Are you a business with a premises, or even have a small set up at home? Do you have a file sharing solution amongst your staff? Wouldn’t it be great if you could have a personalised cloud storage solution like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive that you can host yourself from within your own IT infrastructure? Well you can! I like the idea of being able to host my own cloud storage for a number of reasons, firstly if you are using a platform such as Dropbox or iCloud… do you actually know where you data is being stored? Larger hosting companies have servers all over the world that constantly replicate you data, I’m sure if you asked them they would be able to tell you where your data is stored but you still have to trust that your data is safe with these corporate giants. Companies who hold sensitive data may be bound by policies and regulations specifically around G.D.P.R to what applications they can use in the workplace that may help them become more dynamic, which is a shame because let’s face it, Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive are all great platforms and real easy to use.

What we can do?

We can provide you with a hosting solution that you can run from your existing IT infrastructure, and will give you the same file sharing facilities across all major OS’s listed below:

• Microsoft Windows
• Mac OS
• Linux
• Android
• IOS

Just like Dropbox, iCloud Drive, and OneDrive, a small client program will run in your system tray and automatically sync your selected folders.  You can have a personal drive, or a shared space where public documents are kept or you can lock down specific files or folders using permissions very similar to Active Directory. With this system in place you can install the application on your smart phone and gain access to all your files stored within your company anywhere you go… all you need is a server of some sort.

There are many pro’s and con’s around hosting your own cloud storage solution, on one hand it can save you money, if you’re running an existing file and print server or have a spare machine in your office then you can utilise your existing hardware to get online. You’re not limited to space, when you sign up to a cloud online storage solution, you pay per GB or TB, I know these are not that expensive but that brings us back to “where can I legally store my data”. There are some con’s, the first one that springs to mind is who’s responsible for back up or fall over? Well you the business are, most businesses already have off site backup solutions or even replicate data between sites if they have more than one premises to get around this. The second one is “who will maintain it?” We can maintain it and look after it for you on an AD-HOC basis or with a support contract, or alternatively we can train you on how the system works, and what to do if you have a problem.

We can provide you with the initial install and setup, training and ongoing maintenance if you feel you need it. If you would like to know more, then feel free to contact us for more information.