10 Cloud Storage Options That Are the Right Fit for Corporate Users

by Don Reisinger

Box is easily one of the most capable cloud storage solutions in this roundup. The offering allows users to do everything from securely share files online to manage content from mobile devices. Box even includes project collaboration settings and a sales portal for companies trying to grow their business. Business users can try out the service for free, but will end up paying $15 per user per month for 1TB of online storage.

Amazon Glacier is part of the online giant’s Web Services solutions. The service allows users to securely store files on Amazon’s servers for either simple backup or data archiving. And here’s the kicker: Amazon charges just one cent per GB of storage per month.

LiveDrive, like Box, is one of the more full-featured solutions in this roundup. The offering allows users to not only back up files, but also create work teams and share certain files with different people. User management and company branding are also available with LiveDrive. The company’s Express service, which includes 2TB of storage for three users, costs $37 per month. Its standard option with 10TB of storage and 10 users will set companies back $125 per month.

CrashPlan isn’t a very well-known company, but its services are top notch. With CrashPlan Pro, enterprise users can automatically have their files backed up to the cloud, and they can easily pull them down in the event of a data loss. The company’s platform also supports full 128-bit AES encryption. However, there is a downside: CrashPlan’s price. It costs enterprise customers $499.50 per month for 1TB of storage and 50 users.

Carbonite is perhaps best known for its consumer storage services, but the company’s enterprise storage is quite nice, as well. The service allows users to automatically back up corporate files in the background and manage those from the Web. Even better, the files can be accessed from a computer or mobile device, and they’re always encrypted. Carbonite charges $229 per year for 250GB of storage and unlimited users. Upping that to $599 per year gets the enterprise customer 500GB of storage—plus Windows Server backup.

Google Drive is one of the newest entrants into the cloud-based storage space, and it’s already made a mark. The service includes full backup to the Web and gives customers their first 5GB free. Beyond that, the options are limitless: Corporate customers can choose plans that range from 100GB to 16TB that cost between $4.99 per month to $799.99 per month.

Microsoft is trying to outpace Google Drive by offering 7GB of free storage with its SkyDrive offering. And, like Google Drive, SkyDrive allows for nearly limitless storage and easy access for those who want to quickly download some files. Microsoft tends to keep its pricing for large amounts under wraps, but customers who need 107GB of storage can expect to pay $50 per year.

SugarSync is downright powerful. The application includes everything from cloud storage to the ability to remotely wipe a computer when it’s known to be harboring malware. SugarSync’s disaster recovery features are arguably some of the best in this roundup. In other words, SugarSync is a great option. And at $55 per month for three users and 1TB of storage, it’s nicely affordable.

Mozy has established itself as the simple alternative to Carbonite. In that role, the company offers automatic data backup, as well as the ability to access files from just about any device. The platform even includes support for file scanning and full data encryption. Plus, it’s cheap: Customers can expect to pay $348.33 per year for 1TB of storage on unlimited devices.

Never heard of SpiderOak? Don’t worry. Despite its time in the shadow, the application actually provides a fine enterprise-level cloud-based storage solution. The platform gives IT administrators a powerful central management console and allows them to set access controls, group policies and permissions, and more. Plus, it’s designed to be a “zero-knowledge” offering, meaning data can be easily backed up, synchronized and shared without IT expertise. But watch out: The service costs $600 per terabyte of storage per month.