On 26 April 2016 Dropbox Open London gave a demo and “sneak preview” of their new product called Project Infinite. It’s not clear when the product will be released, and whether the product will be available to consumers rather than just their Business clients, but the features suggested in the demo could be quite revolutionary when it comes to cloud data storage and retrieval.

What Makes Project Infinite a Prominent Development?

Dropbox operates from the stance that their software should be strongly integrated with Microsoft Office, thereby minimizing the time that someone has to interact with the Dropbox user interface. It boasts some of the following helpful features:

• Real-time access. If the user wants to access a file that is not saved on the hard drive, they can simply double-click on the file and it will open up in real-time.

• Familiar user interface. In fact, the key angle of Project Infinite is that everything a user has stored or backed up to their Dropbox account can be viewed using the Windows explorer or Mac Finder option, rather than logging in to the Dropbox user interface. All files in the account, regardless of whether they are saved to the hard drive, will appear in the file explorer.

• Automatic syncing.Changes to the file will be synced to the Dropbox account without the need to save the file onto the hard drive. This significantly minimizes the storage space occupied on the device’s hard drive whilst not affecting access to the data.

Redstor InstantData

Since Redstor already boasts a cloud offering, they’ve been exploring the field of cloud data storage and retrieval further and have recently launched real-time accessto data backed up in the cloud. This innovative technology allows you to access your backed up files in a matter of seconds.

What Makes InstantData a Prominent Development?

A traditional data-restore of a large file (e.g. a database) from a backup server requires a user to wait for the restore to finish before they can access the file. InstantData now makes immediate data access possible and convenient by providing the following capabilities:

• Recover to local disk or access files without requiring disk space. The need to use a physical hard drive less and less is forward thinking and indicative of Redstor’s ability to meet the market’s high demand for cloud computing technologies in data storage and backups.

• Real-time access. If the user wants to access a file they can do so by gaining temporary access with the use of a virtual drive which is created on the local machine. The files can then be browsed using the Windows Explorer or Mac Finder option while no local disk space is consumed.

• Rapid recovery time. Full permanent recovery is also possible where users can drag and drop the required files from the InstantData app window to a Windows Explorer window and start using them immediately. InstantData first restores the bits you need while doing the rest in the background.

• Secure end efficient communication. All backed up files are stored in the cloud using Redstor Backup Pro software and is securely encrypted prior to data transfer and storage.

Where Does Theory Meet Practice?

These and similar products are indicative of the ever progressing online backup software innovation, and it is clear that the market is moving in the same general direction. The chilling truth is that it’s now only a question of who will get left behind.