Remember the good old days when everything digital was free? All you had to do was pay a little subscription fee and you get access to everything on the internet. You raise the middle finger to those greedy corporate magnets charging you $1 to buy your favorite song. Thanks to your messiah or your guru, you no longer had to worry about shelling out such astronomical amounts for downloading music, films and games. The good old days when Megaupload rule the internet. Can you also remember the withdrawal symptoms you had to go through when you discovered the big, bad, old US government decided to shut down the service? Those days are long gone but, there is hope in the horizon.  Mega cloud is coming to an internet connection near you.

The man behind Megaupload has decided to rebrand himself and offer his disciples more ways to store their data. Is this going to be another file sharing service with illegal copyrighted materials? That is of course the desire of anyone who thinks “FREE” is the best invention in human history.

The new cloud storage service from Mega is not free. It is however cheap and you can expect to pay about $0.12 cents per GB per year.  On a monthly basis, you can expect 100GB for a little less than $10 per month. If you choose the yearly payment plan, you will actually be paying about $0.08 cents per GB. That is very affordable. That is also the reason why those who are not bothered by the reputation of the company will jump at the offer.

What is the service like?

If you are to go by history, there is the likelihood that  some people will be hoping that MegaCloud storage will be a repeat of the past. What you will be getting this time is just a place to store and share your files online. If the plan is to convert it to a social media, then, some people will find ways to share illegal contents.

How do you sign up?

The service is available to the official website. You sign up, pay and drag-n-drop your files. That is all there is to it. Mega Cloud is working with EuroDNS and DigiWeb. Mostly European hosting companies.

Will your data be safe?

Safety is rather relative on the internet. Anything that is out there is a candidate for snooping and theft. What you might need to be worried about is getting your data back if the site or service is axed.  The service will also offer encryption that will prevent others from accessing your data.  However, since Mega was released with its open source code available for all to analyze, there have been quite a bit of security holes uncovered. We can go into a multi-page article on the problems, which have already been plastered all over the internet.  The good news is that the issues can be fixed.  In the meantime, throw caution to the wind if you plan on using this service.

Will MegaCloud be another hit?

If MegaCloud wants to be just another DropBox or just another cloud storage, it will have a hard time convincing people. Giving away free 8GB of storage and backup will not be enough for some users switch.  If the idea is to be able to share data irrespective of copyright laws, that will likely attract potential clients.  It will be difficult to replicate the past. Trying to build a legitimate business based on past illegal setup will be a challenge.  Add in the fact that there are several security flaws in the initial code, only time will tell if this new adventure will succeed.

When you hear all the talk about how wonderful the could is, you will definitely be tempted to take a closer look, wondering what the fuss is all about. Is moving anything to the cloud really that great and will it add value to your company’s IT needs? The answer will depend on who you are asking?

Before getting into the added value you might get from moving to the cloud, it is important to understand what legacy application means. Without getting into complicated explanation. When you hear about legacy applications, you are talking about older applications you have running in your enterprise. Often these will include databases and other desktop based application you might have developed in-house.

Should you move your applications to the cloud?

That is a question that is not that easy to answer. It will mainly depend on the way you do business and how you use information technology. For small companies who already have part of their IT maintenance done by an external party, it will likely not make much sense to move to the cloud if money hasn’t been an issue in the past. You probably also don’t have a lot of servers to maintain. The IT maintenance company logs in remotely to perform regular updates and maybe comes onsite for a few hours a week. In that case, you already have a fixed budget and you don’t have to worry about fluctuating IT cost. This scenario is most similar to private-cloud.

On the other hand, if you have a company where the IT manager is also the receptionist or the secretary, moving some of your applications to the cloud might be cost effective (removes hassle of constant downtime). You don’t have to worry about database and server upgrades. That will often be included in the cloud package you choose. For example, if you have a legacy Oracle server, you could decide to move that database to the cloud using a P2V tool like the Oracle’s Virtual Box. Once, you are in the cloud, creating a new instance of the server for test purposes or redundancy is easier  as you can easily clone the previous database server.

The same type of physical to virtual tools are available to other Microsoft or Linux based systems.

How much will your business save by moving legacy application to the cloud?

You need to understand that being in the cloud is not free. Often, your business needs will decide the value of the move. If moving to the cloud means, your employees can now access their data anywhere, that will likely increase the need for a faster and more expensive cloud solution. You might also decide to let some partners access these applications as well. As you can see, the ease of access could change the business dynamics. On the other hands, more productivity could also lead to more income.

