Tech Trends: Cloud Storage Presents Recurring Revenue Opportunities

By Brian Albright, Business Solutions magazine.

Cloud-based storage and backup are becoming popular with companies that don't want the hassle and expense of maintaining additional IT infrastructure. It presents an opportunity for VARs and managed services providers (MSPs) to establish recurring revenue streams by offering cloud storage capabilities and backup services like annuity-based data migration.

For an investment in cloud capabilities to pay off, though, VARs have to find a solution that is sustainable for their customer base. They also have to identify technology providers that are reliable and that can provide the right fit for their customer base.

There is a variety of cloud storage. Pure cloud storage, such as that offered by companies like Amazon, essentially provides storage capacity via the Internet where customers can save and retrieve files.

There are public clouds, where resources are shared by multiple customers, and private clouds, which companies manage on their own equipment.

Some clouds are used for file sharing purposes, while others specifically provide online backup. These cloud-based backup offerings typically include a utility that manages the copying process in an automated fashion. Then there's the hybrid backup model, which provides the ability to replicate data locally within the LAN as well as within off-site servers.