Widespread acceptance of cloud storage indicates the impact cloud storage can have on disaster recovery strategies, according to a survey of 288 IT personnel from cloud-based storage solutions specialist TwinStrata.
Sixty percent of respondents today currently use cloud storage, with another 23 percent planning to use it. With more than four out of five (83 percent) organizations planning to use cloud storage in some capacity, survey results indicated that cloud storage has gained significant ground in terms of widespread acceptance and even adoption.
Furthermore, when asked about current and future plans, the survey revealed that current users have already implemented cloud storage for two or more use cases with plans to average at four use cases per organization. Sixty percent of respondents estimated that they could recover from a full disaster (as defined by the need to bring up both apps and data in a secondary location) within 24 hours. However, one in five (20 percent) estimate that it would take them more than three days.
Interestingly, however, while cloud storage has gained significant ground in terms of adoption, the amount of data pushed to the cloud remains relatively light, with 55 percent of cloud storage users having less than 10TB in the cloud. Only 25 percent have more than 50TB.
“Last week’s announcement that Nirvanix is shutting down has caused many organizations to question whether cloud storage is worth the perceived risk,” Nicos Vekiarides, CEO of TwinStrata, said in a statement. “Our survey clearly shows that the benefits of cloud storage are far too compelling to ignore, particularly from a disaster recovery perspective. With the right technology and migration plan in place, customers can recover from any disaster–even the loss of their cloud storage provider.”
When asked specifically about their current backup and disaster recovery strategy, 40 percent of respondents indicated that offsite tape backup plays a role, and 37 percent indicated that they have either a hot or a cold standby site available to them. Approximately one-quarter (24 percent) said they rely on cloud storage in whole or in part for their disaster recovery needs.
However, despite the availability of affordable data recovery options such as cloud storage, 1 in 3 organizations relies solely on either onsite backups or offsite tapes as their only backup strategy, while 1 in 10 relies only on cloud storage for backup and disaster recovery.
“From a disaster recovery perspective, we find clear evidence that a cloud-storage-focused disaster recovery strategy makes a significant difference to an organization’s ability to recover from both data and site disasters,” the report concluded. “With the advent of cloud storage, on-demand disaster recovery and other options, organizations that struggled to have comprehensive disaster-recovery plans, due to either costs or resources, now have the ability to maintain a disaster-recovery strategy that’s both affordable and effective.”