Is it really all going to the cloud?
Unsustainable business models, lack of privacy and
recurring monthly fees of public cloud are giving rise to a
new class of private cloud storage appliances
Contents
Is It Really All Going to the Cloud? ... 3
The Dark Side of the Cloud ... 3
It’s File Sharing That’s Appealing, Not the Cloud ... 4
The IT Dilemma ... 5
How Transporter Solves the IT Dilemma ... 7
Is It Really All Going to the Cloud?
Read a newspaper or listen to a tech journalist, and you might be led to believe that all data is moving to the cloud. From small businesses to large-scale enterprises, no one wants to manage storage on their own, the thinking goes, with everyone turning instead to online File Sync & Share (EFSS) solutions, in which all those crucial files are kept in the cloud. There’s only one problem with this enthusiasm for EFSS: It doesn’t square with the reality faced by CIOs and IT professionals who appreciate the convenience of cloud access but can’t ignore the privacy, security, and cost challenges posed by public cloud services.
In reality, it’s not the cloud itself that’s so appealing; it’s the much simpler way of managing files when compared to traditional file servers and network attached storage. And those advantages – the ease of use, the ability to access files from practically anywhere, and the convenience of keeping your files in sync – don’t have to be limited to public cloud services. A better approach would take the main benefits that employees like about cloud storage, while giving businesses the on-site control and security they require. That’s exactly why a private cloud sync and share solution can have a crucial role to play with its unique approach to EFSS in today’s post-NAS world.
The Dark Side of the Cloud
There’s no disputing the popularity of cloud services, which boast a user base of more than 400 million people. There’s also no disputing the fact that the economics of the public cloud storage business simply aren’t tenable. A staggering amount of cloud service subscribers — up to 97%, by some estimates — don’t pay anything to store their files in the cloud. As a result, it costs a lot of money to run a cloud-based storage service, and providers are feeling the pinch. In its own March 2014 regulatory filing, Box reported losing $168 million on revenue of $124 million and burned through $300 million of the $400 million it raised in funding.[1] The financial picture’s no
better for Amazon Web Services, with market-research firm Canalys estimating that Amazon’s remote computing division has lost $2 billion over the last four quarters.[2] These businesses simply can’t sustain those kind of
losses without a massive shake-up among cloud storage providers.
If the economics of cloud storage are tough on providers, they’re no less appealing for enterprises. One terabyte of cloud storage costs 10 times the amount of 1TB of disk-based storage. That’s a high premium to pay when lower cost options are readily available.
The public cloud can be costly in another way, as 7 million Dropbox users found out when a hack exposed user names and passwords.[3] Dropbox has received its share of criticism, but it’s hardly the only cloud provider
to have a high-profile security breach. Whether it’s celebrity pictures stolen from iCloud or compromised user passwords from other cloud services[4], these kinds of security vulnerabilities underscore the fact that the data
you’re storing in the public cloud may not be as secure and private as you hoped. Add to that the finding by security researchers that Dropbox has the ability to peek at the files stored on its service[5], and you can be
forgiven if you’re a little cautious about just how you’re storing your data — especially if your business involves strict regulations and compliance on data privacy. It’s something regulators all over the world are noticing, even as cloud-focused companies have been slow to respond to the increasing demands for more secure data storage.
“Silicon Valley is quite oblivious to the degree to which this crescendo of concern
is building up in Europe. It’s an extremely important thing and Silicon Valley is
underestimating it badly.“
[6]— Investor Peter Thiel
No wonder then that even with the popularity of cloud services, enterprises still want to use their own hardware for storing critical or sensitive data. The storage hardware market continues to grow at a 10% annual rate. It’s a $50 billion industry that dwarves the estimated $500 million cloud storage market. Users may love the way that
a service like Dropbox lets them manage files, but for businesses, hardware that keeps data onsite and out of the view of third parties remains a critical necessity in their data protection infrastructure.
It’s File Sharing That’s Appealing, Not the Cloud
Given the problems with cloud storage and the desire of companies to purchase and deploy their own hardware, what’s the appeal of sharing documents in the public cloud? Is it purely because the old desktop-bound ways of sharing data aren’t serving our needs any more?
