Yesterday we told you how Google Docs is inching closer to being the mythical “Gdrive.” Today Google announced that users can now buy up to 16 terabytes of storage for $4,096.00 per year. The storage can be used with Gmail, Picasa Web Albums and Google Docs. Those that don’t need quite that much can choose from cheaper options:
- 20 GB ($5.00 per year)
- 80 GB ($20.00 per year)
- 200 GB ($50.00 per year)
- 400 GB ($100.00 per year)
- 1 TB ($256.00 per year)
- 2 TB ($512.00 per year)
- 4 TB ($1,024.00 per year)
- 8 TB ($2,048.00 per year)
- 16 TB ($4,096.00 per year)
Sixteen terabytes may seem like an insane amount, but consider the benefit this will provide to media professionals who work with large video and audio files or architects and engineers working with 3D modeling software. However, there is still a limit of one gigabyte per file.
This offering, which comes as Mozy is reducing its users’ storage limits, demonstrates the importance of storage to Google’s long-term strategy. We’ve written about how storage plays into Google plans previously:
The devices will be secondary in value. Storage will be critical. And that’s what these big companies recognize.
The Cloud Storage blog refers to a 451 Group report, which states that the cloud computing market is supposed to reach $16.3 billion by 2013. Storage will drive that growth.
Google’s even going to bat for other companies over copyright issues to ensure the future viability of the cloud storage market.
