Bruce,
On Mon, 14 Feb 2000, Bruce Sterling Woodcock wrote:
I'm curious if people on this list see this as a big area in the future?
Yes, but there are several problems than need to be overcome. One of these is bandwidth. There are dataco products that are sufficiently robust to provide acceptable access for small configuration files, bookmarks, single images, etc., but mass storage bandwidth isn't there. OTOH, I think that in the future there will be less data that you will need. With an almost certain advent of portable browser appliances you will not have a good reason to drag gigabytes of data around with you.
Is B2C storage going to catch on with home users with thin clients?
I think so.
Are any of you considering B2B storage at the businesses where you work?
No, and I don't think that this is a viable alternative right now. Let me qualify that. There are businesses right now that export their data to colo sites and hosting locations. That will most likely remain the case and in fact expand. However, I believe that businesses are still sceptical of relinquishing complete control over all of their systems and data. There are also security considerations which have not been well addressed yet. With time, it is likely that businesses will initially outsource/contract their IT support. Moving data/machines to locations operated by a different business is a natural progression from there as it tends to follow economies of scale.
Essentially, outsourcing your storage to a provider who gives you a storage line just like phone, electricity, or any other utility.
I see this, but the reliability, security, and speed of access is not there yet. In addition, we are still too tied to our globs of data.
Tom