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Best Lifetime Cloud Storage Plans

Cloud storages are ever more popular, thats a fact. Their popularity can be attributed to the fact that using cloud storage increases your productivity, makes your life easier and allows you to store your files in a secure manner. As the demand for cloud storages increases so does the amount of available cloud storage services. These services then search for various ways to differentiate from other cloud storage providers on the market. One recent trend that came up is the offer of lifetime cloud storage space for a one-time payment instead of the monthly/yearly payments. Its an interesting concept but one that must certainly be taken with a bit of caution. The best lifetime cloud storage plans are offered by reliable and quality cloud service providers and well explore them together down below.

Cloud storage has over the years become increasingly popular. Not just for private usage but also within enterprises. Research conducted by Eurostat shows that more and more enterprises use the cloud computing services for various purposes such as storage of files, email and office software.

According to Gartner.com, the worldwide public cloud revenue will grow by 17,3% in 2019 when compared to 2018. That number will go from $175.8 billion in 2018 to $206.2 billion in 2019. In 2021 that number will reach $278.3 billion which is almost double the number of 2017.

Public cloud storage is without a doubt on the rise and it doesnt seem like the trend will stop due to various advantages that it offers.

With the progress of technology, were expected to see a growing number of cloud service providers with larger capacities. Over the past 5 years, the cloud storage providers offer certainly increased by at least 30%. Various public cloud storage providers such as Dropbox, pCloud and Sync.com increased their previous storage capacities from 1000 GB to 2000 GB or 3000 GB. This is certainly a consequence of the increased need for larger storage. As images and videos increase in quality due to technology advancements so do the file sizes. A one minute of 1080p at 30 frames per second video requires 130 MB, a 4K video at the same frame rate would require a 375 MB. When we convert that to a few hours of videos it certainly stacks up.

Now, this does not mean that the prices remain the same. In fact, with the recent increase of storage at Dropbox the prices for their plans rose up as well which lead to a number of furious Dropbox users leaving their service for a better alternative.

The point being here that if youre planning to get lifetime cloud storage you can certainly expect that there will be larger storage capacities 10 years down the line but its also very probable that they will be more expensive.

Lifetime cloud storage is definitely a newish trend. Perhaps youve never heard that it even exists, perhaps are still debating whether its worth the investment or perhaps youre just searching for various cloud storages that offer such plans. It doesnt matter at what stage you are, its important to check various factors with each cloud storage that offers such plans to prevent getting yourself into an undesirable situation.

Lets say I am looking for a cloud storage that will provide me with lifetime plans. That is, of course, the first thing I will check, does it offer lifetime plans for a single payment instead of monthly/yearly payments? If the answer is yes I will proceed with checking all the other features the cloud storage offers. What good is a lifetime cloud storage if its absolutely useless and untrustworthy? Thats like walking into a shoe store, buying yourself a nice pair of rubber boots only to find out later theyre leaking in water. Theres nothing worse than a buyers remorse. Of course, you can go back and return the shoes but not the same might be possible with a cloud storage. Some offer a return-money guarantee and some dont.

The first thing you should check is whether the cloud storage in question has an in-house built infrastructure or they are simply utilizing a bought system. Some cloud storages utilize a bought script such as BeDrive that costs a total of 39$. Then they use it in combination with their own or rented servers and thats that. A cloud storage like that is not going to evolve with time as they most probably lack the technical knowledge and personnel to do so. Quality in-house infrastructure and software are important in the long run. Bugs can get fixed, new features are deployed whenever needed and the cloud service has complete control over their future development.

When buying a lifetime plan with a cloud storage youre committing yourself to use that service for at least a few years. Depending on the initial investment, you will be able to choose another cloud storage after a few years if youre not satisfied with your choice without losing any money in the process. And yet you should search for a cloud storage that is stable and has been on the market for a while. I am not saying that the new cloud storages dont provide a quality service because its certainly possible but you need to be sure that your investment wont go into nothing after 6 months.

