Category Archives: Cloud Storage
Remarkable users have to accept new terms to get a free subscription – Good e-Reader
A couple of months ago, Remarkable unveiled their new Connect subscription plan for new users. They have to pay a monthly cost to get access to features such as cloud storage and advanced writing tools, although a free option does exist. Existing Remarkable customers were promised free access to all tiers of access, but many people did not know what to do. Remarkable just sent out an email to all of their customers and have stated that everyone has to accept the new terms and conditions. This email was sent to the email address associated with your Remarkable Account.
There aretwo membership plans that are currently available for new users. The first paid tier is called Connect Lite and gives you all of your notes in one place and unlimited cloud storage on the Remarkable servers, this costs $4.99 per month. Connect is their highest tier membership and gives you all of your notes in one place, unlimited Remarkable cloud storage, Google Drive and Dropbox integration, handwriting conversion, screen share and more powerful features in the future, this costs $7.99 per month. If you feel a subscription is not right for you, then you can still take notes, read web articles and ebooks, annotate PDFs and organize all your notes on a device designed without distractions with the free plan. In the future the company plans on introducing more paid tools and further integrations. The rollout of their paid membership platform is just the first step. Remarkable has not disclosed what plans they have to expand their paid offerings, but I am sure they want to add more compelling value.
People who have bought and registered a Remarkable before October, 2021 will get access to all of the Connect features for free, but you have to accept the new terms and conditions that were specifically emailed to you.
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Original post:
Remarkable users have to accept new terms to get a free subscription - Good e-Reader
Microsoft Targets Small Businesses With New ‘Teams Essentials’ Standalone Edition – CRN
Microsoft is making a major play for the small business market and taking aim at video conferencing rival Zoom with its new Microsoft Teams Essentials, a standalone edition of the companys popular collaboration software that the company debuted Wednesday.
Teams Essentials, which carries a $4.00 per user, per month price tag, offers extended meeting times, larger meeting capacity and additional cloud storage compared to the free entry-level edition of Teams.
Teams Essentials is positioned between the free Teams edition and Microsoft 365 Business Basic, which bundles Teams with a complete lineup of Microsoft applications including Outlook, Word, Excel, Exchange, SharePoint, PowerPoint and OneDrive.
[Related: 10 Microsoft Teams Updates Unveiled At Ignite Fall 2021]
Microsoft 365 Business Basic, at $5 per user, per month, also includes larger capacities than Teams Essentials, including up to 1 TB of storage per user, and other features such as meeting recording and transcripts.
While the past 20 months have been challenging for all organizations, I dont know any that have been hit harder than small businesses, said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, in a blog post. Theyve had to adapt nearly every aspect of how they operate and work with customers, often without access to critical tools and technologies.
The world isnt going back to the old way of working, so small businesses need solutions that are designed specifically for their unique needs to thrive in this new normal, Spataro said.
Teams Essentials provides core Teams capabilities including group meetings for up to 30 hours, up to 300 participants per meeting and 10 GB of cloud storage per user. It also offers unlimited chat with co-workers and customers, filesharing capabilities, calendaring, phone and web support services, virtual backgrounds, and data encryption for meetings, chats, calls and files.
In addition to targeting small businesses, Teams Essentials is also aiming for increased adoption by non-profit and religious organizations, schools and community groups, Spataro said.
Microsoft is making Teams Essentials available through a number of the vendors cloud, distributor and telecommunications partners including TD Synnex, Pax8, Ingram Cloud, T-Mobile, Vodaphone Business, Also and Crayon. Microsoft is also providing the Essentials service directly to subscribers.
Business adoption of Microsoft Teams, which debuted in November 2016, exploded when the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of people to work from home. Microsoft added 95 million Teams users in 2020 and as of last month had a total of 145 million active daily users, according to digital experience management company Aternity.
Link:
Microsoft Targets Small Businesses With New 'Teams Essentials' Standalone Edition - CRN
22dot6 adds extra cloudiness to its Valence software Blocks and Files – Blocks and Files
All-singing, all-dancing TASS (Transcendent Abstracted Storage System) supplier 22dot6 has updated its Valence software making it easier to set up and operate private, hybrid, and public cloud storage.
22dot6 is not your usual storage supplier. It was founded in 2015, has just five staff listed in LinkedIn, and no known external funding. Hammerspace-like Valence was first announced in May and, as of now, we dont know how many customers 22dot 6 has for the software.
But its founder, Diamond Lauffin, has a long-term storage industry track record co-founding, for example, Nexsan and being an EVP sales at Qualstar from 1993 to 2000. In other words, take it seriously.
A Lauffin announcement statement said: Most enterprise storage managers are getting pressure from upstairs to shift to the cloud, but often times it is difficult for executives not on the front line to understand whats actually involved in this process, and how complicated it can be. A TASS architecture is the answer, and from sunrise to sunset the Valence Cloud Suite combines the features and optimal practices required for enterprise level data management in the cloud.
