Closet vs Cloud - Where is your data being stored

Let’s talk backups. Tell me if you’ve heard this one before, “We offer our own cloud solution…”

No one “owns” a cloud solution. They either resell a larger organizations space (cloud) or they have a server tucked in a room somewhere that they call their “cloud” (closet). Even companies that rent space in a colocation (or “colo”) are not doing anyone any favors. I’ve seen companies with servers sitting on top of servers with wiring all over the place, charging rates that are astronomically higher then those of any real mainstream cloud storage provider.

How is that of benefit to you? Where is the assurance that your data is safe, secure, and functional? The true benefit in this “closet” scenario is for the technical company that collects the payments every month. Local storage is cheap and only has a one-time upfront cost. Collecting recurring revenue by reselling this virtual space seems like a good idea, until there is a disaster.

A true offsite storage repository has redundancy, which uses multiple locations to mirror the data. If a disaster occurs at one location, another location has your data safe and sound. Therefore, a true cloud solution doesn’t have the same vulnerabilities as the closet. Flood, fire, and other disasters can’t destroy the cloud.

Save the closet for your clothing.