A cornerstone of a great cloud storage is ensured security & privacy. The first is achieved with secure server data centres that include disaster recovery (multiple copies of your files on various locations). Your files must also be encrypted while on transit and at rest. Client-side encryption is taking it one step further by ensuring that only you and nobody else has access to your files.

Privacy is also a big topic. It depends on the location of cloud storage servers (privacy laws apply here) and the privacy system put in place. Is the cloud storage GDPR compliant? What other compliances has it gained? Does it provide zero-knowledge privacy? Does it use your information for advertising purposes? Does it sell your data to 3rd parties? All of these questions are extremely important, not just in the long run

Everyone knows the standard saying: If its too good to be true, it probably aint. The same applies to cloud storage. If a new cloud storage pops up with rented servers and a bought software offering 2000 GB of lifetime storage for $30 you should skip that storage in a heartbeat. No amount of magic can make that storage profitable and it will go underground sooner rather than later.

When making an investment such as this one you need to be sure that there are people on the other side of the line ready if something goes wrong. Maybe you dont like the service and want a refund, maybe you need help with client installation, maybe the speeds are weirdly low No matter what it is there needs to be someone there willing to help you in a timely manner.

All of the features and important factors listed above have been taken into account after extensive research to spare you some time when crafting this list of best lifetime cloud storage plans.

Below I am going to list all the current cloud storage services on the market that offer lifetime plans. Theres not many of them so please read the descriptions as well as I dont believe you should opt-in for a lifetime commitment with some of these.

pCloud $4.99/month 500 GB

Additional Features 9.0/10

pCloud is a Swiss cloud storage with their servers based in the U.S. It has been on the market for a number of years and can attribute their success to their secure client-side encryption combined with all the various features I would expect from a cloud storage. It enables me to work efficiently and securely. It has 10.000.000+ users and is the first cloud storage that introduced lifetime plans. In case something goes wrong their support is always there for you via email or through social media. They obviously have an in-house system that they develop regularly and release updates and improvements to their features, all of which we pointed out in our pCloud review.

pCloud definitely picked up my interest when they introduced the lifetime plans. I have been using their service for a couple of years now and its worked great so far. They also offer a 10 days money-back guarantee. If youre interested in the lifetime plans they offer, feel free to check them here:

Premium

500 GB Storage

500 GB Download Link Traffic

Premium Plus

2000 GB Storage

2000 GB Download Link Traffic

Family

Up to 5 users

2000 GB Storage & Link Traffic

Icedrive 4.99/month 1000 GB

Additional Features 8.5/10

Icedrive is a cloud storage based in the UK. It offers both the client-side encryption and is GDPR compliant. Their lifetime plans are quite interesting since they go up to 5 TB in cloud storage. Its the new kid on the block but it offers an in-house built infrastructure with new features coming out every month. After conducting the Icedrive review and using it for months, my guts tell me Icedrive is going ways and is a good investment. They also offer a 14-day money-back guarantee so you can always reverse your choice if something is not to your liking. Check out their lifetime plans here:

Lite

150 GB Storage

250 GB Bandwidth/Month

Pro

1 TB Storage

2 TB Bandwidth/Month

Pro +

5 TB Storage

8 TB Bandwidth/Month

Koofr 10/month 1000 GB

Additional Features 9.5/10

Koofr is a Slovenian cloud storage that has been on the market serving businesses for a number of years. Not long ago they made the switch to personal users as well. Its a quality and reliable cloud storage that takes great care of your privacy (theyre fully GDPR compliant). Read the full Koofr review to get more details about their service.

They dont offer the lifetime plans within their standard offers but they do connect with partners where you can get the lifetime plans:

ThunderDrive $5.00/month 500 GB

Additional Features 1.0/10

ThunderDrive is a new cloud storage on the market that makes use of the BeDrive script (thats sold for 39$). They also advertise having a 30-day refund. Many customers report that when they asked for it, ThunderDrive simply refuses to refund, coming up with excuses. They also offer their lifetime plans for ridiculously low prices on various partner sites. With these prices, its certainly not possible to stay afloat as a company which makes me think theyre only in it to make some quick money and disappear. Weve had a look at this service and we werent impressed, check the full ThunderDrive review for details.

