the software development process.

Cloud storage eliminates the need for physical storage devices and the hassle of keeping them safe. It also helps your physical memory storage by not taking up any space for any downloaded or streamed content.

Cloud storage software provides you an option to upgrade your storage plan if your data demand increases or if you need to support the amount of storage for new applications. Its a highly scalable solution that helps grow businesses.

Outsourcing data storage to cloud storage vendors helps organizations to cut down their expenditure on in-house infrastructure. This provides a cost-effective solution for the companys data needs and reduces the dependency on resources required to collect and maintain data.

Cloud storage services are equipped with multiple layers of security measures andvirtual private networks (VPNs) to protect your data from unauthorized access. They also ensure your data is not misused or stolen by hackers.

Data recovery is an important aspect for any business and cloud storage. It provides organizations with a safe online backup of their data if anything goes wrong. In case of any hardware failure, your files can still be retrieved from the cloud.

Data compliance can be a tricky thing to maintain while migrating your data from one platform to another. Cloud storage solutions take care of this by enforcing existing compliance controls on your business data.

Onboarding cloud storage for your business comes with its own set of challenges that need to be identified and overcome in time to use the cloud storage system efficiently. Lets have a look at the most common challenges of using cloud storage.

Cloud web services are prone to downtimes owing to slow internet or infrastructure failure. This leads to unexpected business-impacting downtimes. An organization must have a fair idea of the service providers downtime history to make an informed decision about how reliable they might be in terms of business uptime.

While choosing a cloud storage provider, you need to consider their pricing structure, the bandwidth they are providing, and if theyve provided services in your industry domain before. Since onboarding a cloud storage service is a long-term decision, you must keep in mind that the niche expertise of the vendor youre choosing should be in sync with your companys budgets and goals.

Service level agreements (SLAs) are a formal documentation of commitment between a client and a service provider. For cloud storage service providers, SLAs are defined for business uptimes, internet bandwidth, real-time maintenance support, and so on.

Poorly defined SLAs may mean ambiguity in an issue with the resolution time, data breaches, and ineffective monitoring. Its important to lay down business SLAs which are in order with your growth and working plans.

If your organization needs to move away from one storage provider to another, data mobility might be a big issue if your service provider doesnt provide adequate support. Therefore, its important to set ground rules with your vendor about the timeline to move data if needed, data archiving guidelines, the bandwidth cost involved, and if the data will be transferred over the cloud or physically.

The bandwidth of a cloud storage service provider encompasses internet speed, mobile apps, desktop apps support systems, storage limits, and supported data types. Its necessary to have a clear idea of the bandwidth beforehand to set realistic storage performance expectations. Its also important to determine the softwares data backup capacity so that the backup frequency can be adjusted.

With more and more companiesmigrating to the cloud, the increase in the number of cloud service providers has been quite apparent. How do you choose the right cloud storage provider from the umpteen options available?

Lets check out the factors you need to consider to choose the best option for your business plans.

For onboarding a cloud storage service, you need to decide on the type of cloud sharing youre willing to accommodate. Every employee might need to have access to shared storage, or each employee can be given a slice of the storage space, depending on the nature of the business and their roles.

Vendor uptime is an indication of the time when the vendor services were operational over a period of time. Its important to consider the past uptime record of any cloud storage vendor since you cant afford to have business downtimes due to performance issues on the vendor side.

Cloud storage services need to be compatible with your software stack. Organizations need to ensure that their application programming interfaces are supported by the cloud storage service theyre considering. If your organization deals with big data, your cloud storage provider should be able to support data warehouses and data lakes in order to optimally manage your data. Moreover, multiple operating systems such as Windows, iOS, and Android need to be supported by the storage solution to be eligible for multi-device operability.

Each cloud storage service provider comes with a data backup plan which is important since it enables data recovery. When choosing a storage service provider, you need to check if their backup plans are compatible with the amount of data you need to store daily.

