Hero or Zero? Cloud Storage Costs in Free-Fall Mode

Grazed from MidsizeInsider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

It has been dubbed "the race to zero": Cloud storage providers are working to outpace one another with price cuts and increased storage volumes. But will cloud storage costs ever bottom out? If they do, what kind of market will be left for midsize companies? Will the companies that emerge from the rubble be dubbed cloud computing heroes or zeroes?

Prices in Free Fall

According to a recent article from Cloud Tweaks, storage prices are dropping as big-name providers fight it out in the public sector. While there is little chance that the price-per-gigabyte will ever reach zero, it is not outside the realm of possibility that only a few providers will emerge profitably, offering storage solutions for a pittance. It is worth noting for midsize companies that when the playing field is sufficiently narrow, prices will start to trend upward again — without the benefit of healthy competition…

Despite dire warnings, there are still several years left on the downward slope to lower cloud storage costs, along with a growing emphasis on features over volume. For midsize IT professionals, the current market represents an ideal time to opt-in or trade up, since providers are doing everything they can to lock in customers for the long term. The days of data exclusivity are also disappearing, meaning companies are spoiled for choice and price if they want to spread or duplicate data across multiple storage solutions; according to some experts, this may be essential when the race to zero finally hits bottom…

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