The interview below certainly sounds compelling though some of the facts they make are simply ridiculous such as their claim that their speeds are 6 times faster than Amazon S3.

With lifetime plans becoming more and more popular one must keep an eye to not fall into traps like ThunderDrive. Apart from that, I believe theyre a great investment and save us a lot of money in the long run. You will be safe if you go with any of the recommendations I mentioned above. I tested them all myself and use most of them on a daily basis.

What are your thoughts on the best lifetime cloud storage plans? Let us know down below!

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Best Lifetime Cloud Storage Plans - April 2021

When you create using Adobe Creative Cloud applications, where is your work saved? Does it surprise you to know that there are at least five possible answers to that question? This can cause a lot of confusion, especially for beginners. Lets take a closer look at the different forms of Creative Cloud storage.

Some new Creative Cloud users assume that the name means applications and documents are all stored in the cloud. But that isnt true for the more traditional desktop applications such as Adobe Photoshop CC or Adobe InDesign CC. Those applications are installed on your computer, and primarily use the familiar Save dialog box for their files. When you use traditional local storage, it doesnt connect to any Creative Cloud online storage. Your files go to local storage that doesnt depend on an Internet connection. Thats how it works for Creative Cloud desktop applications that are more than a few years old.

In traditional Adobe desktop applications such as Photoshop, you store documents in local storage, such as a hard drive.

A Creative Cloud mobile app uses cloud servers as primary storage. It typically uses your phone or tablets own limited storage as a local cache of the work youve edited most recently. You dont have to manually save your files. The app syncs your changes to the cloud whenever you have an Internet connection. When you want your edited work as an independent file in a standard format, you typically export a copy of it.

If you want a non-Adobe app to use an image edited using the Lightroom CC mobile app, you share (export) a copy that contains the edits.

On the desktop, Adobe is developing a new generation of applications that use storage more like mobile apps. Recently introduced desktop applications such as Lightroom CC (photo editing) and Premiere Rush CC (video editing) use their own dedicated areas on Creative Cloud online storage. Using cloud storage as primary makes it possible for you to create and edit your work on any device you have with you. You dont have to think about importing, exporting, or manually syncing. For example, you can take photos and video on your phone and start a project as soon as you have an idea. When you get home, you can continue working on it using a more powerful device with a bigger screen, such as a desktop computer. You can also use a tablet or smartphone to edit projects started on the desktop. Microsoft has been migrating its Office apps in the same direction.

As with mobile apps, in newer Adobe desktop apps all of the work youre storing is on the cloud server (the primary storage). When you open a project or file, its downloaded to that apps dedicated area on your computer. Your local changes are synced back up to the cloud. Typically, the work cached on your computer is not directly accessible or editable outside the desktop app, so you export finished work as you would on a mobile device.

You might have noticed that installing Creative Cloud applications creates a storage area called Creative Cloud Files on your computer or mobile device. This is simple online storage similar to what you may have used with online services such as Dropbox or Google Drive. On your desktop computer, Creative Cloud Files is a folder where you can store files that synchronize to Creative Cloud online storage. On your mobile device, the Creative Cloud app and many Adobe mobile apps also connect to that storage. You can also use a web browser to see, preview, and download those files.

But Adobe desktop and mobile apps dont use Creative Cloud Files as primary storage. Its provided as a convenient option when you need Dropbox-style storage.

Some older versions of Creative Cloud desktop applications had a CC Files section in the Start screen for convenient access to those documents. CC Files no longer appears there in the 2019 releases of CC desktop applications. But Creative Cloud Files are still easy to get to. Because Creative Cloud Files is a folder on your desktop computer, you can always use an applications Open and Save dialog boxes to work with files stored there. You may find a shortcut to the Creative Cloud folder in your operating systems Open/Save dialog box.

