Comparing the Cost of On-Premises and Cloud Data Storage: A Comprehensive Guide

When considering moving data to the cloud, cost is a universal concern for both businesses and individuals. The cost of cloud storage may initially appear higher than storing data on a hard drive, but it is important to consider the expenses associated with on-premises storage as well.

Today, we will examine some of the expenses that an on-premises data storage facility may have to incur. These expenses can include the cost of hardware, maintenance, and upgrades, as well as the cost of electricity, cooling, and security. In addition, on-premises storage facilities must also consider the cost of staffing and ongoing management, which can add up over time.

On the other hand, cloud storage providers typically absorb many of these costs as part of their service. For example, cloud storage providers invest in high-end hardware, handle all maintenance and upgrades, and manage the physical infrastructure needed to keep data safe and secure. This can result in significant cost savings for businesses and individuals who choose to store their data in the cloud.

Ensuring Data Security, Backup, and Availability

Cloud storage providers have several measures in place to ensure that your data is kept secure and always available. One of the key measures they employ is keeping copies of your data in at least three different drives on different premises. 

This process is crucial for several reasons:

• Your data is always available, even if one of the servers is down or inaccessible.
• You can access your data from the closest server to your place.
• It is kept secure in case of natural disasters, because of the multiple backups.

This process requires two to three times the hardware and facilities that would normally be required, as multiple copies of data must be stored.

Infrastructure

It is not enough to simply purchase a SATA Hard Drive when it comes to enterprise-level data storage. Supporting fast processing and networking requires a high-end infrastructure. The same file may be requested once a month, or a thousand times in one minute. This necessitates reliable internet speeds, high powered CPUs and other server components, as well as networking hardware such as switches, modems, load balancers, firewalls, and cooling systems. All of these components are essential for the successful storage and retrieval of data.

Hardware Lifecycle

The hardware used in datacenters has a limited life. After a few years, they need to be replaced with newer models. This can be a costly endeavor, as the new hardware usually has more modern technologies than its predecessor. To ensure that one has enough money to cover the cost of the new hardware, it is important to make enough money during the life of the datacenter hardware. By doing this, one can ensure that they can afford to upgrade to the latest technology without having to worry about the cost.

Software Licensing

Hardware is of no use without software. However, obtaining the necessary software licenses can be costly. Popular virtual machine managers such as Microsoft and VMware charge high fees for licenses. Fortunately, there are free alternatives such as hypervisors. These can be used to manage and run the hardware. When it comes to virtualization, most organizations opt for the commercial options. This is primarily due to the advanced features and increased security they offer. However, free hypervisors can also be used to some extent. They can provide basic virtualization features such as creating, managing and running virtual machines on hardware.

It is important to note that free hypervisors are not a complete replacement for commercial VMM software. They may lack certain features and offer limited support. Therefore, it is essential to understand the requirements before choosing a suitable solution. In conclusion, hardware needs software to run. While commercial VMM software licenses can be expensive, there are free hypervisors available. It is important to evaluate the requirements and select the best option for the hardware.

Management tools

Having a team of professional developers to develop a high-quality management tool is essential for managing multiple drives. Without proper management, data redundancy and data inconsistency can become a problem. Such issues can be disastrous and cause a waste of precious resources. It is important to prevent such problems by having a lenient process for adding new drives when the previous ones fill up. A management tool can help with this, and should be of high quality to ensure its effectiveness.

Support

Having a reliable customer service team is a key part of any business. Having 24/7 online and on-call support is vital to ensure that customers can get help quickly and easily, especially when dealing with sensitive data. This gives customers the assurance that their problems will be taken care of in a timely manner.

Marketing

Marketing is a crucial component of any business that seeks to make a profit. It involves allocating a portion of a company's budget to different strategies in order to reach their target audience. Common strategies include TV commercials, OTT commercials, website ads, and blogs, but these can be expensive. 

Cloud storage providers need to invest in more than just traditional advertisements in order to make a sale. They must hire sales agents to persuade potential customers to migrate to their cloud storage services. It is important for these sales agents to have a deep understanding of how the cloud works and the benefits it can offer to their target customers. 

When done correctly, marketing can be a powerful tool for cloud storage providers. It can help them to reach their target customers and increase their chances of making a sale. However, it is important to remember that marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It is important to consider the cost of each strategy and the potential return on investment before investing in any marketing strategy for a cloud storage provider.

Human

Maintaining all the platforms, hardware, and providing the necessary support requires a team of professionals. Developers, Systems Administrators, DevOps, and Security personals are needed to build systems. A Human Resources department is necessary to handle the personnel. Executives are required to make decisions and take responsibility for their decisions. Employing these professionals can be expensive. However, the cost is offset by the improved efficiency of the systems they help to build.

Conclusion

These are the costs required to run a cloud storage service. At first, it seems that cloud storages are expensive, but when you pool all these costs, you save lots of money, get more features, and save the planet altogether. Cloud storage is getting cheaper day by day, and now some services provide a lifetime of storage at a one-time price.