University Information Services (UIS) offers the following cloud storage solutions for institutions or departments who want to store large volumes of data:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): one of the largest and most comprehensive cloud services on the Internet
- Google Cloud Platform: a suite of cloud computing services
It may also be useful to be aware of:
- Azure: Microsoft’s cloud platform
- Research Computing Service's Cloud offering: a web applications portal that provides on-demand science platforms running on top of a private on-premise OpenStack cloud
Compare cloud storage services
Technical skills required
You will need technical skills to use cloud storage solutions. Some services use command-line instructions, but this is not the case for all cloud storage solutions. Service providers offer free training courses to learn the basics, but they all generally require a significant investment of time.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
You will need a working knowledge of AWS to configure and manage these resources.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
You will need a basic familiarity with the Unix command line either via Linux or via Max OS X.
Costs
Amazon Web Services
The cost is calculated using Amazon's Web Services list price minus a 14% discount, plus 3.5% usage charge. This equates to roughly 11% off the list price. Prices are set in USD ($) so are affected by exchange rate fluctuations.
Google Cloud Platform
Costs depend on which services you use and your levels of usage. You can use Google's pricing calculator to estimate costs. Many of Google's services have a free tier that may be appropriate for small workloads.
Get access to these services
Visit our Cloud services page for more information about public cloud storage solutions.