If the Creative Cloud desktop app installed a shortcut on your desktop, click it to jump to Creative Cloud Files local storage, which syncs to Creative Cloud Files online storage.

In Adobe desktop applications, you may have noticed the Libraries (or CC Libraries) panel. That panel stores content synced to Creative Cloud Libraries, which are another form of Creative Cloud online storage. You see Libraries content only inside Creative Cloud desktop and mobile apps, not on your desktop.

The Libraries or CC Libraries panel makes Creative Cloud Libraries content available to Adobe desktop applications. Adobe mobile apps also connect to Creative Cloud Libraries.

How are Creative Cloud Libraries different than Creative Cloud Files? Creative Cloud Files follows more of a traditional desktop model of storing entire documents; thats why it works like Dropbox does. But Creative Cloud Libraries can store objects, styles, and other components or assets instead of entire files. For example, Libraries can store:

Thats not a complete list of what Libraries can do. But it should give you an idea of whats possible.

Libraries make it easier for mobile applications to support desktop applications. For example, you can use the Adobe Capture mobile app to sample patterns, colors, and shapes using your phone camera. You can then send them to Creative Cloud desktop applications.

Lightroom CC is another form of Creative Cloud storage thats distinct from the types of storage weve looked at already. You dont see Lightroom CC content on your computer desktop. You add and manage images to Lightroom CC using the Lightroom CC mobile, desktop, and web browser-based apps, and the Lightroom Classic desktop application.

Other Creative Cloud applications and services have limited access to Lightroom Photos. For example, you can use Lightroom Photos as a source of content for mobile apps and services such as Adobe Spark, Adobe Comp, and Adobe Portfolio. On the desktop, Photoshop provides access to Lightroom CC in its Home screen (as LR Photos).

The Photoshop home screen lets you directly open photos you have in Lightroom CC cloud storage.

Adobe Stock, Behance, and Portfolio are also offered as Creative Cloud destinations for your work. They dont fall into the same category as the services already covered, because they arent for storing your project files online.

Adobe Stock is the stock content provider that integrates with Creative Cloud. In desktop applications, you might see Adobe Stock templates in the New Document dialog box, to help you get started with a design. Adobe Stock may also appear in the Libraries panel to give you a quick way to try stock images in your document. Adobe Bridge and Lightroom Classic CC let you submit your images to Adobe Stock so that you can get paid if theyre licensed.

The New Document dialog box, shown in Photoshop, provides access to templates from Adobe Stock.

The Libraries panel, shown here in Photoshop, lets you search and import or open images from Adobe Stock.

Behance and Adobe Portfolio are different ways to share your work on the web. Behance is more like a social network, enabling feedback and discussions with other creatives. Portfolio focuses on displaying just your best work. Behance and Portfolio are designed as presentation vehicles and not as production-oriented file storage. For this reason,this article doesnt go into any more detail about them.

Remember that the different types of Creative Cloud online storage are distinct. For example, if you save a document into Creative Cloud Files, it is not going to show up in Creative Cloud Libraries. And when you upload 175 images from a photo shoot into Lightroom CC, they arent going to show up in Creative Cloud Files. This is confusing at first. Eventually, you become familiar with the routes that each type of Creative Cloud storage takes through your workflows. Its kind of like learning how bus, streetcar, and subway routes overlap to serve the same areas of a city in ways that complement each other.

This animation shows how the different kinds of Creative Cloud online storage provide a range of content workflows to desktop and online applications.

While these services are distinct, all of these services share the same pool of Creative Cloud storage capacity. That wasnt true in the past, but it is now. Adobe has also built collaboration and sharing tools into all of these services.

Understanding different Creative Cloud storage workflows can help you get the most out of your Creative Cloud membership. Youll avoid confusion and choose the best options to store and retrieve your creative assets more quickly.