The value of migrating legacy applications to the cloud will depend on doing a good analysis of your current situation and what you plan to achieve. Moving to the cloud doesn’t mean you will no longer need an IT team. You might decide to reduce the amount of IT staff needed to maintain, your Windows/Linux servers and legacy application. Moving to the cloud could also simplify backup and restore. Employees could also be given the needed permissions to restore their files.

The simple rule is, only move legacy applications, if you are currently having a hard time with constant update and maintenance. Don’t fix what isn’t broken.

When you have a big company like Amazon offering affordable, good cloud storage service, it can be difficult to imagine what else there is to give to potential clients. That is precisely what the future holds for anyone or any company thinking of getting into the cloud business. Building an infrastructure from scratch to compete with the likes of DropBox and Amazon takes time and effort. By the time you get up to speed, the dynamics of the market might have changed. That is why those who already have a steady client base will often try to capitalize on this. It could be done by tying existing service into the cloud. That is exactly what DreamHost is trying to achieve. If you think about web hosting and the way people have always used hosted services on the world wide web, you might be tempted to say, “there is nothing new in the cloud”. The fact is, the concept is not new but things are a little different in the age of PaaS, SaaS and IaaS.

What is the DreamHost vision?

There is so much free storage you can offer to entice new clients. There is also no reason for someone who is happy with DropBox or Amazon S3 service to move to another provider. DreamHost approach is to make the offer more enticing that clients will come rushing over.

Lets take a moment to look at the pricing. You pay about 7 cents in dollars per GB of storage. The idea is that you pay only for what you use. The first plan is for 20GB of storage that will cost you only $1.35 per month. That is an amount that is within the reach of many. What if you want less than 20GB, well, that is another story.

On the other hand, what is Amazon offering? You will get charged about 8 cents to 10 cents per GB. If you look at it from a pricing point of view, you will note that DreamHost is trying to undercut the cloud storage offering from Amazon S3. Is the 2 cents or 3 cents saving worth the move?

Take a look at things from a Terabyte point of view. How much will you be saving if you need 1TB of storage with a 2 cents price difference. That will be $20 of savings per month. For those who need a storage space of 10TB, that is will be $200. It is a considerable sum for individuals but nothing to worry about for enterprise users.

Will you move your data from Amazon S3 in order to save maybe $20 per month? Most people will likely stay put. The reasons are multiple. How long will it take you to move your data and get used to another user interface? What if you have some applications tied to Amazon’s APIs? What is the guaranteed up time?

When you take a closer look at the questions above, you will realize that price is not the only fact to take into consideration.

DreamHost’s offering will likely keep current customers happy with their extended cloud storage service. It will be a harder task getting others to switch.

There is a lot happening in the cloud and there are brand names like Amazon and Dropbox that most users will be familiar with. That said, there are other healthy companies making millions that most people wouldn’t know about. That simply explains how the cloud ecosystem is teaming with innovation and services that are making the lives of many easier in exchange for a modest sum. Remember when you last tried to send an email only to be told that the file you’ve attached is a little too big. How frustrating can that be? The problem at times is that some files cannot be easily separated and you have to find another way to get the information to the intended third party.  What do you do when you want to send large files?

That is where YouSendIt came into the picture. They are no longer a startup. The company has been in business since the 90s. YouSendIt has been helping people move files around even before PaaS, IaaS and SaaS became popular. The dynamics of the business have changed since then and they way people share data has evolved.

YouSendIt has been keeping up with the times and recently purchased “Found” a technology company that specializes in helping users find their documents no matter where it is stored. That might sound strange to many but how many times have you stored a file and a few days later, you no longer remember on which device you saved it. In the age of iPad, tablets and other mobile devices, people tend to spread their data across many gadgets. In order to simplify accessing all your data irrespective of which device they are stored, YouSendIt, wants to help make your life easier.

How does it work?

If you have ever used any cloud service, you would have noticed that ease of use is one of the keys to getting clients. YouSendIt is geared towards businesses and that is what makes it different from the likes of DropBox. For example, if you have ever received a digital, scanned copy of a document that you need to sign and send back to the originator, what would you do? The traditional way is to print the document, sign it, scan it and send it back. What if you can open the document, read it, sign it with your tablet and send it back? That is more efficient and rather “cool”. That is one of the services that YouSendIt offers and one of the many reasons cooperate users are using it.

The company also gives you the possibility of sharing, syncing files from multiple devices. The last feature is not unique to YouSendIt but it makes a huge difference for businesses that want to be able to pay a monthly or yearly subscription and deal with the same service provider for ease of administration.

How much does it cost?