Cloud securityis a major concern for every business, and cloud storage providers need to ensure that data vulnerabilities are kept to a minimum. While onboarding a cloud storage service, its important to check the security features that it provides for your applications.

Cloud storage gives you a chance to save on physical storage costs and opt for a secure, accessible, and convenient online storage option. It also eliminates the need for data transportation over various locations and helps in creating regular data backups.

With a rise inmulticloud computingin the business arena, its not surprising that cloud storage being utilized as a service has caught the attention of growing organizations.

Read this article:
Cloud Storage Simplified: What Is It and How to Choose One - G2

For more than two decades, IT teams have been deploying application performance management tools to monitor and manage on-premises applications and infrastructure. But when organizations move to the cloud, these APM strategies need to evolve.

Cloud APM requires an organization to track more metrics than on-premises APM. There are also additional considerations to weigh for collecting and analyzing metrics data when dealing with cloud-based environments.

At first glance, cloud environments and on-premises environments may not seem radically different as far as application monitoring is concerned. Cloud applications still run on servers -- usually, anyway -- and handle transactions in ways that are typically similar to on-premises apps.

You can use certain monitoring approaches both on premises and in the cloud. For example, the RED method emphasizes the collection of metrics related to transaction rate, error and duration.

Cloud environments, however, pose additional challenges. When planning which metrics to monitor, IT teams will need to account for the following:

All of these differences impact the approach that teams need to take to monitor and manage applications in the cloud.

For virtually any type of cloud environment, you'll want to track the following types of metrics:

When you have a detailed look at what's happening, you'll be in a better position to prevent complications.

Depending on how you deploy and manage your applications, you may also want to consider the following types of metrics to help monitor your cloud applications and optimize the end-user experience:

The specific metrics you'd collect in each category will depend on which types of cloud services you use and which metrics they expose. These metrics vary from one cloud platform to the next, but they are usually well documented by cloud providers. You can read all about the metrics exposed by Amazon EC2 or Azure Virtual Machines, to name just two basic examples of cloud services.

Whatever the specific cloud metrics you ingest into your APM tools, your key focus should be to collect information that helps you understand the state of complex, distributed cloud environments.

You should also strive to correlate data of different types and compare data across different clouds and services. This way, you can achieve full visibility into the performance -- and cost -- problems that may arise in the cloud.

When you have a detailed look at what's happening, you'll be in a better position to prevent complications and improve the performance of a cloud deployment.

See the rest here:
Metrics that matter in cloud application monitoring - TechTarget

The number of businesses making the jump to cloud storage is growing by the day. But many individuals and business owners who havent made the switch yet are hesitant for a single reason: security. Giving up your sensitive data to be managed by another business, even if its one of the best cloud storage solutions, can feel like the digital equivalent of a trust fall.

So, is cloud storage secure? The answer is a resounding yes. In this guide, well explain what makes the cloud secure, and offer tips to help you keep your data safe.

One of the most important advantages of storing your data in the cloud is that its not just backed up once, but multiple times. To understand why this matters, its important to remember that any data you store in the cloud lives on physical servers.

When you upload files to your cloud storage space, those files are instantly copied onto multiple servers in independent data centers around the US or even around the world. So, with a single transfer, identical copies of your data are stored in several locations.

This redundancy is critical to ensuring that your data is safe. If any one server fails unexpectedly, there are still copies of your data available on another server. Even if an entire data center is destroyed by an event like a fire or an earthquake, another copy of your data is available on a server in another data center.

Top providers also routinely check the integrity of each data copy to make sure it is available if you need it. This system is so effective that Amazon Web Services estimates that the chance of losing your data from the cloud is just one in 100 billion.

Creating an equally effective system of data redundancy is nearly impossible to accomplish without using the cloud. You could keep identical hard drives in different cities around the country, but then how would you sync data across those drives every time you edited a file?

Cloud storage offers an effective way to ensure that your data is protected against physical drive damage, which is one of the most common causes of data loss.

