Small businesses increasingly require on-the-go access to their data, with no overhead for storage maintenance and no hardware

maintenance costs. Cloud storage is an effective solution that is rapidly gaining popularity. (For more information, see Cloud Computing: An Industry on the Rise.) This article delves

into the concept of cloud hosting and looks at some of the best cloud hosting providers for small businesses.Individuals used to store their personal data on hard drives and memory cards before cloud computing. However,

computers and mobile phones are easily damaged or lost, and accessing stored data may necessitate physical proximity to the device. Businesses have kept their data on large servers housed in specialized data centers. Data can only be accessed by a user who has logged into the corporate network, and it may not be accessible via the Internet or while the user is on the move. (For more information, see Investing in Data Centers.)

Individual devices and corporate servers both require dedicated support and maintenance, and ensuring data security remains a challenge.

What is cloud storage?

A cloud service provider or a cloud hosting company provides clients with a fixed-size server space that they use to store data. While the client owns the data that is stored, the hosting company owns and maintains the necessary hardware. The cloud host provides continuous access to client data while also providing secure access as specified by the clients. In turn, the data may be stored across one or more servers configured in the cloud hosting company’s data centers.

Although this concept dates back to the 1960s, it has gained popularity in recent years as Internet infrastructure has improved, allowing faster access to remotely-hosted data. Cloud hosting is quickly becoming popular among businesses because it eliminates the hassles of local server maintenance, associated costs, and certain security concerns. Big names in the growing cloud hosting market include Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT), and giants like Intel are reportedly investing heavily in supporting technologies. (For more information, see Is Cloud Computing an Investable Trend?)