Like anything on the cloud, it will depend on your level of use. It is free If you want to take the service for a test drive with limited e-signature,  storage and file sharing size of 50MB. For those who want an elaborate plan, the price ranges from $10 to $15 per month.

Everyone needs a little morale boost from time to time and that is what happens when you get a Cloud Storage Excellence Award. You want to tell the whole world about it. Is this award something like the Oscars of cloud computing? It might sound glorious but it’s not quite the same. One of the main difference is this, in the Oscars, only a single person can take the award for the best actor, director or film. With that out of the way, why is the Cloud Storage Excellence Award interesting? Those chosen, are active contributors to the advancement of cloud technology. This also implies that multiple companies will be awarded industry recognition for their technological innovation in bringing cloud storage to the public consciousness. If Red Hat only offers Linux operating system why, is it receiving a cloud storage recognition?

For those who only think Red Hat is all about the operating system with the cute little penguin, you need to keep up to date. Red Hat also sells enterprise solutions and that is where cloud storage comes into the picture. Cost reduction is one of the many selling points that Red Hat offers to those looking for cloud storage solution. Because you are not locked into expensive proprietary solutions, you are able to reduce software cost. For those who have been in the business long enough, you already know that hardware isn’t the cash cow for most technology companies. Selling software is where the money is.

If Red Hat is offering low cost cloud storage and software is the cash cow, how do they make money? Well, when you are dealing with open source and you have thousands of volunteers willing to contribute patches and help you test your product, you gain time and save money. Having hundreds or even thousands of willing testers is a luxury companies using closed source software cannot afford.

Red Hat offers 3 solutions to their clients, similar to what most major cloud players offer. There is the On-premise, public and the hybrid cloud. The question is, what is so special about these that they were given an award?

Because of the low cost of Red Hat cloud solutions, it is possible for companies to invest more in the cloud. That makes online storage, anywhere more accessible to enterprise and the general public. It builds confidence in the overall services that can be offered in the cloud. It becomes a Win/Win situation for everyone involved.

Receiving a recognition by your peers is good for business. Let’s not forget that Red Hat has been around since 1993. In the technology world, not many companies in the open source arena make it so far. That is why receiving the Cloud Storage Excellence Award is something to be proud of.  It basically says, you are doing something great, keep up the good work of contributing to technological innovation. No matter what the detractors might say, the award is something to be proud of.

In the early days, cloud service providers will often focus on desktop users because that is where most users access their data and spend their time. Things are changing and mobile devices are very fashionable at the moment. That is why most companies are investing a lot in mobile applications for tablets and smartphones. It doesn’t even matter if your device runs on iOS, Windows or Android, you will likely have an application that will give you what you want. It can safely be said that the future is in the cloud and staying permanently connected will be part of everyday life.

BitCasa is another in the line of cloud storage providers giving users the option to access their data anywhere and at anytime. The company recently released mobile apps on the three main platforms so that their users can get to their data with ease. You are offered a freemium plan with 10GB of free storage to test drive the service. This is an interesting move by BitCasa and may actually help entice more customers. For example, DropBox offers 2GB of free storage for those starting out. You will be getting 8GB more of free storage which is great for those who do not require huge amount of storage.  There is of course more to take into consideration when putting your data in the cloud.

What else do you get with BitCasa?

You get a lot of features similar to what you would expect from modern cloud storage providers. There is the ability to share your data with others and link to social media. This is convenient for those who love to share pictures of their vacation or their cute cats. There is also the ability to synchronize your data with all your mobile devices and on your desktop.  Safety is a big issue which is probably not a problem if all you have stored are trivial cute photos of snoopy and Justin Bieber. However, you don’t want someone stealing your bikini pictures and posting it on some dodgy website. That is the reason why BitCasa also offers data encryption with their service. This will give you the peace of mind, knowing that your data can only be accessed by yourself and by those who with whom you’ve chosen to share your information.

Is BitCasa another DropBox?

It is very hard not to compare any storage service provider to DropBox. Even Google Drive is often featured as an alternative to DropBox. BitCasa offers similar services to what you would expect from most storage providers in the cloud. The difference will play out in the price and the amount of storage you get for your money. At the end of the day, it will boil down to GB and Dollars. Every user wants to get value for money and GB ratio to cost is one of the determining factor. BitCasa is very competitively priced and that plays well in its favor. Those who are searching for the new DropBox will be enticed by the offering. Those who are happy with their current SaaS will only make the move if the price is right.

