Cloud Storage: Pick The Best Option

The modern enterprise workplace includes an abundance of mobile devices and computers that generate a serious need for safe, accessible, and convenient storage and sharing of data. Cloud storage provides the flexibility of accessing files from anywhere in the world, with the benefit of knowing that important documents, images, videos, and other data and software are securely stored and available at all times.

Cloud storage is used both by IT professionals and simple users for saving all kinds of data and exchanging information. Large companies are experiencing a heavy increase in demand for this technology for internal documentation and nomenclature storage. While it is not difficult to check the price per gigabyte and the level of security each option offers, the trick is to find an optimal combination of these and other factors that are important to your business. It is ultimately up to IT manager to prioritize these criteria and communicate them to users. 

In this guide I will compare four of the most popular and relevant cloud storage options available today. The goal is to help set you in the right direction to identify the right solution for your business as well as your personal cloud storage goals. 

First, let's identify the main advantages and limitations of cloud services.

Advantages include the following:

As far as shortcomings, the main concern is security, followed by processing speed and transmission of data to the user. Connection speed problems mostly relate to the quality and capacity of the customer's Internet connection. It is also worth noting that the user could lose all of his data in of the event of a cloud service closing, if not warned of the impending shutdown ahead of time.

Now for the fun part -- benchmarking. For the purposes of this comparison, we've chosen Google Drive as an Android native storage, SkyDrive as a Windows phone receptive, and iCloud as the most convenient iOS platform storage. Dropbox is included as a progenitor and first of its kind. We have evaluated each of these solutions based on the following criteria:

The chart below provides a summary of our findings. See the next pages for more details. 

Figure 1:

Now let's have a closer look at each of these options.

Google Drive is a close-to-perfect solution for digital data storage users. It was launched in April 2012 and is available today on almost every recognized platform. It allows users to work with files from anywhere, as long as they have an Internet connection. Google Drive supports more than 30 file types on the browser, including Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and high-definition videos. It is the only cloud service that offers an "Edit Office documents online" feature.

Users can get started with Google Drive with 5 GB of free space for storing files and sharing them. They can also create and edit documents, presentations, and spreadsheets in collaboration with others through any device, with the ability to track changes instantly. When requirements exceed free volume, users can switch to a paid package that starts at $2.49 per month for 25 GB. 

Figure 2:

Microsoft Live SkyDrive also allows users to synchronize information using various devices and provides access to any files online through an Internet browser or a special application. The storage system is tightly integrated with Windows 8, as well as Hotmail (or Outlook). This allows users to store data files, images and other info in SkyDrive directly from the email application. SkyDrive storage is user friendly through a practical and intuitive web interface.

After the registration procedure is completed, each user gets 7 GB of free disk space, located on a well-protected server at Microsoft. Users that have official licenses for Microsoft products immediately obtain 25 GB of cloud storage. One of the main advantages of SkyDrive is the ability to create and edit Microsoft Office documents quickly online with native support for Microsoft Office Web Apps technology.

Figure 3:

iCloud is a newly redesigned MobileMe service (Me.com). iCloud is an excellent solution for Apple users, allowing them to back up the important files on Mac and iOS devices and then synchronize the data. However, the storage is more appropriate for mobile devices and does not allow users to, for example, download a specific file type that is not supported. iCloud provides 5 GB of free space; or users can choose a plan based on 10, 20, or 50 additional GB. The service can also run on Windows desktops via iCloud Control Panel.

Figure 4:

Launched in 2010, Dropbox quickly accumulated a large user base. Today, it serves 100 million registered users. After acquiring Snapjoy in June 2013, Dropbox became more focused on storing images.

DropBox, perhaps the most popular option in file hosting, was originally not tied to any particular platform. In contrast to the above services, it is easiest to register and start using. Through a convenient web interface or client module, the user can upload up to 2 GB of information for free. Up to 18 GB can be added by inviting friends to use Dropbox (500 MB on every successful referral). Dropbox clients were developed for all desktop and mobile operating systems.

Figure 5:

Every cloud storage option has something different to offer, and which one(s) are best for your company's employees really depends on intended use, budget, and IT environment.