The Cloud Storage Bandwagon Gets More Crowded

Guess who's coming to the cloud storage party? Nah, that's too easy. These days, it's harder to guess who isn't coming to the cloud storage party.This week, Verizon was the latest big name to offer up a cloud based storage service. It's a perfectly logical step for the company, which is already offering other cloud-based IT products. Just as important, Verizon has the data-center muscle to provide the kind of security and reliability businesses should demand from any cloud-based offering.

It helps that Verizon Cloud Storage is actually based on its partnership with Nirvanix. That's not a household name, but they're a major player in the cloud storage market.

For now, it looks like Verizon is aiming at the enterprise market with this service. That's especially true given that it's also offering storage consulting services that are more likely to appeal to larger firms than to SMBs.

But let's step back and look at the big picture for a moment, because what's going on here is definitely of interest to the SMB market.

First, while Verizon may be marketing mostly to enterprises, its service and pricing structure will also appeal to smaller companies. Its prices are competitive with services like Amazon S3, and the service is designed to store unstructured data, rather than transactional data. And the feature set, including browser-based management tools and compatibility with third-party backup agents, are relevant to companies of all sizes.

But is there anything really unique about Verizon Cloud Storage? Not really. And that may be the most significant point here.

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Verizon is entering a market that is crowded with capable, well-funded competitors. And given the fact that there's really nothing new going on here, it will have to compete in the long run on one major factor: price.

Cloud storage costs are already running a race to the bottom, and Verizon's presence will simply make everyone else pick up the pace. That makes the technology an even better option for SMBs, especially those with distributed work forces and rapidly rising storage requirements.

In other words, almost everyone.

This contest, however, will also put additional pressure on the smaller players. They're the ones who will be least able to compete in a market where price, and not unique functionality, is the defining characteristic. As a result, you can bet that the cloud storage market is even more likely to see a round of shakeouts and acquisitions during the coming months.

So while you have more choices than ever before for cloud storage, you also have more reasons to pick your partners carefully. They won't all be around for the long haul -- and as prices keep dropping, the shakeout is likely to happen sooner rather than later.