Five Tips for Adopting Gateways for Cloud Storage

As cloud storage becomes more mainstream, moving from predominately offsite backup and archiving to enterprise-class primary storage, the number of vendors jumping into the marketplace is quickly growing. Finding the best way to get files to the cloud is an important step in leveraging the benefits of cloud technology for a company's particular business. With more and more cloud gateways being announced, here are the top five issues companies should consider before making a purchasing decision, according to experts at Nasuni Corp., creator of the first gateway to the cloud for primary storage.

1. Security: Unlike what most cloud storage providers offer, a gateway to cloud storage has the ability to encrypt and protect data before sending it to the cloud. Every precaution should be made to ensure that the network provider, cloud storage provider or gateway vendor do not have the ability to access your business-critical files. Consider only vendors who have built security into their systems and have chosen the strongest encryption methods available. Some gateways might use shared cloud credentials between users, which presents a potential security issue: a company using the same credentials might accidentally or intentionally delete the other's data. It is imperative to choose a vendor who uses unique credentials for each customer.
2. Choice of cloud vendors: A gateway to cloud storage should allow customers to pick the cloud vendor of their choice, and in some cases enable more than one provider for replication. Picking the cloud storage provider that works best for a particular company depends on the level of trust each company has for that provider, the provider's architecture and pricing. Also consider whether the gateway transfer, the provider price or transparently or marks it up.
3. Billing and provisioning: Using a gateway to cloud storage should not mean dealing with two or more separate bills from separate vendors. Pick a vendor that does the work themselves and consolidates all the bills. This way, even if a company has separate files stored with different cloud storage providers it does not need to deal with more than one billing entity. Provisioning storage from cloud should be simple, seamless and immediate.
4. Software only: With virtualization technology maturing, companies should expect to be able to add a cloud storage gateway to their current virtual environment without having to buy new hardware. Companies that are not yet virtualized may want to consider implementing free VMware products to avoid having to purchase and maintain another new piece of hardware.
5. File restores and disaster recovery: One of the fundamental benefits of cloud storage is that files will be stored offsite and protected with multiple copies. On top of that, companies need the convenience and peace of mind of fast day-to-day file restores from snapshots and rapid recovery from full system failures. Pick a vendor that offers seamless, quick and easy file restores and full, speedy recovery. And if the cloud provider goes down do you have another offsite backup somewhere else for quick recovery?

"Companies looking to move their files to the cloud face a rapidly expanding number of choices regarding not only where to store their data but how best to get it there," said Nasuni CEO and co-founder Andres Rodriguez. "As more and more vendors jump onto the cloud storage bandwagon and begin offering their own gateways to the cloud, it is imperative that businesses truly have an understanding of what matters most when choosing a solution that's right for them. Implementing a gateway, like the Nasuni Filer, that provides the utmost security, offers its users a multitude of cloud storage vendors, simplifies billing and provisioning, eliminates the need for additional hardware and optimizes disaster recovery is a critical decision that will pay dividends if done properly."

The Nasuni Filer leverages the resources of the cloud to simplify file access, storage and protection, while eliminating the expense of storage hardware and infrastructure expansion. Because it provisions storage capacity automatically and includes high-performance caching for quick retrieval, it can be used as primary storage instead of or in combination with traditional file servers. It features synchronous snapshots, deduplication, and encryption plus key management for security. Those not ready for a complete transition to all-in-one cloud storage can use the Nasuni Filer for storing second copies offsite for disaster protection. Nasuni's cloud storage partners include Amazon Web Services, Iron Mountain, Nirvanix and Rackspace.