Controlling the costs of rapid cloud-storage growth

Grazed from TechPageOne. Author: Drew Robb.

The explosive growth in data volume in today’s cloud-based environments is staggering — as is the cost of storing it. So how do IT departments stay in control of the budget? Clearly, it’s important to pay close attention to pricing and the fine print in any contracts. Just as clouds are nebulous, cloud pricing can be, too. Some vendors quote a ridiculously low cost per gigabyte (GB). But lurking behind that are additional costs for uploading and downloading data, and other hidden fees.

Greg Schulz, an analyst with storage research firm StorageIO Group, advised that anyone looking to the cloud should be wary of lowballing. According to Owen Rogers of 451 Research, cloud computing once promised simple, usage-based charging similar to other utilities such as electricity but the reality is far from this ideal…

“Watch out for usage and activity fees with lower cost services where you may get charged for looking at or visiting your data, not to mention for when you actually need to use it,” said Schulz. “Also be aware of limits or caps on performance that may apply to a particular class of service.” His recommendation is to take a total cost of ownership approach. Compare some of the low-base fee rates with those with higher starting rates. Then do an analysis that encompasses all the charges that may apply in your particular use case. That can help separate out a good deal from a suspect one…

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