This Valence Cloud Suite release adds:
We know of no independent analysis of the TASS software, and no evidence of 22dot6 engagement with analysts like Gartner, Forrester, ESG or the Evaluator Group. Contact 22dot6 to find out more.
This could be great storage software and have its use grow quickly, or it could be a storage curio terrific in its own right but not a mass-market product. Keep your eyes on it just in case.
Originally posted here:
22dot6 adds extra cloudiness to its Valence software Blocks and Files - Blocks and Files
What is the smart city, and why is cloud storage key? – TechRadar
Today, analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) have become big business. Throughout the 2020s, Harvard Business Review[1] estimates that these technologies will add $13 trillion to the global economy, impacting virtually every sector in the process.
One of the biggest drivers of the value-add provided by AI/ML will come from smart cities: cities that leverage enhancements in such technologies to deliver improved services for citizens. Smart cities promise to provide data-driven decisions for essential public services like sanitation, transportation, and communications. In this way, they can help improve the quality of life for both the general public and public sector employees, while also reducing environmental footprints and providing more efficient and more cost-effective public services.
Whether it be improved traffic flow, better waste collection practices, video surveillance, or maintenance schedules for infrastructure - the smart city represents a cleaner, safer, and more affordable future for our urban centers. But realizing these benefits will require us to redefine our approach towards networking, data storage, and the systems underpinning and connecting both. To capitalize on the smart city paradigm, well need to adopt a new and dynamic approach to computing and storage.
In practice, the smart city will require the use of vast arrays of interconnected devices, whether it be sensors, networked vehicles, and machinery for service delivery. These will all generate an ever-growing quantity and variety of data that must be processed and stored, and made accessible to the rest of the smart citys network for both ongoing tasks and city-wide analytics. While a smart city may not need access to all the relevant data at once, theres always the possibility of historic data needing to be accessed on recall to help train and calibrate ML models or perform detailed analytics.
All of this means that a more traditional system architecture that processes data through a central enterprise data center - whether it be on-premise or cloud - cant meet the scaling or performance requirements of the smart city.
This is because, given its geographic removal from the places where data is generated and used, a centralized store cant be counted on to provide the rapid and reliable service thats needed for smart city analytics or delivery. Ultimately, the smart city will demand a decentralized approach to data storage. Such a decentralized approach will enable data from devices, sensors, and applications that serve the smart city to be analyzed and processed locally before being transferred to an enterprise data center or the cloud, reducing latency and response times.
To achieve the cost-effectiveness needed when operating at the scale of data variety and volume expected of a smart city, theyll need access to bottomless clouds: storage arrangements where prices per terabyte are so low that development and IT teams wont need to worry about the costs of provisioning for smart city infrastructure. This gives teams the ability to store all the data they need without the stress of draining their budget, or having to arbitrarily reduce the data pool theyll be able to draw from for smart city applications or analytics.
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is based around a simple principle: users should only pay for the resources they actually use. When it comes to computing and storage resources, this is going to be essential to economically deliver on the vision of the smart city, given the ever-expanding need for provisioning while also keeping down costs within the public sector.
For the smart city in particular, IaaS offers managed, on-demand, and secure edge computing and storage services. IaaS will furnish cities with the components needed to deliver on their vision - whether it be storage, virtualization environments, or network structures. Through being able to scale up provisioning based on current demand while also removing the procurement and administrative burden of handling the actual hardware to a specialist third party, smart cities can benefit from economies of scale that have underpinned much of the cloud computing revolution over the past decade.
In fact, IaaS may be the only way to go, when it comes to ensuring that the data of the smart city is stored and delivered in a reliable way. While handling infrastructure in-house may be tempting from a security perspective, market competition between IaaS providers incentivizes better service provision from all angles, whether customer experience, reliability and redundancy, or the latest standards in security.
The worlds top cities are already transforming to keep up with ever-expanding populations, and in turn their ever-expanding needs. Before we know it, various sectors of urban life will have to be connected through intelligent technology to optimize the use of shared resources - not because we want to, but because we need to.
Whether it be a question of social justice, fiscal prudence, or environmental conscience, intelligently allocating and using the resources of the city is the big question facing our urban centers in this century. But the smart city can only be delivered through a smart approach to data handling and storage. Optimizing a citys cloud infrastructure and guaranteeing cost-effective and quality provisioning through IaaS will be essential to delivering on the promise of the smart city, and thus meet some of our time most pressing challenges.
Excerpt from:
What is the smart city, and why is cloud storage key? - TechRadar
Google: Half of compromised cloud instances have weak or no passwords – ZDNet
Online criminals are deploying cryptocurrency miners within just 22 seconds of compromising misconfigured cloud instances running on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Cryptocurrency mining is by far the main malicious activity conducted by attackers after taking advantage of misconfigured instances hosted on GCP, making up 86% of all actions carried out after compromise.