NFS and SMB, the traditional file sharing protocols implemented on file servers and NAS appliances, are decades-old technologies — SMB was invented in 1990, while NFS is even older, having been around since 1984. Advances have been few and far between in the ensuing decades, with the improvements introduced by SMB 3.0 in 2012 aimed more at the server-side than at end users. These file sharing protocols still have very poor support for mobile use and require IT support for even the most basic of changes.
1985 1984 1995 2000 2006 2012 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 NFS invented 1984 SMB invented NFSv3 NFSv4 SMB 2.0 SMB 3.0
TRADITIONAL FILE SHARING PROTOCOLS IMPLEMENTED ON FILE SERVERS OR NAS APPLIANCES
It’s these limitations that give rise to the appeal of Dropbox and the like, offering a new way of managing and sharing files that provides five distinct improvements over the old way of doing things.
1. Automatic syncing of files. Rather than log on to a VPN or go through the complicated
sequence of copying, editing, and replacing files on a server, a Dropbox user can simply sync a file to reflect any changes or edits. There’s no need to make multiple copies of the same file, and the process goes much faster than traditional file sharing, particularly if you’re accessing files from beyond the local network.
2. Remote access from any device. Perhaps the greatest improvement Dropbox introduced over
traditional file sharing is the ability to open up a file whether you’re at the office, at home, or somewhere in between, without any complicated multistep login process. No matter if you’re on a home computer, work machine, or mobile device, you’re still able to get to your files. You don’t need a VPN, and you don’t have to configure your NAS set-up with mobile add-ons — just grab the files you need.
3. Offsite protection for files. Dropbox not only gives you a copy of your files in the cloud, it also
provides improved versioning over what you get from traditional file sharing methods. Users can see who made what changes to files and folders and when they made them. Don’t like the change? Simply recover any file that’s been modified or deleted.
4. Simplified sharing. Dropbox users can share a folder with who they want, whenever they want,
without having to call on IT for support. Sharing a file no longer means attaching it to an email and hoping that attachment doesn’t exceed any file size limits. Dropbox lets you share a clickable link with anyone you want to see your file, ensuring that there aren’t multiple copies of your files floating around.
5. Self organization of files. Just as important as the ability to share folders, Dropbox allows
users to organize their files and folders however they want and assign whatever names they want to folders. That’s a critical capability for simplified file sharing, while giving users control over their own files and folders.
All of these are improvements over how network attached storage approaches file sharing. At the same time, while Dropbox may have introduced these improvements, none of them are specific to cloud storage. A post-NAS approach to file sharing can provide these same features without the compromises to privacy you make when you turn to the public cloud.
The IT Dilemma
Perhaps that’s why businesses that may see the value in Dropbox’s approach to file sharing are reluctant to embrace cloud services. A survey of the EFSS market by Osterman Research found that in organizations with 1,000 or more employees, 43% of users had turned to Dropbox against the wishes of their IT departments. Fewer than 20% are using Dropbox with IT’s blessing or support.
Instead, enterprises want an approach to file sharing where they remain in control of the data that’s being shared. Enterprise Strategy Group surveyed IT professionals and found that nearly 70% characterized themselves as “extremely interested” in running their cloud service from their own data center.[7]
“The fact that more than two-thirds of organizations would be interested in a
deployment model that allows some or all data to be stored on-premises is
significant. These users have experience with cloud-based deployments, yet do
not appear to be completely satisfied with this approach.”
– Senior ESG analyst, Terri McClure
What’s causing that dissatisfaction? According to ESG’s numbers, it comes down to a lack of control, privacy concerns and governmental regulations. Here are the most common reasons respondents gave for wanting their own onsite approach to online file sharing.
At the end of the day, few want to give up control over their data, and that’s exactly what the current approach to the public cloud forces you to do. One of the major selling points for a third-party EFSS service is that you don’t have to worry about managing your data, but the trade-off for handing over that task is to give up any say over where your data’s stored, how its managed, and who has access to it.
