

More advanced users might think it’s similar to a backup server you could use in your business for archived documents. For cloud-storage users, it might seem to be no different than the hard drive inside your computer. Knowing how the cloud-storage industry started is interesting, but it still doesn’t tell us exactly what cloud storage is. Rather than let this unused capacity just sit, these companies decided to rent this space to customers and other companies very cheaply, giving birth to the cloud-storage industry. But they found that they had more space than they needed. These servers were put in place by companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon while they were busy taking over the internet. But many more of these computers are servers - devices in the background that store websites, control internet traffic, and power all of the cool apps that make life (and business) easier. Many of these computers are personal devices - laptops, phones, desktops, even smart thermostats and the like. The internet is just a lot of computers that are linked together. Don’t worry, we’re not going to bore you with all the gory details - in fact, we promise that there won’t be a single flowchart or technical diagram in this piece. To understand cloud storage, it’s important to know a little bit about what the internet is. Even more shocking, cloud storage was born as an accidental byproduct and not as some brilliant business idea somewhere in a Silicon Valley garage. With the popularity of cloud storage, it might shock you to learn that few people really understand what it means.

Cloud storage seems to be everywhere, but what is it? You can do your books in the cloud, find employees in the cloud, sell your services in the cloud, and store your files in the cloud.Ĭloud storage has boomed over the last decade, and now almost three-quarters of all businesses either use cloud storage or plan to migrate to it soon. It’s hard to run a business these days without hearing about cloud services.