Read the rest here:
Creative Cloud Storage: Where Does It Go? | CreativePro Network

Valencia-based startup Internxt has been quietly working on an ambitious plan to make decentralized cloud storage massively accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Its just bagged $1 million in seed funding led by Angels Capital, a European VC fund owned by Juan Roig (aka Spains richest grocer and second-wealthiest billionaire), and Miami-based The Venture City. It had previously raised around half a million dollars via a token sale to help fund early development.

The seed funds will be put toward its next phase of growth its month-to-month growth rate is 30% and it tells us its confident it can at least sustain that including planning a big boost to headcount so it can accelerate product development.

The Spanish startup has spent most of its short life to date developing a decentralized infrastructure that it argues is both inherently more secure and more private than mainstream cloud-based apps (such as those offered by tech giants like Google).

This is because files are not only encrypted in a way that means it cannot access your data but information is also stored in a highly decentralized way, split into tiny shards which are then distributed across multiple storage locations, with users of the network contributing storage space (and being recompensed for providing that capacity with you guessed it crypto).

Its a distributed architecture, weve got servers all over the world, explains founder and CEO Fran Villalba Segarra. We leverage and use the space provided by professionals and individuals. So they connect to our infrastructure and start hosting data shards and we pay them for the data they host which is also more affordable because we are not going through the traditional route of just renting out a data center and paying them for a fixed amount of space.

Its like the Airbnb model or Uber model. Weve kind of democratized storage.

Internxt clocked up three years of R&D, beginning in 2017, before launching its first cloud-based apps: Drive (file storage), a year ago and now Photos (a Google Photos rival).

So far its attracting around a million active users without paying any attention to marketing, per Villalba Segarra.

Internxt Mail is the next product in its pipeline to compete with Gmail and also ProtonMail, a pro-privacy alternative to Googles freemium webmail client (and for more on why it believes it can offer an edge there read on).

Internxt Send (file transfer) is another product billed as coming soon.

Were working on a G-Suite alternative to make sure were at the level of Google when it comes to competing with them, he adds.

The issue Internxts architecture is designed to solve is that files which are stored in just one place are vulnerable to being accessed by others. Whether thats the storage provider itself (which may, like Google, have a privacy-hostile business model based on mining users data); or hackers/third parties who manage to break the providers security and can thus grab and/or otherwise interfere with your files.

Security risks when networks are compromised can include ransomeware attacks which have been on an uptick in recent years whereby attackers that have penetrated a network and gained access to stored files then hold the information to ransom by walling off the rightful owners access (typically by applying their own layer of encryption and demanding payment to unlock the data).

The core conviction driving Internxts decentralization push is that files sitting whole on a server or hard drive are sitting ducks.

Its answer to that problem is an alternative file storage infrastructure that combines zero access encryption and decentralization meaning files are sharded, distributed and mirrored across multiple storage locations, making them highly resilient against storage failures or indeed hack attacks and snooping.

The approach ameliorates cloud service provider-based privacy concerns because Internxt itself cannot access user data.

To make money its business model is simple, tiered subscriptions: With (currently) one plan covering all its existing and planned services based on how much data you need. (It is also freemium, with the first 10GB being free.)

Internxt is by no means the first to see key user value in rethinking core internet architecture.

Scotlands MaidSafe has been trying to build an alternative decentralized internet for well over a decade at this point only starting alpha testing its alt network (aka, the Safe Network) back in 2016, after 10 years of testing. Its long-term mission to reinvent the internet continues.

Another (slightly less veteran) competitor in the decentralized cloud storage space is Storj, which is targeting enterprise users. Theres also Filecoin and Sia both also part of the newer wave of blockchain startups that sprung up after Bitcoin sparked entrepreneurial interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain/decentralization.

How, then, is what Internxts doing different to these rival decentralized storage plays all of which have been at this complex coal face for longer?