And in many cases, the attackers move extremely quickly after compromising an instance and installing cryptomining malware to free-ride off others' CPU and GPU resources to turn a profit for themselves.
The best cloud storage services
Free and cheap personal and small business cloud storage services are everywhere. But, which one is best for you? Let's look at the top cloud storage options.
Read More
"Analysis of the systems used to perform unauthorized cryptocurrency mining, where timeline information was available, revealed that in 58% of situations the cryptocurrency mining software was downloaded to the system within 22 seconds of being compromised," Google says in its first Cloud Threat Intelligence report.
SEE: Cloud security in 2021: A business guide to essential tools and best practices
Another striking trend was how quickly attackers are finding and compromising unsecured, internet-facing instances. The shortest time a compromise took place was 30 minutes after those instances were deployed. In 40% of cases, the time-to-compromise was under eight hours.
Security firm Palo Alto Networks similarly found that 80% of 320 internet-facing 'honeypot' instances hosted in the cloud and designed to attract attackers were compromised within 24 hours.
As Google's report highlights, crypto-mining malware is a problem for users on GCP who don't take steps to protect their cloud instances.
"While data theft did not appear to be the objective of these compromises, it remains a risk associated with the cloud asset compromises as bad actors start performing multiple forms of abuse. The public Internet-facing Cloud instances were open to scanning and brute force attacks," Google notes.
SEE: Dark web crooks are now teaching courses on how to build botnets
Internet-facing GCP instances were a significant target for attackers. Just under half of compromised instances were carried by attackers gaining access to instances with either no password or a weak password for user accounts or API connections, which meant these instances could be easily scanned and brute forced.
"This suggests that the public IP address space is routinely scanned for vulnerable cloud instances. It will not be a matter of if a vulnerable Cloud instance is detected, but rather when," Google said.
Additionally, 26% of compromised instances were due to vulnerabilities in third-party software being used by the owner.
"Many successful attacks are due to poor hygiene and a lack of basic control implementation," said Bob Mechler, director at Google Cloud's office of the CISO.
The report is a wrap up of observations over the last year by Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG), Google Cloud Security and Trust Center, and Google Cloud Threat Intelligence for Chronicle, Trust and Safety.
Read the original here:
Google: Half of compromised cloud instances have weak or no passwords - ZDNet
What were most thankful for in tech, science, business, and innovation – GeekWire
Were hopeful about the impact that MacKenzie Scott, left, and Melinda French Gates will have as independent philanthropists. (Photos via Bystander Revolution and Gates Foundation)
This was a week when many of us in the U.S. paused to reflect and give thanks. Were keeping the tradition alive on the GeekWire Podcast. On this special holiday episode, we offer our gratitude for some of the technologies, trends and hopeful developments of the past year, as reflected in news coverage on GeekWire.
Listen below, and subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Continue reading for a rundown of our picks.
mRNA vaccines: Here we have science, technology, innovation and a spirit of cooperation helping to address one of the most challenging situations on the planet. COVID-19 vaccines are a no-brainer to top this list.
Environmental awakening: 2021 has been a watershed moment for investors, startups, and the general business population waking up to climate change in a much bigger way. Some of the examples we discuss:
Electric vehicles and high-speed rail: The proliferation of electric vehicles on the road, and long-term planning for high-speed rail in the Cascadia Corridor has us hopeful about the future of alternative forms of transportation.
Cloud storage: Its not a new development, of course, but the ease of storing, syncing and backing up data in the cloud is one of those advances that become an integral part of life almost without us noticing. Something as seemingly mundane as Microsoft OneDrive has made switching among PCs seamless, for example.
Everyday AR: In much the same way, the little touches of augmented reality in the world around us have made life easier. An example: the guidelines in the backup camera on cars that make reversing into a space that much easier.
The next generation of innovators: Examples abound, as evidenced by our Junior Geek of the Month series. However, the example that stands out from the past year is Seattle teen entrepreneurs Sage Khanuja and Nikolas Ioannou building and selling their telemedicine startup in a successful exit earlier this year.
Commercial space tourism: Sure, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about billionaires blasting themselves and a chosen few into low-Earth orbit. But if this is a key step toward a multi-planetary species, theres also reason to be optimistic. At least, thats one way of looking at it. We were divided on this one.
MacKenzie and Melinda: Were hopeful about the impact that MacKenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates will have as philanthropists in their own right. For purposes of interesting news coverage, we hope the former spouses of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates team up even more than they already have, although it might be better for the world for them to work independently.
Listen to the full episode above, and subscribe to the GeekWire Podcast for previous episodes. Hosted by GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Produced and edited by Curt Milton. Theme music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell.
