With times still tough, companies everywhere are continually looking for cost savings and increased efficiencies. The answer, for many companies, is cloud storage.

Through cloud storage, rather than relying on expensive infrastructure and associated maintenance fees to store data, companies can move their data to a storage system in the cloud – a move that is often cheaper but raises some valid concerns.

“As more and more applications and data move into the cloud, it creates concern on the part of corporations mainly about the security of that data – where does it live, what kind of controls are implemented around it, and so forth,” Todd Benjamin (News - Alert), vice president of enterprise hosting at Hostway, a cloud storage company, told TMCnet.

“The issues that have come up are that as the network infrastructures become increasingly virtualized, you don’t necessarily know where the data is residing and where the transaction is actually being processed,” Benjamin added. “There’s increasing amount of scrutiny and concern over potential violations or vulnerabilities.”

As there is a plethora of cloud storage options out there, consumers can minimize the amount of security problems by being aware and knowledgeable about the company they are trusting with their public or private cloud storage. TMCnet has decided to highlight a few of the cloud storage options out there.

Amazon

In addition to being the go-to site for DVD sales and new novel releases, Amazon offers a wide variety of cloud storage services including Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) and AWS Import/Export.

The Amazon S3, for example, relies on its simple Web services interface so that users can store and retrieve any type of data, at any time, from anywhere on the Web.

“It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, secure, fast, inexpensive infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites,” according to officials.”The service aims to maximize benefits of scale and to pass those benefits on to developers.”

In terms of cost, customers only pay for what they use and there is no minimum fee. Customers can estimate their monthly bill using the AWS Simple Monthly Calculator.

This week Amazon also announced the launch of the Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Amazon Cloud Player for Android (News - Alert), designed to enable customers to securely store music in the cloud and play it on any Android phone, Android tablet, Mac or PC, wherever they are.

Cirtas

Cirtas, a leading provider of cloud storage solutions, offers customers its Bluejet Cloud Storage Controller, the world's first cloud-enabled storage system. With Bluejet, data is “seamlessly and transparently stored in the cloud, providing relief from relentless data growth and out of control storage costs,” according to officials.

The number one reason that companies are hesitant to go to the cloud is because they want to ensure the utmost security for their data, according to Cirtas. Despite steps taken by cloud storage providers to make sure the data is completely secure, “there is a perceived risk that data can be compromised.”

Taking into account all these challenges facing cloud storage providers, Cirtas has come up with the solution, the Cirtas Bluejet Cloud Storage Controller. The controller addresses all of these issues as it allows cloud storage “to be utilized as an infinite archive,” according to Cirtas. 

“You get the features, functions, and performance of on-site storage, with the cost and operational benefits of cloud storage,” officials explain. “Cirtas Bluejet enables exciting new capabilities that are not possible with on-site storage or cloud storage alone.”

Bluejet features include an array of disk drives provides capacity, a controller provides data management and protection features and a high-speed interconnect ties the array of drives to the controller. To try to Bluejet for free for 60 days, click here.

Carbonite

Another cloud storage company Carbonite, offers the costs savings typically associated with cloud storage as the company automatically backs up data, uses the same encryption technology used in online banking and e-commerce transactions to ensure protection; stores backed up files in a highly secure data centers which is protected from disasters; and offers fast recovery if anything happens to a file by finding the data in the backup and putting it back on the customer’s computer. 

Since 2006, Carbonite has backed up over 80 billion files and each day the cloud storage company backs up more than 150 million files. Carbonite also restores over 7.2 billion files that would have been lost forever.

A one-year subscription with the company costs $54.95.

Box.net

Box.net, founded on the idea that people should be able to access and share their content from anywhere, has been helping customers do just that since 2005.

Since its inception, the cloud storage company has helped more than 3 million individuals, small businesses and Fortune 1000 companies.

“We want to reinvent what businesses can do with their content through Box's cloud content management platform, made for a new kind of worker, a new kind of workplace and a new kind of IT,” explain company officials.

The cloud platform helps make content more accessible by allowing customers to access their content anywhere; allows customers to share content with colleagues and external partners more easily; integrates content with best-of-breed applications, and leverages the most useful, up-to-date content.

The offering costs $15 per month per user.

Mozy

“With Mozy, you can be sure your digital life will always be there when you need it,” according to company officials, because of the cloud.

Mozy has helped more than 1 million customers and 70,000 business customers backing up 70 petabytes of information to multiple data centers around the globe. The company has two cloud storage options: MozyHome, for personal use, and MozyPro, for buisneses.

MozyHome makes sure that all user data is encrypted locally with military-grade encryption prior to transfer through a secure SSL connection; stores data in state-of-the-art data centers that employ the highest security standards and are SAS70 or ISO certified; automatically detects and backs up new and changed files, and automatically schedules backups.

The service is offered at $5.99 a month for one computer or $9.99 a month for three computers.

MozyPro manages multi-user environments, schedules automatic backups, and monitors the health of customer backups from the convenience of a single, Web-based admin console.

“You can count on Mozy’s strict security policies, military-grade encryption, and world-class data centers for optimal data protection of your business’ computers and servers,” said company officials.

A desktop licenses costs $3.95 per month and $0.50/GB per month and a server license costs $6.95 per month and $0.50/GB per month.

Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee