More vendors and service providers are finally cracking the code on cloud storage – understanding and delivering on the right mix of features, availability, performance, security, price points and more. This has made 2011 a real turning point for cloud storage with enterprise adoption increasing rapidly.

Of course cloud storage is not a one size fits all game. And it certainly isn’t just about raw storage capacity accessed through the Internet. The players that are winning enterprise customers have greater value propositions than spinning disks or solid state drives (SSD). They are adding business value through useful applications of cloud storage.

Take a look at Zetta. They’ve cracked the code by delivering continuous, offsite data protection. (Neovise coverage available here: Step up to the Cloud Now, with Immediate Data Protection.)

Or take a look at StorSimple. They’ve integrated caching for high speed local access and also provided specific intelligence to increase the performance of applications like Microsoft SharePoint which is notoriously slow when used to store large amounts of data. (Neovise coverage available here: Discovering the Benefits of Cloud Storage, One Application at a Time.)

Or take a look at Nirvanix. They’ve seamlessly brought together public, private and hybrid cloud storage to address multiple enterprise requirements simultaneously. (Neovise coverage available here: Getting Hybrid Cloud Storage Right.)

One exciting part about cloud storage taking off is that there will be other innovations that make cloud storage appealing for other storage applications. And we all know how storage grows. Exponentially. So fasten your seatbelts for what will be an exciting 2012 in the world of cloud storage. We’ll see more SSDs, higher speed access, more advanced on-premise to public cloud bridging solutions, and much more.

More proof of increasing adoption of cloud storage became available today when Nirvanix announced an 8 petabyte deal with the University of Southern California (USC). Neovise believes this is the world’s largest cloud storage deal to date. Of course you can let us know if you’ve seen a larger deal! But here is the thing… no cloud washing allowed. Sticking 8 petabytes of storage in a datacenter doesn’t make it a private cloud. And making it available through a public service doesn’t make it public cloud. The USC deal won by Nirvanix delivers on the full promise of enterprise cloud storage, complete with massive scale, elasticity, usage based pricing, multi-tenancy and more.

Disruption

So why does this matter? Well… for quite a few reasons, really. I’ll quickly address just a couple here. Neovise recently had this to say about IBM partnering with Nirvanix: “Neovise believes this combination of IBM and Nirvanix is a disruptive event for the traditional enterprise storage industry which is based heavily on selling storage hardware – or boxes – to enterprise IT organizations.” Guess what? Who do you think lost out on the USC deal? Who do you think just lost a massive 8 petabyte storage sale? It was the storage hardware vendors. Storage hardware vendors are getting disrupted, whether they know it (or like it), or not.

Distinction

This deal is also helping further distinguish cloud storage as a separate, distinct portion of the cloud computing industry. Sure, it has been recognized separately for quite a while by those who understand it. But many businesses that are still coming up to speed on cloud storage – including enterprise organizations – still seem to think they need to buy cloud storage from cloud compute vendors. They can, of course. But that is not always the best choice. When it comes to enterprise class cloud storage, service providers like Nirvanix are proving that specialization can result in differentiating features, increased domain focus, and increased scale. Winning an eight (8!) petabyte deal is a pretty good marker when it comes to validating the specialization approach for cloud storage.

Proof

Finally, the USC deal will serve as a leading proof point. Enterprise organizations that may have said, “Yeah, but I can’t put a petabyte in the cloud…,” will now have confirmation that it is indeed already happening. This is a massive deal, particularly since many organizations don’t have anywhere near a single petabyte of data. But wait and see… there will be more large cloud storage deals. And they will get even bigger. Cloud storage has only just gotten started.

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