Read more:
What were most thankful for in tech, science, business, and innovation - GeekWire
Top 8 Ways to fix Unfortunately File Manager Has Stopped on Android – Guiding Tech
A file manager plays a crucial role in the Android ecosystem. When you try to import a picture or document in any app, the OS opens the built-in file manager to pick a file. The problem occurs when the File Manager fails to launch and displays 'unfortunately File Manager stopped' error. Heres how you can troubleshoot the issue.
Google has nailed the file management on Android. Better file management is one of the reasons to get an Android over an iPhone. However, a File manager stopping in the middle of operations may leave you in bad taste.
Its always advisable to perform a power reboot on your Android phone periodically. A simple Android phone reboot can troubleshoot normal glitches such as the Android file manager not working.
Most Android phones have the restart button built into the power button. Long press the power button and tap on Restart to reboot the phone. Try accessing Files apps, and it should work as expected.
The default Files app keeps running in the background to open the app quickly whenever required. If you are having problems accessing File manager, you can force stop the app and completely close all processes from the background.
Step 1: Find the Files app from the home screen or App Drawer.
Step 2: Long tap on it and open the App info menu.
Step 3: Tap on Force Stop.
Try to open File manager again, and it should work now.
The default File manager collects data in the background to improve search suggestions. Overamount of such data can lead to file manager stopping on Android. Lets clear the File manager cache and try again.
Step 1: Long press on the Files app icon and open the app info menu.
Step 2: Go to Storage, and cache menu.
Step 3: Tap on Clear cache and you are good to go.
This trick applies to phones with 3GB or 4GB of RAM. You need to have minimum RAM on the phone for the file manager to utilize.
If you are running on low RAM, you might run into file manager not opening on phone. You need to open the multitasking menu and remove apps.
Now that the File manager has more RAM to deal with, you can open and use it without issues.
Click here to see our File Management articles page
Are you running low on phone storage? Being low on-device storage can lead to errors such as apps not opening on the phone.
If you are not careful with IM apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, your phone gallery (and storage) can get filled with thousands of media files. You need to free up phone storage for smooth Android operations.
The best way to deal with junk is by using Files by Google app. Download the app from the link below and open it.
The app will automatically recognize junk in your phone and suggest removing it.
Download Files by Google
Android OS allows you to install third-party apps from the web. If you are not careful, you might end up downloading files from malicious files and software on your phone.
You can identify such files and remove them from your phone. Reboot Android phone and use File manager.
Most Android OEMs regularly release monthly security patches. They include the latest security functions and bug fixes.
Open the Settings app on your Android phone and go to the System menu. Tap on System update and download the latest firmware to the phone.
Unfortunately, if you are still getting it, the file manager has stopped pop-up on Android, and its time to opt for another app from the Google Play Store.
File manager getting stopped can lead to frustration. Before you rush to the nearest service center to get the issue fixed, use the tricks above and fix the error unfortunately file manager has stopped on Android.
Last updated on 27 Nov, 2021The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
Follow this link:
Top 8 Ways to fix Unfortunately File Manager Has Stopped on Android - Guiding Tech
Worldwide Electronic Medical Records Industry to 2026 – Initiatives by the Governments are Driving Growth – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Yahoo Finance
DUBLIN, November 25, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Electronic Medical Records Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The Electronic Medical Records Market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.5 % during the forecast period (2021-2026)
Companies Mentioned
Key Market Trends
Cloud Based Segment is Expected to Hold Major Market Share in the Electronic Medical Records Market
Cloud-based solution are comparatively newer approaches and are mostly used by the organizations that lack the internal infrastructure to support it. The installation cost for these systems is lower than the client server-based systems. Moreover, these software eradicate the need for in-house maintenance, which is likely to be the prime factor driving their increasing demand.
The ongoing pandemic is putting healthcare systems under strain worldwide and forcing hospitals and other medical facilities to scramble to make sure data can be shared effectively. The 'digital front door' is really key to how providers should be responding to the COVID-19 situation in terms of access, triage, and even treatment.
In April 2020, Allscripts have introduced package of COVID-19 solutions for hospitals. The Allscripts Hospital Management Package provides a series of COVID-19 workflows that addresses disease-specific needs within SunriseTM EHR, ParagoN EHR and Allscripts Care Director.
Some of the factors that are driving the segment growth include rise in number of benefits, such as low licensing and start-up cost, low cost of maintenance and infrastructure requirements, and wider accessibility. In addition, a cloud-based EHR system provides enhanced productivity and faster and smoother implementation.
Story continues
The cloud-based model makes the software extremely flexible, regarding scalability (pay-as-you-go storage utilization). It simplifies and consolidates storage resources to reduce costs and enhance workflow, by eliminating departmental silos of clinical information.