Another thing that makes cloud storage secure is that cloud networks are under near-constant surveillance. Major cloud storage providers have dedicated operations centers that are staffed around the clock with cybersecurity experts. These teams are constantly on the lookout for digital threats to their cloud storage infrastructure, and they have the necessary tools to lock out intruders.

On top of that, cloud storage providers have software teams working 24/7 to manage the security of their applications. Missing security patches are among the most common vulnerabilities that hackers use to gain unauthorized access to a network. Cloud providers software teams not only ensure that every piece of software is patched to eliminate entry points, but also proactively stress-test their own systems to identify potential points of failure.

Cloud storage providers and data center operators also take the physical security seriously of the servers that hold your data. Most data centers are patrolled by security teams, and servers are often kept in locked cages as an extra precaution against theft.

All data stored in the cloud should be encryptedand only you should have the encryption key. This is common practice in the cloud storage industry, and is often referred to as end-to-end or zero-knowledge encryption.

Under this encryption scheme, your data is encrypted before it ever leaves your device. Only after the encryption process is completed are files transferred over the internet to your cloud storage space. Once they arrive, theyre kept encrypted at rest on your cloud providers servers.

This means that no one, not even your cloud storage provider, can decrypt your files and access their contents. In the event that your data is intercepted during transfer to or from the cloud, the attacker wont have the information needed to decrypt your files.

While cloud storage providers do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to keeping your data secure, you have an important role to play as well. Here are four things you can do to make sure your cloud storage is as secure as possible.

Turn on two-factor authentication

The majority of cloud storage providers offer an option to protect your account with two-factor authentication. This requires that you have both your password and a one-time verification code, which is sent to your phone or email inbox, to log in to your cloud storage account. As a result, attackers cant easily break into your account even if they crack your password.

Two-factor authentication is typically turned off by default when you set up a new cloud storage account. Make sure you turn this setting on to better protect your data.

Protect your encryption key

One major catch to end-to-end encryption is that without your encryption key, which is typically your account password, theres no way to access your data. If you lose your key, your cloud provider wont be able to help. Always keep a backup copy of your key available in case you lose or forget it.

However, you dont want to keep a copy of your encryption key somewhere that hackers could potentially get their hands on it. Consider writing down your key and keeping it somewhere secure. If you want to keep a digital copy of your key, you can use a physical device called a hardware security module. This puts your key behind a firewall, so that it cannot be accessed even if your computer is hacked.

Disconnect your devices

If your computer, smartphone, and other devices stay logged in to your cloud storage account when youre not using them, thats a potential entry point for intruders. By leaving your devices logged in, you allow anyone who gets hold of your device to break into your cloud storage. They dont even need to know your password or circumvent the two-factor authentication process.

Always log out of your cloud account when youre not using it. If your cloud provider offers an automatic time-out feature, turn it on.

Check your shared files

Cloud storage makes it easy to share files with friends, family, and colleagues. But creating links to your files that offer unlimited access can leave your data vulnerable.

Periodically audit which files and folders youve shared from your cloud account, and revoke access for anyone who no longer needs it. If your cloud provider offers links with passwords and expiration dates, put these features to use instead of sharing unrestricted access to your files.

Cloud storage is designed from the ground up for maximum data security. When you store data in the cloud, your files are encrypted and continuously monitored to protect against cybersecurity threats. Your data is also stored redundantly to ensure that a copy will survive any catastrophe.

Still, its essential that you take proper precautions with your own devices to help keep your cloud storage secure. Always turn on two-factor authentication and make use of any additional security features that your cloud storage provider offers.

Read the rest here:
Why cloud storage is secure (and tips on using it securely) - Tom's Guide

What is the cloud?

The definition of the cloud may seem unclear, but fundamentally, it is a term used to describe a global network of servers, each with unique functions.