Were the only European-based startup thats doing this [except for MaidSafe, although its U.K. not EU based], says Villalba Segarra, arguing that the European Unions legal regime around data protection and privacy lends it an advantage versus U.S. competitors. All the others, Storj, plus Sia, Filecoin theyre all U.S.-based companies as far as Im aware.

The other major differentiating factor he highlights is usability arguing that the aforementioned competitors have been built by developers for developers. Whereas he says Internxts goal is be the equivalent of Coinbase for decentralized storage; aka, it wants to make a very complex technology highly accessible to nontechnical internet users.

Its a huge technology but in the blockchain space we see this all the time where theres huge potential but its very hard to use, he tells TechCrunch. Thats essentially what Coinbase is also trying to do bringing blockchain to users, making it easier to use, easier to invest in cryptocurrency etc. So thats what were trying to do at Internxt as well, bringing blockchain for cloud storage to the people. Making it easy to use with a very easy to use interface and so forth.

Its the only service in the distributed cloud space thats actually usable thats kind of our main differentiating factor from Storj and all these other companies.

In terms of infrastructure its actually pretty similar to that of Sia or Storj, he goes on further likening Internxts zero access encryption to Proton Drives architecture (aka, the file storage product from the makers of end-to-end encrypted email service ProtonMail) which also relies on client-side encryption to give users a robust technical guarantee that the service provider cant snoop on your stuff. (So you dont have to just trust the company not to violate your privacy.)

But while its also touting zero access encryption (it seems to be using off-the-shelf AES-256 encryption; it says it uses military grade, client-side, open-source encryption thats been audited by Spains S2 Grupo, a major local cybersecurity firm), Internxt takes the further step of decentralizing the encrypted bits of data too. And that means it can tout added security benefits, per Villalba Segarra.

On top of that what we do is we fragment data and then distribute it around the world. So essentially what servers host are encrypted data shards which is much more secure because if a hacker was ever to access one of these servers what they would find is encrypted data shards which are essentially useless. Not even we can access that data.

So that adds a huge layer of security against hackers or third-party [access] in terms of data. And then on top of that we build very nice interfaces with which the user is very used to using pretty much similar to those of Google and that also makes us very different from Storj and Sia.

Storage space for Internxt users files is provided by users who are incentivized to offer up their unused capacity to host data shards with micropayments of crypto for doing so. This means capacity could be coming from an individual user connecting to Internxt with just their laptop or a data center company with large amounts of unused storage capacity. (And Villalba Segarra notes that it has a number of data center companies, such as OVH, are connected to its network.)

We dont have any direct contracts [for storage provision] Anyone can connect to our network so data centers with available storage space, if they want to make some money on that they can connect to our network. We dont pay them as much as we would pay them if we went to them through the traditional route, he says, likening this portion of the approach to how Airbnb has both hosts and guests (or Uber needs drivers and riders).

We are the platform that connects both parties but we dont host any data ourselves.

Internxt uses a reputation system to manage storage providers to ensure network uptime and quality of service and also applies blockchain proof of work challenges to node operators to make sure theyre actually storing the data they claim.

Because of the decentralized nature of our architecture we really need to make sure that it hits a certain level of reliability, he says. So for that we use blockchain technology When youre storing data in your own data center its easier in terms of making sure its reliable but when youre storing it in a decentralized architecture it brings a lot of benefits such as more privacy or its also more affordable but the downside is you need to make sure that for example theyre actually storing data.

Payments to storage capacity providers are also made via blockchain tech which Villalba Segarra says is the only way to scale and automate so many micropayments to ~10,000 node operators all over the world.

Discussing the issue of energy costs given that proof of work blockchain-based technologies are facing increased scrutiny over the energy consumption involved in carrying out the calculations he suggests that Internxts decentralized architecture can be more energy efficient than traditional data centers because data shards are more likely to be located nearer to the requesting user shrinking the energy required to retrieve packets versus always having to do so from a few centralized global locations.

What weve seen in terms of energy consumption is that were actually much more energy efficient than a traditional cloud storage service. Why? Think about it, we mirror files and we store them all over the world Its actually impossible to access a file from Dropbox that is sent out from [a specific location]. Essentially when you access Dropbox or Google Drive and you download a file theyre going to be sending it out from their data center in Texas or wherever. So theres a huge data transfer energy consumption there and people dont think about it, he argues.

Data center energy consumption is already 2%* of the whole worlds energy consumption if Im not mistaken. So being able to use latency and being able to send your files from [somewhere near the user] which is also going to be faster, which is all factored into our reputation system so our algorithms are going to be sending you the files that are closer to you so that we save a lot of energy from that. So if you multiple that by millions of users and millions of terabytes that actually saves a lot of energy consumption and also costs for us.

What about latency from the users point of view? Is there a noticeable lag when they try to upload or retrieve and access files stored on Internxt versus for example Google Drive?

Villalba Segarra says being able to store file fragments closer to the user also helps compensate for any lag. But he also confirms there is a bit of a speed difference versus mainstream cloud storage services.

In terms of upload and download speed were pretty close to Google Drive and Dropbox, he suggests. Again these companies have been around for over 10 years and their services are very well optimized and theyve got a traditional cloud architecture which is also relatively simpler, easier to build and theyve got thousands of [employees] so their services are obviously much better than our service in terms of speed and all that. But were getting really close to them and were working really fast towards bringing our speed [to that level] and also as many features as possible to our architecture and to our services.

Essentially how we see it is were at the level of Proton Drive or Tresorit in terms of usability, he adds on the latency point. And were getting really close to Google Drive. But an average user shouldnt really see much of a difference and, as I said, were literally working as hard as possible to make our services as useable as those of Google. But were ages ahead of Storj, Sia, MaidSafe and so forth thats for sure.

Internxt is doing all this complex networking with a team of just 20 people currently. But with the new seed funding tucked in its back pocket the plan now is to ramp up hiring over the next few months so that it can accelerate product development, sustain its growth and keep pushing its competitive edge.

By the time we do a Series A we should be around 100 people at Internxt, says Villalba Segarra. We are already preparing our Series A. We just closed our seed round but because of how fast were growing we are already being reached out to by a few other lead VC funds from the U.S. and London.

It will be a pretty big Series A. Potentially the biggest in Spain We plan on growing until the Series A at at least a 30% month-to-month rate which is what weve been growing up until now.

He also tells TechCrunch that the intention for the Series A is to do the funding at a $50 million valuation.

We were planning on doing it a year from now because we literally just closed our [seed] round but because of how many VCs are reaching out to us we may actually do it by the end of this year, he says, adding: But time frame isnt an issue for us. What matters most is being able to reach that minimum valuation.

*Per the IEA, data centres and data transmission networks each accounted for around 1% of global electricity use in 2019

More here:
Internxt gets $1M to be the Coinbase of decentralized storage - TechCrunch

Cloud-native storage startup Robin.io has gained $38m in VC funding to continue its push into enterprise storage and 5G edge setup automation.

Robin.io is different from other players punting storage software for Kubernetes-orchestrated containers, as it provides its app-aware Cloud-Native Storage (CNS) packaged up a Cloud-Native Platform (CNP) and integrated with networking functionality for telcos. It has also added bare metal server management and edge network setup orchestration (MDCAP) for 5G radio area network (RAN) operators.

Partha Seetala, founder and CEO at Robin.io, provided an announcement quote: The accelerating adoption of Kubernetes and cloud-native technologies, as well as the accelerating pace of global 5G and edge rollouts, has provided the backdrop for Robins competitive success in the past year. Robin.io will continue to invest in product leadership and hire talent across sales, engineering and tech support functions. This Series C round is perfectly timed to support these goals.

This C-round was led by Rakuten Capital, joined by Clear Ventures, Emory University, Raine Next-Gen Communications and current investors. It brings the total capital raised by Robin.io to $86m. Rakuten is heavily involved in 5G activities. It has a cloud-native 4G/5G network and is co-developing a 5G core system with NEC.

Bookings growth at Robin has surged 681 per cent in its current quarter from a year ago, and it has signed 32 new partnerships during the past year. One of those partnerships is with Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT), a global data centre solution provider, through which the companies will jointly offer solutions to reduce costs, complexities and deployment times for mobile network operators (MNOs) and communication service providers (CSPs) rolling out 5G networks and services.

Robins headcount has risen by 57 per cent during the year, across four countries. The new cash will help with product development and business infrastructure expansion even more partnerships possibly.

A ReTHINK RAN research document, Patterns of migration to the 5G core, states: The 5G core will enable capabilities such as ultra-low latency and will be implemented as microservices, which allow network resources to be scaled up and down on-demand to suit the needs of individual services or users, and enables the operator to create virtual slices of the network, optimised for the needs of a particular sector, enterprise or use case.

In other words, the 5G network software will be based on containerisation technology.

Robin says MDCAP automates healing and scaling in 5G deployments and enables RAN-as-a-Service, Core-as-a-Service, BareMetal-as-a-Service and a MOPs Manager that automates thousands of tasks with one API call.

We think Robin.io has built a massive telco 5G wireless area network set-up automation infrastructure (MDCAP) from its base of cloud-native storage, giving it a near-impregnable moat against competitors providing Kubernetes storage to 5G-adopting telcos.

Its this position and momentum thats exciting Rakuten Capital and the other VCs.

Read this article:
Robin in the 'hood Robin.io gets funding for 5G and enterprise cloud-native storage and automation Blocks and Files - Blocks and Files

15 GB of free storage with unlimited photo backup - Google Photos is undoubtedly an excellent cloud storage service, but now it is no longer free. Any photos and videos uploaded after June 1, 2021, will now be counted towards your 15 GB of free storage quota, and once you exhaust your free storage, you will have to make a choice: either buy Google One subscription plan or switch to another cloud storage service.

If you have been uploading a ton of pictures and videos on Google Photos, then it is absolutely worth it for you to buy a Google One subscription plan, as you get 15GB of complimentary storage and much more affordable plans compared to other popular cloud storage services such as iCloud or Microsoft OneDrive that only offer 5GB of free storage.

The basic Google One subscription plan costs Rs. 130 per month for 100GB storage, the 200 GB storage plan is priced at Rs. 210 and the top-end 2TB storage plan value at Rs. 650. While iCloud provides 50 GB of storage at Rs. 75, 200 GB storage at Rs. 219 and lastly, 2TB storage at Rs. 749. Microsoft OneDrive, on the other hand, charges Rs. 140 per month for 100GB storage.

So, if you're looking for the most generous cloud storage service, then Google Photos still continues to be a fantastic deal. But, if you want a cloud backup service that bundles with better free storage space, then here are some of the best options for you.

The first best alternative to Google Photos is Degoo. It has a three-tier membership plan - 100GB free storage, the Pro level that provides 500GB of storage, and the Ultimate level that offers 10TB storage. You can upload your pictures and videos easily, and get additional free storage by watching sponsored ads or even inviting friends to the app.

TeraBox, earlier called Dubox, is the second-best Google Photos alternative. You can upload your hundreds of files, folders, pictures and videos, and forget about exhausting your free storage, as it offers 1TB or 1000GB of free storage, which should be enough for most of the users. The only drawback is, though you can enable automatic backup for photos for free, you need a premium membership to automatically backup videos.

Another great option is Amazon Photos, but it is not available in India and is expected to launch soon. It is the best option for Amazon Prime members, as they get free unlimited photo storage with 5GB of complimentary video storage.

Let us know in the comments section below which is your favourite cloud storage service.

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Three Free Google Photos Alternatives That You Can Try - Gadgets 360