The large and reputed vendors are entering the cloud market. The cloud infrastructure also guarantees true disaster-recovery and business continuity solutions, to support the quality of patient care. Hence, cloud-based EHR are expected to register good growth in the market.
Additionally, the increasing volume of data and growing demand for cloud storage due to COVID-19 are also expected to augment the demand globally. In June 2020, Allscripts and Microsoft extended their strategic alliance focused on the development and innovation of new cloud-based healthcare EHR technologies with the focus is on the cloud-based Sunrise platform, with Azure, Power BI and other tools helping improve security, scalability and flexibility to build out analytics and add third-party apps. Hence, owing to above mentioned factors it is expected to drive segment growth over the forecast period.
North America Dominates the Market and Expected to do Same in the Forecast Period
Some of the factors which are driving the market growth in North America region include technological advancements, high investments in healthcare by the government and private sector and presence of key market players.
The healthcare IT market in the United States is one of the most established markets, compared to other geographical regions. Additionally, most hospitals and clinics in the region have widely implemented EHR solutions, due to stringent regulatory norms. Canada and the United States are the leading countries in this region that have implemented EHR systems.
In addition, according to the Canada Health Infoway, in 2018, 93% of physicians who use an electronic medical record said EMRs allow them to provide improved patient care, while 100 per cent of Canadians have at least one hospital clinical report, or their immunization record, available in electronic form, and their authorized clinicians can access this information outside of a hospital..
Furthermore, several companies are starting various strategies like collaboration, new product launch, merger and acquisitionin order to maintain and increase their market share. For instance, in August 2019, Allscripts Inc, a United States-based healthcare IT company announced the availability of Apple Health records for Allscripts Sunrise, TouchWorks, and Professional EHR clients and their patients. Apple Health Records brings together hospitals, clinics, and the existing Apple Health app to allow patients to access their personal health data in one platform.
Key Topics Covered:
1 INTRODUCTION
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4 MARKET DYNAMICS
4.1 Market Overview
4.2 Market Drivers
4.2.1 Initiatives by the Governments
4.2.2 Technological Advancements
4.2.3 Low Maintenance and Wider Accessibility
4.3 Market Restraints
4.3.1 Data Breaching
4.3.2 Shortage of Proper Trained Staff
4.4 Porter's Five Force Analysis
5 MARKET SEGMENTATION
5.1 By Component
5.2 By End User
5.3 By Application
5.4 By Type
5.5 By Mode of Delivery
5.6 Geography
6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
6.1 Company Profiles
7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/44ozsv
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211125006015/en/
Contacts
ResearchAndMarkets.comLaura Wood, Senior Press Managerpress@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
What is Cloud Storage | IBM
An introduction to the important aspects of cloud storage, including how it works, its benefits, and the different types of cloud storage that are available.
Cloud storage allows you to save data and files in an off-site location that you access either through the public internet or a dedicated private network connection. Data that you transfer off-site for storage becomes the responsibility of a third-party cloud provider. The provider hosts, secures, manages, and maintains the servers and associated infrastructure and ensures you have access to the data whenever you need it.
Cloud storage delivers a cost-effective, scalable alternative to storing files on on-premise hard drives or storage networks. Computer hard drives can only store a finite amount of data. When users run out of storage, they need to transfer files to an external storage device. Traditionally, organizations built and maintained storage area networks (SANs) to archive data and files. SANs are expensive to maintain, however, because as stored data grows, companies have to invest in adding servers and infrastructure to accommodate increased demand.
Cloud storage services provide elasticity, which means you can scale capacity as your data volumes increase or dial down capacity if necessary. By storing data in a cloud, your organization save by paying for storage technology and capacity as a service, rather than investing in the capital costs of building and maintaining in-house storage networks. You pay for only exactly the capacity you use. While your costs might increase over time to account for higher data volumes, you dont have to overprovision storage networks in anticipation of increased data volume.
Like on-premise storage networks, cloud storage uses servers to save data; however, the data is sent to servers at an off-site location. Most of the servers you use are virtual machines hosted on a physical server. As your storage needs increase, the provider creates new virtual servers to meet demand.
For more information on virtual machines, see Virtual Machines: A Complete Guide.
Typically, you connect to the storage cloud either through the internet or a dedicated private connection, using a web portal, website, or a mobile app. The server with which you connect forwards your data to a pool of servers located in one or more data centers, depending on the size of the cloud providers operation.
As part of the service, providers typically store the same data on multiple machines for redundancy. This way, if a server is taken down for maintenance or suffers an outage, you can still access your data.
Cloud storage is available in private, public and hybrid clouds.
As with any other cloud-based technology, cloud storage offers some distinct advantages. But it also raises some concerns for companies, primarily over security and administrative control.