The cloud is not a physical entity, but a huge network of remote servers around the world that are connected to each other to act as a single ecosystem. These servers are designed to store and manage data, run applications, or deliver content or services, such as video streaming, webmail, office software, or social media.

You do not need to access files and data from your personal or local computer, but you can access them online from any device connected to the Internet, which means that all the information can be used anytime, anywhere.

Working in the cloud represents an adaptive advantage because some applications have options that can be customized according to your business needs. This allows you to test what works for you and discard features that wouldnt bring as much benefit. Additionally, you can always go back and include a feature that was initially discarded, in case something changes about it.

Since theres not much setting up to do, these changes are made very quickly and dont represent any IT hard labor or equipment costs.

There are platforms such as Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox, among many others, from which you can easily do this.

When we talk about cloud storage, we refer to information stored on cloud-based servers. When navigating the internet, you can use a platform such as OneDrive, and download a document, you can access the information stored on a certain server located anywhere in the world.

Some of the functions of the cloud are:

Stop buying bulky technology and get cloud services instead, which are readily available. Traditional computing and technology are expensive to acquire, complex to set up, and nowadays inefficient and underutilized.

Cloud services require almost no entry cost, making the access and use of advanced technologies very inexpensive, easy, and hassle-free. For example, the ease of obtaining cloud services gives you several low-cost options.

These are some of the monthly and annual costs of the most popular cloud operators in the world:

Thats right, now all your computers will automatically update the software. In the end, we will forget about the problem of having to insert the disk computer one by one to install an update.

Imagine this is a problem for employees in your company with multiple computers. Youll see great benefits from Cloud adoption. Now, imagine there are two or more branches in the same city or even in different cities. By using cloud-based solutions, your entire business will keep running, saving a lot of logistics costs.

Cloud updated tools:

You no longer have to pay high hourly rates for consulting and installation services that are common in traditional technical solutions. With cloud services, there is no need to pay expensive consulting fees up front, and services can be up and running in a few hours rather than months or years.

Plus, stop signing expensive maintenance and support contracts. Traditional technology means keeping up with updates that change every 3-6 months. Cloud service providers can support and maintain the technology and infrastructure to ensure 24-hour access to the latest cloud services.

By providing cloud services, companies can have management tools and other functions available. Its necessary to know how to use them correctly to take advantage of all its functions, thus reducing costs.

One of the main ways to save money with cloud-based software is to use the tools that the service provider offers. These tools will help your organization make the most of its resources.

Automation is an excellent tool to cut costs. By automating cloud services, companies can eliminate various manual and cumbersome processes, simplifying activities, and gaining extra time to focus on more productive tasks. Additionally, errors can get minimized.

The automatic expansion of resources is used to solve the excessive cost of data when using Cloud services. Thus, you can control the amount of processing that the cloud application must do.

This process can help evolve cloud computing networks, allowing organizations to gain greater flexibility without worrying about paying for excessive contracted services.

By investing in these advantages and effectively managing your resources in the cloud, you can reduce your investment costs, thereby having extra money to expand your business even further..

Since cloud apps process data from the cloud instead of computers, many apps are suitable for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, and dont require expensive devices with high processing power and storage capacity.

Therefore, you can gradually give up Hardware to promote a popular strategy, such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) or a strategy used from your own device, where employees can use their laptops, mobile phones, and tablets to work.

In addition, you and your employees will be able to access your work information at any time and place, which has great advantages for better control of the company. This also means greater flexibility and the ability to work from home, which is essential in todays world.

A cloud-based communication system is a service that enables you to make calls over the web instead of using ancient analog phones that make use of copper cables or fiber optics to establish connections.

A cloud-based phone system has an array of different features, unlike the traditional analog phones which are limited in terms of features and are less updated. Some of the features of a cloud-based phone system include: unified communications, international calling, artificial intelligence, instant messaging, cloud communication, call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, integrations, automated voice menu and ring anywhere.

Cloud phones are hosted in one or in several data centers which are offsite and secure.

