The data storage industry is about to be disrupted with a new solution brought by MEMO decentralized cloud storage based on blockchain technology

Data storage is essential for every active business, no matter how big or small. From financial reports to customer information, business data is vital and sensitive. This data provides global businesses with decision-making processes across verticals. But it goes without saying that businesses need to store their data in a secure and reliable space.

As businesses grow, they find that the amount of data generated or processed internally and accessed externally increases. The larger the volume of data, the more complex it becomes to store, process, analyze and retrieve it. Businesses are increasingly relying on centralized storage solutions such as the cloud to streamline operations. However, given the drawbacks of the cloud and the significantly dynamic nature of the technology, it is doubtful that centralized storage systems will continue to exist.

Decentralized data storage has emerged as a disruptor of traditional cloud storage and could represent a major shift in the way organizations distribute and store data in the future. Many companies already offer decentralized storage options, some of which use blockchain technology to facilitate storage operations and validate transactions in a distributed network.

We have evolved from traditional and bulky paper-based document storage systems to the more flexible and reliable digital alternatives available today. Over the past decade, cloud-based centralized storage technologies have overtaken local physical storage devices, such as hard drives or servers. Today, almost 94% of businesses use centralized cloud solutions for data storage.

Centralized storage solutions allow users to store data over the internet and access it remotely from anywhere at any time. Data is stored in a single central location, such as the cloud. As a result, it offers easy access across all devices, mobility and rapid deployment, as well as backup and unlimited storage facilities at an affordable price. Today, large companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Samsung, Alibaba and Apple are offering cloud storage solutions through Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

According to a survey, 75% of businesses have security-related concerns about confidential data stored on the cloud. In cloud storage systems, data is stored centrally by large companies. Such data is vulnerable to cyber attacks and other security risks. The most obvious examples are the Facebook data breach and compromise scandals in 2018 and 2021 respectively. These incidents exposed the weaknesses of centralized storage systems.

Enterprises also face the following challenges when implementing and dealing with centralized cloud storage systems.

Lack of ownership and control

With a centralized storage system, an organization’s data is stored on a central server in a host computer. The host computer can monitor, review and even disclose any data to third parties. Naturally, the business loses the ability to control and customize its data storage setup. This lack of control and customization inconveniences larger enterprises with more complex data needs.

Increased storage costs

A centralized storage system eliminates the need for businesses to invest in servers and expensive data storage infrastructure. However, cloud service providers charge exorbitant prices for bandwidth delivery and data security. In addition, it becomes expensive for businesses to hire specialists or migrate from one cloud provider to another. Many business owners complain that 30% of their total cloud budget is wasted.

Data breaches and security risks

The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) recorded 32,002 security incidents and 3,950 data breaches in 2020, with 58% of these breaches involving personal information. In the last few years, data breaches have been reported by almost all major industry players. Centralized cloud servers are always located in one area. In the event of a power failure, the entire network can go down, resulting in the loss of large amounts of unsaved data.

Low transfer speeds

Centralized servers are located in remote areas far from the user’s business. Distance constraints slow down transmission speeds. Due to these difficulties, businesses around the world are looking for faster, more secure and low-cost alternatives to store their ever-increasing volumes of data. Blockchain technology offers a solution in the form of decentralized storage.

The emergence of MEMO breaks these problems. In MEMO’s decentralized cloud storage system, users have absolute sovereignty over the data they store and project owners have no right to edit or even view user data; control of the data is entirely in the hands of the user. In addition, MEMO uses blockchain technology to establish the MEFS decentralized file storage system to organize the use of global edge storage devices, with important data stored on the chain and the rest stored on the edge devices, this sharing economy model greatly reduces storage costs. This model is also effective against data loss or leakage caused by natural and man-made disasters. As MEMO users have storage nodes all over the world, the system automatically matches the nearest node, so there is no need to worry about transfer rates. The many benefits offered by decentralized storage systems explain why it is undoubtedly becoming the next big thing in the storage industry.