In a world where consumers often own multiple connected devices, from tablets and notebooks to smartphones – all of which are used to create and consume a variety of media – data storage has become a growing challenge, says Michael Watts, business unit manager at DCC.
This is particularly pertinent given the limited storage capacity on the majority of mobile devices. In addition, accessing and sharing information or media stored on one device from another can be difficult without a centralised storage solution. The cloud is the obvious answer to this challenge.
However, especially in light of the recent spate of highly publicised hacks into public cloud solutions, consumers are wise to be cautious regarding the storage of personal, sensitive or confidential data within the public cloud domain.
In addition, public cloud storage often requires payment of monthly or annual fees for sufficient capacity. The personal cloud offers the best of both worlds – a centralised storage solution for all of your devices that offers access from anywhere, with large storage capacity and the security you need for peace of mind that your information will not be leaked or fall into the wrong hands.
The digital content explosion is a well-known phenomenon, and is something that continues to grow and expand as consumers embrace the use of multiple connected devices. In fact, according to research by leading global hard drive manufacturer WD, the average South African household currently stores 3,3Tb of content, which is typically fragmented across a number of different devices and users.
Cloud solutions offer users capacity, cost effectiveness and more importantly access to data from anywhere, on any device, and in the consumer space this technology has seen widespread adoption.
However, most consumers currently use a public cloud service, which presents a number of security and privacy concerns. Protecting personal and potentially sensitive information and media from cybercriminals is something that every consumer should be concerned about.
Fortunately, personal cloud technology offers the best of all worlds – the centralised access and convenience of the cloud, with the privacy and security of desktop storage. The personal cloud offers a solution where the device remains at your home or office and enables users to store all their data, ensuring that this data is restricted to authorised users only.
All this while still allowing it to be accessed via mobile applications (apps) from anywhere, at any time, without the need for monthly or annual fees for capacity. This offers security, control, ownership and accessibility for personal documents, images, videos, music, movies and more across any number of different devices.
There are a number of personal cloud devices available that can offer up to 12TB of centralised, secure and accessible storage for any and all devices. Many of them offer free apps for desktop and mobile enable users to access their content from anywhere in the world, on any device, and built-in expansion ports enable users to further extend storage capacity by adding a portable hard drive via USB.
Users are also able to easily transfer files between their personal cloud, Dropbox and other public cloud accounts.
As more and more users move online and begin to make use of public cloud services, the incidents of hacking and leaked content will only continue and increase. Personal cloud solutions offer peace of mind that personal data is safe and secure and can still be accessed from anywhere, at any time, from any mobile device, with virtually limitless storage capacity without the need for annual fees or subscriptions.
The personal cloud is a cost effective, secure solution to consumer data storage dilemmas.
