In this forum, we encourage you to post your ideas, opinions, observations regarding object-based cloud storage.

Note that there are vendors out there labeling themselves as cloud storage software providers, but in reality they are just cluster filesystem software vendors. Cluster filesystem is a more than 10 years old technology.

A storage pool must meet the following simple criteria to quality as cloud storage:

• It must be object-based
• The accesses of said pool must be via HTTP (REST and/or SOAP) for platform independnce
• The pool is accessed over a network (Internet is just one of such networks. LAN, or even in-host network also qualify)
• The pool must be centrally managed
• The provisioning model must be incremental (aka on-demand)

Failing any one of the above, the storage pool is not a cloud storage. Also, by the above definition, all public storage clouds are just examples of cloud storage. They are not synonymous with cloud storage, as many are led to believe.