Symform has an elegant cloud storage idea

Clarifying issues surrounding this emerging security architecture

A company called Symform has started up a fascinating cloud storage company that relies on spare disk space in business data centers.

Much as individuals donate spare CPU cycles on their PCs to distributed computing projects, Symform enlists the unused portion of storage disks. Given the dropping price of storage and the tendency for businesses to buy more space than they currently need, the company has the potential for a vast network.

Data from Symform customers is fragmented, encrypted and marked so it can be found again, then distributed redundantly around the storage network. When it is needed, central management software finds the pieces, decrypts it and reassembles it.
The design promotes maximum use of resources that would otherwise sit idle. If half a disk is left unused its owner pays as much for power and maintenance as if it were full, so it might as well be full.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

A company called Symform has started up a fascinating cloud storage company that relies on spare disk space in business data centers.

Much as individuals donate spare CPU cycles on their PCs to distributed computing projects, Symform enlists the unused portion of storage disks. Given the dropping price of storage and the tendency for businesses to buy more space than they currently need, the company has the potential for a vast network.

Data from Symform customers is fragmented, encrypted and marked so it can be found again, then distributed redundantly around the storage network. When it is needed, central management software finds the pieces, decrypts it and reassembles it.
The design promotes maximum use of resources that would otherwise sit idle. If half a disk is left unused its owner pays as much for power and maintenance as if it were full, so it might as well be full.

Symform itself doesn’t need to create its own storage facility,it makes arrangements to lease storage space from others who have already done so.

Pricing for the service is remarkably inexpensive, even by cloud standards, which will no doubt make this a tempting service for businesses with tight budgets. Symform will sell to businesses through resellers and estimates they could resell the service at a tenth of what customers pay now of for offsite backup storage and still make a profit.

While elegant and efficient, the model creates security concerns. The storage network is made up of many many disparate nodes. It would be difficult to say with certainty how secure any fragment of data is. And whether the model runs afoul of regulations that specify where data resides based on geographic boundaries is yet to be seen.

With a target market of businesses with less than 100 desktops, though, Symform may do well. These businesses generally don’t have the resources to thoroughly examine vendors and the cost savings will be compelling.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.

Tim Greene is senior editor at Network World.