There is so much competition in the cloud that it is rather difficult to know what else to offer. Whenever a new company starts out and claims to be the new kid on the block, everyone will say that the service is like DropBox. That can be a compliment but it can also be an insult depending on the way you look at it. It is a compliment because you are offering a service that a well established brand is also offering. On the other hand, it could also mean that you are not innovating and are happy copying what others have already done. That is inevitable in the cloud world. That said, there are a lot of things that are still not available to users and someone has to fill that gap.

OwnCloud is trying to position itself as a breath of fresh air in the cloud. First of all, the company is Open Source which is rather interesting for those who believe in the movement. For the ordinary user, it doesn’t mean a lot. The fact that you are dealing with an Open Source SaaS can be beneficial if you want to get up close and personal with the inner working of the service. This can also be done with Closed Source providers offering API for developers. The interesting thing about OwnCloud is that it wants to work with your company’s IT department. That basically means it is geared towards businesses or those thinking of beginning a startup.

Limiting the impact of Rogue Clouds

OwnCloud’s want to integrate your current IT with it’s cloud offering. This is a way to help IT managers offer a secure and controlled environment for all their corporate needs. This will reduce the temptation of some rebellious departments like Sale and Marketing ,paying for cloud storage without consulting with IT. When you offer a viable alternative to people in your company, you will be able to reduce cost, improve security and have happy employees. In the world of cloud storage, you cannot rule by decree and that can be seen in the amount of rogue clouds initiated from within.

OwnCloud is not an alternative to DropBox. It is designed so that enterprise IT departments or individuals can create their own cloud storage service similar to DropBox. You will become the service provider. The software can be installed on your local server and you can then give users the ability to use the service like any other cloud provider does. The advantage to this within a corporate setting is multiple.

Management and Security

The IT department will be able to make company’s data using current infrastructure. Employees using mobile devices will be able to move data around and synchronize data with other department in a controlled environment. There will be little reasons for an employee to be tempted to put company’s data on external cloud when you have something similar within the company.

Fear of the Unknown

Using OwnCloud will alleviate the fear of putting your data at risk. Because you are able to host your own cloud in familiar grounds, you will not be exposed to sleepless nights thinking that the remote cloud provider is somehow selling or preying on your data.

OwnCloud is not like Google Drive or DropBox. If you want to be your own cloud provider within your company and you like the sound of Open Source, the service is worth giving a try.

A lot of people think that cloud storage is like bread from heaven. On the other hand, people like Steve Wozniak do not share your point of view. It probably doesn’t even matter what Steve thinks.  Those who live and breathe the cloud will just yawn when you tell them there is something wrong with the concept. So what is Steve’s problem with cloud storage?

In order to understand his viewpoint, think about this scenario. Someone offers you a piece of land (in the center of the city) on which you can build the house of your dream. You agree to pay a modic some every month forever for the privilege of having your house on that precious piece of land. Everything is going great and you keep up with the monthly payment. Suddenly the owner of the land wants the land back. What do you do? Well that is partly what Steve Wozniak thinks is wrong with cloud storage. You own the data but it just doesn’t belong to you.

This is an important issue that is being raised. First of all, anyone offering something for free is not doing so just to make your happy. The same goes for any service offering free cloud storage. From the moment you put anything online, you have easily multiplied the risk by a factor of N. That is basically saying, you will never know what might happen to your data.  This is not only linked to free cloud storage. Paid services also have issues with ownership and security. If you are paying for cloud storage, you likely have information or data that is important enough to you that you have decided to pay to keep it safe.

Going back to the issue Steve raised earlier, is it immoral for cloud storage companies to trick users into a sense of security and at that same time use people’s data for financial gains? The simple answer is, there is nothing like morals when it comes to business.  All the big technology companies are guilty of snooping and using private data to their own advantage. The trick has been the same, put in place a TOS (Terms of Service) that is open in order to entice users; when the time comes to monetize your investment, you simply change your TOS and raise the middle finger to anyone who complains. The problem, most users will often complain but they will keep using the service because they don’t have a viable alternative.

Where Steve Wozniak might be wrong in his analysis is this, there are no better alternative. You cannot tell people not to put their data in the cloud if you do not provide a better way for them to access their data.  Maybe what Wozniak is trying to do is just raise awareness which will hopefully force cloud storage providers to be a little bit more honest in their approach. That is of course wishful thinking. Cloud storage is a tough cut-throat business. You have to do what it takes to survive. Unfortunately, money still rules and that will not change in the foreseeable future.

