What is a collaborative storage cloud?
A cooperative storage cloud is a type Cloud storage-Service model in which data is stored on distributed clients and nodes in a decentralized system. A cooperative storage cloud enables the storage of data on remote and different participants who bundle their storage capacity to provide a uniform cloud storage solution.
A cooperative storage cloud can also be referred to as a peer-to-peer storage cloud or cloud storage co-op.
A collaborative storage cloud is an implementation of a peer-to-peer computing architecture. This service is usually provided by a cloud storage service provider who creates specialized P2P software to manage the storage and retrieval of data. Such a service works if the P2P software is installed by all participating subscribers. Each participant provides a predefined storage capacity that can be allocated to the system. The storage service in turn provides the collective storage capacity of all participants for the same or other participants.
A collaborative storage cloud is different from typical cloud storage service providers, who use their own storage infrastructure to host and provision storage. Although there is no dedicated server / infrastructure to host / store the data, there may be an application server to control and manage the storage logic or all of the storage, share and retrieve data from remote systems.