Google is launching a new cloud storage service that is expected to change how many companies of any size view online storage. Google Cloud Storage Nearline allows businesses to store data they or their customers do not often need, and for a low cost of $0.01 per gigabyte at rest.

 

Unlike other cloud storage services where it can take very long to retrieve your data, Google promises that on Nearline your data will be available in only three seconds. They believe the gap between the cost of online and offline storage must decrease according to their director of product management for the Cloud Platform team, Tom Kershaw.

 

Businesses may need or want to keep all of their records for as long as possible. Once they have been moved offline however, it becomes difficult to quickly find the desired record. Google is hoping to blue the line between cold storage and online storage so that businesses do not have to delete or move their files to more complicated storage locations.

 

The low cost of this storage service, which is competitive with Glacier by Amazon, is due to the fact that Google is able to host all of its data on a single system, regardless of location. This is unusual for a cloud storage service because historically, service providers have built two separate systems. The hardest thing about offline storage is transferring the data between these two systems.

 

Nearline uses the same system as the rest of Google’s storage products, including the same encryption and security features. They also share API’s with the standard storage service. It is expected that early adopters of this service will use it primarily for photo, video and document storage.

 

In order to reach a broader market, Google has partnered with many storage companies, most notable Iron Mountain. This partnership will allow users to send in their hard drives and have the securely uploaded onto Nearline.

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