Storage as a Service (STaaS) Solutions
Best Storage as a Service (STaaS) Solutions include:
AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service, Zadara Cloud Platform, Lyve Cloud, from Seagate and Storage as a Service from Hitachi Vantara (STaaS).
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What are Storage as a Service (STaaS) Solutions?
Storage as a Service (STaaS) allows businesses to lease cloud storage from a third-party provider. STaaS is primarily used for multimedia storage, program synchronicity, emergency recovery, and serverless infrastructure. STaaS solutions provide data backup, automatic program and system updates, and rapid deployment of assets to users. Additionally, STaaS solutions have a low cost of entry, as they do not require on-premises hardware for use and have flexible price points for both small and large businesses.
Companies often choose STaaS solutions as an effective means to reduce IT costs. STaaS also provides an additional level of security, protection, and recovery of a business’s digital assets with virtually constant data backup procedures, snapshot recovery, and version histories to help with disaster recovery. The most popular forms of data security for STaaS are end-to-end encryption, no-knowledge protocols, or multi-factor authentication to ensure data integrity, all of which are updated regularly by the vendor. These features are extremely helpful for businesses that require remote work.
STaaS shares many similarities with cloud management suites, storage management suites, and private cloud services in that they all use the cloud to manage data. However, STaaS solutions are controlled by a third party, so STaaS customers do not need to handle updates directly as they would with other features. This in turn helps with IT workflow and productivity by keeping all user systems up to date and backed up. STaaS solutions remove some control for clients, as data access speed, cloud storage availability, and server uptimes are largely decided by the third party.
Storage as a Service Solutions Features
STaaS solutions typically have the following features:
- Data management, backup, and recovery
- Disaster recovery
- Automatic updating
- Scalability and flexible pricing
- Cross-platform access
- Multi-platform compatibility
- White-labeling
- Integration through API
- End-to-end encryption
- No-knowledge protocols
- Multi-factor authentication for users
- Multitenant architecture (multiple users accessing the same asset)
- Rapid deployment of digital assets
- Simple or automated switches between STaaS providers.
Storage as a Service Solution (STaaS) Comparison
When comparing STaaS solutions, keep the following in mind:
- Server location. When looking at a potential STaaS solution for your business, consider the location of the cloud service provider’s databases. As the physical distance between database and user increases, performance issues become more likely. Read/write speed, upload/download speed, and latency issues may become problematic for efficient day-to-day operation, especially in remote work settings. Large-scale providers like Google, AWS, and Azure have many server locations, so they may be your best bet if this is a concern for your business. Additionally, the location of STaaS databases may affect your businesses’ compliance with regulations.
- Cross- and multi-platform compatibility. Because STaaS are delivered through web browsers, they are easily accessible on pretty much any device that is connected to the internet. Additionally, the most popular providers, such as Google, Azure, and AWS, have basic software clients or mobile apps, which are helpful for remote work or offline access.
- Security. Automated routine data backup and system updates are more or less guaranteed with STaaS solutions, which helps reduce the risk of data loss inherent in cloud-based storage. However, the degree to which assets are secure from internal (e.g. multi tenancy risk exposure) and external threats (e.g. hacking) will depend on the STaaS product package you purchase. An additional concern is that most cloud service providers can access business assets at their discretion, which can be problematic with sensitive or confidential data. Products with the most comprehensive security features offer two-factor authentication and no-knowledge storage (e.g. users can only access portions of file metadata).
Pricing Information
Because price points for STaaS solutions depend on the number of users, the amount of data stored, data transfer bandwidth, length of time the service is expected to be used, and security features, among other factors, costs can vary wildly even at the lowest service tiers. For 1 TB of storage, prices range from $7 to $15 a month for one user. Google, Box, and iDrive offer free plans, although the amount of storage included and other features are scant.
More Resources
For more information on STaaS, see the following articles from the TrustRadius blog: