Is There a Problem With Cloud Storage Services?

In 2011, Cloud Services are becoming a standard part of the IT toolbox. Cloud is moving from mainly being used for testing and as a beta service to more mainstream applications. That said, in the past year, several cloud storage vendors have stopped offering service.

According to Gartner, over the past year, Iron Mountain, Vaultscape and EMC Atmos Online – all public cloud infrastructure as a service offerings – all closed down or stopped selling services.

So is there a problem with cloud storage?

Not really. The reasons these companies are no longer offering service are diverse.

• Cloud storage can be somewhat capital-intensive for the service provider since the provider needs massive amounts of storage devices to support this service. According to Gartner, cloud storage has had a modest level of adoption. It is difficult to get to an ROI on this.
• EMC also sells storage equipment to other cloud providers. So for EMC to have a cloud-service offering is a conflict with their customers. EMC is mainly in the equipment business and that may be a better path for them.
• These providers were selling cloud storage separately from cloud computing. Customers often start testing applications with cloud-server offerings and move forward from there. So, it might be easier to sell these services together.

So going forward, make sure that you check on the longevity prospects of the cloud vendors you choose. Also, make sure you know what happens if the vendor decides to leave the business – what happens to your data?

Rose Klimovich is a consultant and writer on technology. Formerly she was VP Product Management and Product Marketing for the colocation and interconnection products for Telx, where she led the efforts in creating the Telx strategy and developing and investing in new products and services in areas like colocation, cloud, Ethernet Exchange and Telepresence video.