The pros of cloud storage include the following:
Cloud storage cons include the following:
There are three main types of cloud storage: block, file, and object. Each comes with its set of advantages:
Traditionally employed in SANs, block storage is also common in cloud storage environments. In this storage model, data is organized into large volumes called blocks." Each block represents a separate hard drive. Cloud storage providers use blocks to split large amounts of data among multiple storage nodes. Block storage resources provide better performance over a network thanks to low IO latency (the time it takes to complete a connection between the system and client) and are especially suited to large databases and applications.
Used in the cloud, block storage scales easily to support the growth of your organizations databases and applications. Block storage would be useful if your website captures large amounts of visitor data that needs to be stored.
Block Storage: A Complete Guide provides a wealth of information on block storage.
The file storage method saves data in the hierarchical file and folder structure with which most of us are familiar. The data retains its format, whether residing in the storage system or in the client where it originates, and the hierarchy makes it easier and more intuitive to find and retrieve files when needed. File storage is commonly used for development platforms, home directories, and repositories for video, audio, and other files.
In the video Block Storage vs. File Storage, Amy Blea compares and contrasts these two cloud storage options:
Block Storage vs. File Storage (04:03)
Object storage differs from file and block storage in that it manages data as objects. Each object includes the data in a file, its associated metadata, and an identifier. Objects store data in the format it arrives in and makes it possible to customize metadata in ways that make the data easier to access and analyze. Instead of being organized in files or folder hierarchies, objects are kept in repositories that deliver virtually unlimited scalability. Since there is no filing hierarchy and the metadata is customizable, object storage allows you to optimize storage resources in a cost-effective way.
Check out "IBM Cloud Object Storage: Built for business" to learn more about benefits of object storage:
IBM Cloud Object Storage: Built for business (04:10)
A variety of cloud storage services is available for just about every kind of business anything from sole proprietor to large enterprises.
If you run a small business, cloud storage could make sense, particularly if you dont have the resources or skills to manage storage yourself. Cloud storage can also help with budget planning by making storage costs predictable, and it gives you the ability to scale as the business grows.
If you work at a larger enterprise (e.g., a manufacturing company, financial services, or a retail chain with dozens of locations), you might need to transfer hundreds of gigabytes of data for storage on a regular basis. In these cases, you should work with an established cloud storage provider that can handle your volumes. In some cases, you may be able to negotiate custom deals with providers to get the best value.
Cloud storage security is a serious concern, especially if your organization handles sensitive data like credit card information and medical records. You want assurances your data is protected from cyber threats with the most up-to-date methods available. You will want layered security solutions that include endpoint protection, content and email filtering and threat analysis, as well as best practices that comprise regular updates and patches. And you need well-defined access and authentication policies.
Most cloud storage providers offer baseline security measures that include access control, user authentication, and data encryption. Ensuring these measures are in place is especially important when the data in question involves confidential business files, personnel records, and intellectual property. Data subject to regulatory compliance may require added protection, so you need to check that your provider of choice complies with all applicable regulations.
Whenever data travels, it is vulnerable to security risks. You share the responsibility for securing data headed for a storage cloud. Companies can minimize risks by encrypting data in motion and using dedicated private connections (instead of the public internet) to connect with the cloud storage provider.
Data backup is as important as security. Businesses need to back up their data so they can access copies of files and applications and prevent interruptions to businessif data is lost due to cyberattack, natural disaster, or human error.
Cloud-based data backup and recovery services have been popular from the early days of cloud-based solutions. Much like cloud storage itself, you access the service through the public internet or a private connection. Cloud backup and recovery services free organizations from the tasks involved in regularly replicating critical business data to make it readily available should you ever need it in the wake of data loss caused by a natural disaster, cyber attack or unintentional user error.
Cloud backup offers the same advantages to businesses as storagecost-effectiveness, scalability, and easy access. One of the most attractive features of cloud backup is automation. Asking users to continually back up their own data produces mixed results since some users always put it off or forget to do it. This creates a situation where data loss is inevitable. With automated backups, you can decide how often to back up your data, be it daily, hourly or whenever new data is introduced to your network.
Backing up data off-premise in a cloud offers an added advantage: distance. A building struck by a natural disaster, terror attack, or some other calamity could lose its on-premise backup systems, making it impossible to recover lost data. Off-premise backup provides insurance against such an event.
Cloud storage servers are virtual serverssoftware-defined servers that emulate physical servers. A physical server can host multiple virtual servers, making it easier to provide cloud-based storage solutions to multiple customers. The use of virtual servers boosts efficiency because physical servers otherwise typically operate below capacity, which means some of their processing power is wasted.
This approach is what enables cloud storage providers to offer pay-as-you-go cloud storage, and to charge only for the storage capacity you consume. When your cloud storage servers are about to reach capacity, the cloud provider spins up another server to add capacityor makes it possible for you to spin up an additional virtual machine on your own.