The cloud is so hot now that everyone and everything have to be in the sky to be relevant. Living in the age of smartphones and other mobile devices means you need access to your data and entertainment on the go. When Amazon offered users the ability to pay for their music and get access to it whenever they desire, that made a lot of sense for music lovers. The same idea was offered by DropBox to its users who think that “free” is the best word in the English dictionary. Cloud storage works and make a lot of practical and sometimes business sense. Every now and then, a major security alert is issued and that brings to the fore what some have always worried about, security. Apart the obvious risk of your data getting into the wrong hands, you might also have to look into legal issues.

In order to help you understand this, think about what happened recently when Instagram decided to update its TOS. Instagram decided that they owned all the cute cats and naughty pictures you’ve slaved away for months to amass. There was public outcry from ordinary users and power users like celebrities. What does this highlight?

Who owns the data? 

This might seem obvious but it is not often straightforward when you are using a free cloud service. The fact that it’s free also implies that means that someone, somewhere has to pay for it. That is where some unscrupulous cloud companies might want to cash in from your stored data.

If you plan to use any type of online storage, you need to check the legal terms of use and make sure it states that your data is “YOURS” no matter what. You might also want to make sure that they cannot pass your data to third parties aka marketing people or the government.

When the cloud company goes belly-up.

A lot of startup pop up every other day and at the same time, many just die a slow painful death. In most cases, you will never see a press release broadcasting that the end of your cloud storage company is nigh. The legal implications of this can be tremendous. What if the company has been struggling for months to pay its server bills and suddenly the Service Provider shuts down the server. How do you get your data back? That is why it is important to read between the fine prints and even insist on getting a heads up at least a week before things go up in flames. You need to understand that copying your data back onto your local computer can take days if you have a lot of information stored. That is why you need to make sure your contract will ensure safe access to retrieve your data when needed.

Disgruntled Former Employee

What if a crazy ex-employee of the cloud storage company decides to steal your data and sell them in the black market. Worse still, what if he decides to do something like the now infamous, Bradley Manning. Yes, this former US soldier caused a storm when he passed on thousands of confidential diplomatic and military information to Wikileaks. What happened after that was a diplomatic nightmare. Even if you don’t plan to store illegal content online, it is often a good idea to make sure that your contract covers some form of compensation in case of stolen data or security breach.

There is only so much you can do to protect your data when they are stored online. If you are too paranoid and don’t trust anyone, store your data on your SSD drive and put it under your pillow.

Technology is omnipresent and you can smell it in the air. It is almost unthinkable for some teenagers to image a world without Facebook, Twitter and Dropbox on their cell phone. Most will likely suffer withdrawal symptoms if their mobile world were to collapse. This is not unique to love-stoned pimple-faced teenagers. An amazing number of adults need their daily technology fix. This has been carried down into the corporate world. What are we talking about? That cloud technology you have been trying to resist for so long only to discover it has managed to sneak itself into your network. Rogue clouds are here to say and there are multiple reasons for that.

The IT manager who thinks he is god.

When you have the likes of Dropbox making it easier to share files and music with ease, most people will see the benefit of this could storage in a business setting (sales, marketing departments). The problem is, the IT manager tells you that it is a security risk and nothing like that will ever be implemented in the company as long as he is around. You try to tell him that other partners have it running on their network and it is a great and efficient way to share important data. The IT manager tells you that no Mickey Mouse technology will be allowed and that is the end of the conversation. What do you do if you feel you need to really used cloud storage like Dropbox?

Go Awol aka rogue cloud.

Most corporate networks will block anything and everything they could through their firewall. However, they often have to allow HTTP and HTTPS ports. That is where disgruntled employees with a little bit of IT know-how will trying to log into the cloud and upload company’s data without getting the permission of the IT department. Is that really bad?  That is debatable but in big organizations, that is the only way to get things done quickly without going through the hurdles of convincing some obnoxious IT manager that your solution is cheaper, quicker and more efficient.

What can an IT manager do?

If you are only using a low level firewall that checks for ports, it will be difficult to stop your unruly employee from setting up a rogue cloud through your firewall. Modern firewalls with advanced applications features will allow you to fine-tune your filter and block certain domains and applications.  This will be a temporary solution until someone finds another site offering the same solution. IT managers are generally paranoid and that is understandable when they have to constantly deal with internal forces trying to bend the rules.

That said, the best solution will be to give employees a similar corporate approved cloud solution that provides similar user experience. This will allow the IT department to keep and eye on things and prevent or at least limit the potential security risk to corporate network and data.

Rogue clouds have forced many IT managers into rethinking their strategy about working in the cloud. The positive side is that these managers have to slowly come out of their comfort zone and bring their company into the cloud age.