“The ability to retain some or all data on-premises likely puts IT at ease knowing
they can manage more sensitive or mission-critical files in the company’s
own data centers, where security and availability policies have already been
established.”
— Senior ESG Analyst Terri McClure
Which is why, even with the file sharing and syncing advantages that an approach like Dropbox offers,
organizations want something that keeps them in control, lets them meet any regulatory requirements, and helps manage the costs of storage by coming in a form that they can buy once and own forever.
How Transporter Solves the IT Dilemma
Transporter is a private file sync and share appliance that delivers on all fronts — control, cost, and convenience. With this approach, employees get the cloud experience they’re demanding through private hardware that the company owns and controls. Because Transporter gives your employees a Dropbox-like experience for sharing and syncing files, they’re not going to turn to an unauthorized cloud service and run the risk of exposing sensitive data. Instead, that data is stored onsite on hardware under full IT control. And there are no monthly fees to pay to access your files.
Here’s how Transporter can help in a post-NAS world. In addition to delivering the cloud experience users want, Transporter is designed to automatically replicate data between other devices, eliminating the need for complicated or expensive third-party replication tools. That capability comes in models designed for everything from home use to the data center, making it simple to scale users, performance and redundancy with
Transporter.
Home workers, partners, and clients can connect via individual Transporter appliances without the need for any VPN. If you’ve got a mobile sales force, all they need to access data is a mobile device or laptop; any data they add gets synced back onto the appliances at your home office.
All of this takes place over your existing network infrastructure. Much in the same way that Skype took
advantage of the Internet connectivity you already had to disrupt the telecom model, Transporter Genesis uses the network you already have in place to create your own private EFSS set-up. The only outlay you make is for the Transporter appliance, which you pay for once — at a fraction of what you’d pay in ongoing fees for a cloud service — and own forever.
All of your data is encrypted in transit using military-grade AES-256 encryption; private encryption keys are generated and stored directly on authorized devices. If you’re involved in a heavily regulated industry – legal, health care, or financial services, just to name a few — the onsite storage offered by Transporter fulfills the demands for privacy and security that industry regulations require. The Transporter approach is also in line with new legislation on cloud services being passed in Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, and other countries.
About Transporter
Transporter is a private cloud storage solution that delivers the cloud experience employees want on hardware appliances that companies own and control. By offering the same file sync and share convenience of popular cloud services, it eliminates the risk of employees using unauthorized public cloud solutions that could expose sensitive information to privacy concerns. The hardware deployment model gives corporate IT full control over the physical location and redundancy of data without having to pay recurring monthly fees. For more information on Transporter, please contact [email protected] or visit www.filetransporter.com.
© 2015 Connected Data. Transporter is a trademark of Connected Data, in the United States and other countries. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of respective owners. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice
While you enjoy greater control and cost certainty, your employees can easily sync files and folders, personally organize file data and folders right on their computers, and access files stored on Transporter from mobile devices. It’s the simplicity of file management you’ll find in the public cloud with none of the privacy headaches.
Conclusion
The file sharing protocols of the past three decades no longer meet the needs of today’s agile, mobile workforce. That’s what makes the improvements Dropbox brought to file management so compelling for employees, even with the shortcomings of the public cloud. The good news is you don’t have to compromise on control, cost, and compliance to enjoy the benefits of simplified file sharing and accessibility. The Transporter approach puts you in charge of your data while freeing up your organization to access files from anywhere.
REFERENCES
[1] “THE BOX IPO ANALYSIS: This Company Is Burning Twice As Much Cash As Any Comparable Company,” Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/ box-ipo-analysis-2014-3
[2] “IT crisis looming: ‘What if AWS goes pop, runs out of cash?’”, The Channel: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2014/09/25/public_iaas_crisis [3] “Nearly 7 Million Dropbox Passwords Have Been Hacked,” Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-hacked-2014-10 [4] “Five High Profile Cloud-Based Failures,” CloudTweaks.com: http://cloudtweaks.com/2014/05/five-high-profile-cloud-based-failures/ [5] “Dropbox is Peeking at Your Files,” CSO: http://www.csoonline.com/article/2137123/privacy/dropbox-is-peeking-at-your-files.htm