Virtualization: A Complete Guide offers a complete overview of virtualization and virtual servers.
If you have the expertise to build your own virtual cloud servers, one of the options available to you is open source cloud storage. Open source means the software used in the service is available to users and developers to study, inspect, change and distribute.
Open source cloud storage is typically associated with Linux and other open source platforms that provide the option to build your own storage server. Advantages of this approach include control over administrative tasks and security.
Cost-effectiveness is another plus. While cloud-based storage providers give you virtually unlimited capacity, it comes at a price. The more storage capacity you use, the higher the price gets. With open source, you can continue to scale capacity as long as you have the coding and engineering expertise to develop and maintain a storage cloud.
Different open source cloud storage providers offer varying levels of functionality, so you should compare features before deciding which service to use. Some of the functions available from open source cloud storage services include the following:
As mentioned, cloud storage helps companies cut costs by eliminating in-house storage infrastructure. But cloud storage pricing models vary. Some cloud storage providers charge monthly the cost per gigabyte, while others charge fees based on stored capacity. Fees vary widely; you may pay USD 1.99 or USD 10 for 100 GB of storage monthly, based on the provider you choose. Additional fees for transferring data from your network to the fees based on storage cloud are usually included in the overall service price.
Providers may charge additional fees on top of the basic cost of storage and data transfer. For instance, you may incur an extra fee every time you access data in the cloud to make changes or deletions, or to move data from one place to another. The more of these actions you perform on a monthly basis, the higher your costs will be. Even if the provider includes some base level of activity in the overall price, you will incur extra charges if you exceed the allowable limit.
Providers may also factor the number of users accessing the data, how often users access data, and how far the data has to travel into their charges. They may charge differently based on the types of data stored and whether the data requires added levels of security for privacy purposes and regulatory compliance.
Cloud storage services are available from dozens of providers to suit all needs, from those of individual users to multinational organizations with thousands of locations. For instance, you can store emails and passwords in the cloud, as well as files like spreadsheets and Word documents for sharing and collaborating with other users. This capability makes it easier for users to work together on a project, which explains while file transfer and sharing are among the most common uses of cloud storage services.
Some services provide file management and syncing, ensuring that versions of the same files in multiple locations are updated whenever someone changes them. You can also get file management capability through cloud storage services. With it, you can organize documents, spreadsheets, and other files as you see fit and make them accessible to other users. Cloud storage services also can handle media files, such as video and audio, as well as large volumes of database records that would otherwise take up too much room inside your network.
Whatever your storage needs, you should have no trouble finding a cloud storage service to deliver the capacity and functionality you need.
IBM Cloud Storage offers a comprehensive suite of cloud storage services, including out-of-the-box solutions, components to create your own storage solution, and standalone and secondary storage.
Benefits of IBM Cloud solutions include:
You also can take advantage of IBMs automated data backup and recovery system, which is managed through the IBM Cloud Backup WebCC browser utility. The system allows you to securely back up data in one or more IBM cloud data centers around the world.
Storage software is predicted to overtake storage hardware by 2020, by which time it will need to manage 40 zettabytes (40 sextillion bytes) of data. Check out IBMs report Hybrid storage for the hybrid cloud.
Build storage skills through courses within the Cloud Architect Professionaland theCloud SRE Professional curriculums.
Get started with an IBM Cloud account today.
Original post:
What is Cloud Storage | IBM
iCloud vs pCloud: Which is the best cloud storage service? – Macworld UK
iCloud may well be the default choice for keeping documents, photos and data synced across all of your Apple products, but there are plenty of alternatives available. One you may not be that familiar with is pCloud, which offers a wide range of features and compatibility with not only your iOS and macOS devices, but also Windows and Android. We take a look at how the two services compare.
On the surface, iCloud looks like a normal online storage service along the lines of Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. But, due to the fact that iCloud is Apple's own product, it integrates far deeper into macOS, iOS and iPadOS, giving it some unique abilities.
As well as providing a virtual drive on your device that you can use to store files, iCloud can also sync your contacts, messages, calendars, notes, and email. It should be noted that these features only work on Apple apps, and you'll need to grant permissions first and ensure that any device you want to sync is signed in with the same Apple ID.
You should also remember that as these files are synced, any changes made on one device will affect it on all others. So don't delete a contact on your iPhone and expect it to still appear on your Mac.
Read our What is iCloud? guide for more details on how it works and what capabilities are on offer.
Lifetime Cloud Storage
pCloud is more of a traditional backup-and-sync service. Once installed, you can create folders or use the existing ones within the pCloud Drive to copy and store files in the cloud. These are synced across your devices via the apps.
Alongside the pCloud Drive you can also select different folders from your Mac which will be automatically backed up to the pCloud servers. This is a handy way to create a continuous backup of important data, without having to move or alter your existing folder layout.
