Bandwidth represents the greatest factor that could stifle the adoption of Cloud storage. While the credit crunch has caused many businesses to take stock of their IT spending, data growth continues unabated at most UK firms typically doubling every two to three years.

IT managers are being presented with the heady challenge of storing more primary data, and providing backup and recovery services for it, with reduced budgets.

Simply throwing more capacity at the problem is no longer an option as data management problems grow in parallel to data growth. As pressure mounts for something to buckle under this unsupportable problem, cloud-based storage is quickly gaining attention as a potential, alternative solution.



Today, there is seemingly unlimited internet bandwidth available to most UK businesses giving them the means to move primary data into the cloud for backup and recovery purposes. By paying a monthly fee for such a service and avoiding the high capital and operating costs associated with delivering the same service internally, it looks like IT managers have found the answer.



Cloud storage, closely linked to the concept of storage-as-a-service (SaaS), is not new. Yet, on the face of it, the combined factors of credit crunch, data growth and better internet bandwidth clearly make for a compelling solution. Or does it?



Cloud storage origins


While cloud storage has its origins in the consumer market, recently a growing number of providers are clamouring to offer Cloud computing services, including storage, as a viable option for businesses of all sizes. 



IDC recently likened the emerging cloud storage industry to a land grab, and saw it as an opportunity for the early players to quickly seize a piece of the SaaS and cloud storage market. But as with any new frontier, the rules of engagement are rarely clear and the hype surrounding any proverbial gold rush typically falls way short of what is promised.



There are inherent risks in any new technological shift, and cloud storage is no exception. To start with, cloud storage faces a plethora of potential international regulatory hurdles, ranging from corporate governance and compliance factors to issues of national data privacy. It is also evolving from a highly fragmented, niche market, where there are few nationally recognised standards or SLAs.

Backing up and recovering data from any source, including the cloud, demands resilience, reliability and constant availability. Cloud storage, with its reliance on internet connectivity and bandwidth, still has much to prove in this respect.



The bandwidth bottleneck


In fact, it is probably bandwidth that represents the greatest factor that could stifle the widespread adoption of cloud storage as a standard business practice. This is because the fundamental relationship between improvements in bandwidth and data growth has worsened over the past 20 years, not improved. 



For a typical consumer, internet bandwidth has seen performance grow from a 28.8k modem to around 5Mbps - an improvement of more than 170 times. Data growth during that time has exploded, from perhaps 100MB per user to well over a terabyte - more than 10,000 times. As long as this disparity continues, offsite storage as a primary data store in many ways becomes less rather than more feasible. 



Other limitations of the cloud, aside from bandwidth, reliability and security are also high on the agenda. A company placing its data in the cloud becomes highly dependent on its cloud storage provider for the safety and availability of that data. It’s very hard for many firms to get past the emotional barrier of letting go of their data and entrusting it to those outside their business. Addressing reliability and security concerns are paramount for there to be sufficient trust for firms to move to a cloud storage model.



Where the cloud fits well, once the above shortcomings are addressed, is when you start to back up your data. Once the initial backup has been completed onsite, a copy can then be hosted in the cloud for offsite protection. Technologies that support automated incremental backups are best suited since only the new data needs to be backed up and moved into the cloud. This provides the most efficient strategy since its incremental approach conserves bandwidth while the automated aspect removes the time factor for employees to manage the process every day.



Clearly, the cloud does offer an opportunity, but it’s an opportunity that must not be treated lightly by businesses. IT managers need to become highly familiar with their cloud storage provider’s policies and methodologies and fully understand the consequences of a worst-case scenario.

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. For cloud storage, once its wrinkles are ironed out, this may one day turn out to be true.