The History and Mechanism of Cloud Storage" for Understanding "Distributed Storage"【Part 1】

First, let's look back at the history and overview of cloud storage.

Hello.
Mitsui from web3 researcher.

Today's report is a basic report on the basics of web3, which is "History and Mechanism of Cloud Storage" [Part 1] to understand "Distributed Storage".

Please take a look until the end!

Introduction
Background of cloud storage
The structure and development of cloud storage
Major players and business models in cloud storageThe challenges and limitations of cloud storage
The movement towards solving cloud storage challenges
Conclusion

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Introduction

In the web3 trend, "distributed storage" is one of the essential technologies to realize the web3 worldview.

In conventional web services, data is generally stored using cloud storage, but this centralized system has various inherent problems.Distributed storage" has the potential to solve the problems of cloud storage and realize more secure, flexible, and user-sovereign data management.

In order to understand why distributed storage (especially IPFS and Filecoin) is attracting so much attention, this article will first unpack how traditional cloud storage was born, spread, and developed, as well as its structure and advantages and disadvantages.

In the first part, we will organize the history and technical background of cloud storage, the business models of major players, and the challenges and limitations they face. In the second part, we will compare and contrast the differences and advantages of distributed storage with cloud storage, while delving into the mechanism of distributed storage and typical projects.

So here goes!

Background of the birth of cloud storage

On-premise era: storage management at the dawn of the Internet

Before cloud storage became popular, the most common form of system for companies and organizations was called "on-premise" (on-prem).This method involved installing physical servers in their own offices or data centers and owning and operating their own physical storage such as hard disks.In the early days of the Internet (1990s to early 2000s), line speeds were not yet sufficient, and it was common to manage servers in-house.

With on-premise systems, the company must do everything on its own, including server maintenance and upkeep, staffing, and hardware upgrades.The company also had to assume responsibility in the event of a failure, and the system management required a great deal of cost and effort, such as securing spare servers and making backups.However, on-premise was the only option, as it was still difficult to handle large volumes of data remotely and cloud services did not exist at that time.

Many challenges lurked in storage management during this era.

For example, each time the hard disk capacity became insufficient, the company had to physically add more disks, and in the event of a failure, the recovery work took a long time and greatly interfered with business operations.

Of course, there were advantages that only an on-premise system could offer (i.e., the ability to control security and system configuration at one's own discretion), but as the number of Internet users increased and the volume of data handled exploded, the limits to operating solely on-premise began to appear.

Factors in the birth of cloud storage: capacity expansion, user growth, mobile penetration

In the 2000s, the Internet communication infrastructure evolved rapidly.Broadband lines became widespread, high-speed optical fiber communications became commonplace, and web services became much easier to use.In addition, mobile devices such as cell phones and smartphones have become increasingly popular, enabling users to access web services from anywhere.

The evolution of these infrastructures and devices has drastically changed storage needs.Traditionally, data has been stored on local hard disks or corporate servers, but demand has increased for users and employees to access data on the go or remotely.In addition, the volume of data handled has continued to increase, allowing for the easy exchange of high-resolution images, videos, and other large-volume content.

With this change, the "use of external services to securely store large amounts of data and access it anytime, anywhere" mechanism was noted.

This is exactly the concept behind cloud storage.For users, the convenience of storing and retrieving data via the Internet was a major attraction, and cloud storage has exploded in popularity.

How Cloud Storage Works and Developed

What is Cloud Storage?

Cloud storage, as the name implies, is a "storage in the cloud (on the Internet)" service.Instead of using their own servers or personal PCs, users use storage provided by an external provider via the Internet.Typical examples of such services include

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)'s Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service).

• Google Cloud Storage on Google Cloud Platform.

• Microsoft Azure's Azure Storage.

• Online storage services for general users such as Dropbox and Box.

The main advantage of using these services is that you no longer need to manage your own physical servers and can expand your storage capacity as needed.