The phone systems can be used with many different types of devices such as: phones with adapters, smartphone apps or phones that are VoIP enabled.

All of the data and knowledge is kept within the cloud rather than maintaining the package through a server. This will ensure that you save on maintenance and upgrade costs as everything can simply be upgraded within the cloud.

Cloud-based phone systems work by breaking up your voice into little digital packets that are sent as information over the net to the recipient of the call. A cloud-based PBX is used when routing a call.

Cloud-based phone systems are accessible through a variety of different ways, all you will need is an internet connection. People can make cloud-based calls via the following methods:

There is no doubt that cloud computing has been growing and evolving in many different industries. It is highly important that businesses use technology to be more efficient, as it boasts a number of advantages such as, an increase in productivity, security and assistance of scaling on a global level those are only to name a few.

Cloud computing is a service that allows users to pay only for what they need- that is the major advantage. It dramatically reduces costs for businesses therefore allowing them to invest in other projects, features or infrastructure to grow their business.

More here:
6 Ways Cloud-Based Software Can Reduce Operation Costs - Techiexpert.com - TechiExpert.com

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ColorTokens Inc., a leading innovator in zero trust-based cybersecurity solutions, today announced it had taken home four wins at the 17th Annual 2021 Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards.

The annual event is hosted by The Globee Awards, organizers of the worlds premier business awards programs and business ranking lists. These prestigious global awards recognize cybersecurity and information technology providers with advanced, ground-breaking products, solutions, and services that are helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of security and technologies.

ColorTokens was named a Gold Winner of Company of the Year in the Security Cloud/SaaS category. The companys newest offering, Xassure, was named a Silver Winner in the New Product/Service of the Year for Security Services. And, its Xprotect and Xshield products each captured a Bronze Award for Hot Security Technology of the Year.

Were proud to be recognized as an industry player whose company and products have been named winners by the Globee Awards, said ColorTokens EVP and Co-Founder Rajesh Khazanchi. Xprotect and Xshield were already award-winning products, but now were proud to share that our newest offering Xassure joins them as an award-winner. Xprotect, Xshield and Xassure are part of the Xtended ZeroTrust Platform, which single-handedly secures cloud workloads, containers, dynamic applications, endpoints, servers and users from internal and external threats. These recent awards underscore ColorTokens unparalleled approach and products that are changing the enterprise security landscape.

ColorTokens is a leader in deploying zero trust security at critical points throughout the network, combining deep visibility, simulation mode, identity-based segmentation, and endpoint/server lockdown delivered across hybrid networks spanning users, endpoints, servers, applications and workloads. The Xtended ZeroTrust Platform delivers all of this without any downtime, reboots, reconfiguration, hardware, onsite visits, or impact on business continuityachieving unrivaled deployment capability.

More than 45 judges from around the world representing a wide spectrum of industry experts participated in the judging process.

About the Globee AwardsGlobee Awards are conferred in eleven programs and competition: the CEO World Awards, the Consumer World Awards, The Customer Sales & Service World Awards, the Globee International Best in Business Awards, the Golden Bridge Awards, the Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards and Security World Awards, the IT World Awards, One Planet American Best in Business Awards, the Globee Employer Excellence Awards, the Globee Corporate Communications & Marketing World Awards, and the Women World Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind their success, the Globee Awards recognize outstanding achievements and performances in businesses worldwide. Learn more about the Globee Awards at https://globeeawards.com.

About ColorTokensColorTokens Inc., a leader in cloud-delivered zero trust security, empowers global enterprises with a proactive approach to securing cloud workloads, dynamic applications, endpoints, and users. Through its award-winning Xtended ZeroTrust Platform, ColorTokens delivers products and services that help businesses accurately assess and drastically improve their security posture in hybrid environments. For more information, please visit http://www.colortokens.com.

Link:
ColorTokens Wins Four Globee Awards, Including Company of the Year, at the 2021 Cyber Security Global Excellence Awards - Business Wire