The service also provides the ability to back up other cloud services, such as Google Photos, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Facebook.
As you can see, there are some similarities with the two services, but even the implementation of these can be a little different. Here's how they compare:
iCloud is baked into Apple's software and as such covers the extra data we outlined above. You don't have to download any apps, as everything is part of iOS, Macs and iPadOS.
In many ways iCloud is a suite of services rather than just a cloud storage facility, with iCloud Drive and iCloud Photo Library being there to store your documents, files, photos and videos. iCloud is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV.
pCloud doesn't have the access privileges granted to iCloud, so it acts as a separate app that you can use to store your files on whichever platform you desire. This makes it a better option if you regularly move between Apple and non-Apple devices. There are apps available for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux and Android.
Both have web-based versions you can use, but the better user experience is definitely found in the apps.
In many ways, iCloud is essentially an extension of the storage on your device. This is not a back up - it's a way to store all your files in the cloud so you can view them on all your devices. It's also a great way to save space. For example, you can store high res versions of your photos in iCloud, rather than on your iPhone, freeing up space on your iPhone. You'll still be able to view the photos on your device, but these will be lower-res versions that won't take up as much space. As mentioned above, this is a file-syncing service rather than a back up, so deleting a photo on one device deletes it on all of them.
The iCloud Drive folder acts as a synced drive with the iCloud servers, so whatever you put in there will be available across all your devices. The only limitation is that you'll need enough iCloud storage capacity to be able to store all the data (we discuss the costs below).
iCloud also links straight into Apple's iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) so you can use it as your document storage online. While you can access iCloud through the web version, which makes it available for non-Apple users, it's not great. So, really, iCloud is purpose-built to be Apple-only.
On the other hand, pCloud is a classic 'virtual' drive, meaning you have a drive folder on your device into which you can drag or send various files, all of which will then be synced up to the pCloud servers.
By default, pCloud has a variety of folders in place where you can store Music, Pictures, and Videos alongside documents and any other files you want to back up. You can also select various folders on your Mac that will be backed up automatically in real time.
While the maximum file size available on iCloud is 50GB, pCloud doesn't have any restrictions. The latter also provides full support for file versioning, which is when it retains previous versions of a file in case you want to return to an early iteration.
iCloud doesn't really support this, which makes it less useful if you work on documents that go through multiple versions and could contain previous information you want to access.
The standard versioning from pCloud is 15-days, but if you sign up to a paid tier (see below) then this can be extended up to a year.
Security is also different for the two services, with iCloud offering end-to-end encryption only for elements such as the Keychain (passwords), payment information and health data, while other areas (Mail, Notes, iCloud Drive etc) are securely transferred to Apple's servers where they are then encrypted. This means that with the latter, Apple can technically see the files in an unencrypted format.
pCloud offers client-side encryption via its Crypto Folder, though it is a paid extra. Any data you store on the service is accessible only by you, as the encryption key is held on your device rather than the pCloud servers.
With the introduction of iCloud+ (the paid tiers of iCloud) towards the end of 2021, Apple did add Private Relay to the feature-set. This protects your browsing from any prying eyes, so long as you use Safari. There's also Hide My Email, which allows you to instantly create disposable email addresses you can use when signing up to things online, so your real one is never exposed.
You get a free allocation with both services.In addition you can pay for the following:
iCloud offers a free 5GB tier, then you can move up to these monthly paid tiers of iCloud+:
pCloud gives you a base free allocation of 2GB but this is immediately upgraded by completing basic tasks such as downloading the apps and saving a file, so that you end up with 7GB. This can be extended further by recommending the service to friends, with an extra 1GB for any that sign up, topping out at 10GB of free storage.
There are fewer options when it comes to storage amounts, with these options available:
There's also the option to buy a lifetime subscription with the following one-time costs:
If you want the Crypto storage option, that uses the ultra-safe client-side encryption, then it costs an additional 4.29/$4.99/4.99 per month or you can buy a lifetime subscription 107/$125/125.
Both services give you the ability to save specific files and folders, but neither creates full system backups you can use to recover from things like a hard disk crash. For that you'll need to read our best backup software for Mac roundup.
If you're looking for a seamless way to keep your various Apple devices in sync, then iCloud makes life very easy indeed. Thanks to its deep system integration, your contacts, calendars, passwords, photos, files and other important data are all automatically backed up to the iCloud servers, where they can be accessed via apps or the web. The free allocation is pitiful, but if you're happy to pay the (we think quite reasonable) monthly subscription then it becomes an excellent solution.
pCloud is probably a better option if you're looking to permanently store large numbers of files in the cloud. It's not particularly cheap, but if you think long-term, then the lifetime subscriptions do offer good value.
Read the original here:
iCloud vs pCloud: Which is the best cloud storage service? - Macworld UK