NTT America, Inc., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation, on Monday announced the availability of Cloud Files, a cloud storage solution offering enterprise-class security, high-availability and control to enhance the company’s local public cloud suite announced in May. By using Cloud Files, enterprises can eliminate the capital investment and resources associated with content storage, the purchase of SAN and NAS systems, and the management of backup and archival information. In addition to a cost-effective "pay as you go" subscription model, Cloud Files offers features that enterprises expect when putting business-critical media and data in the cloud, including SAS 70 Type II audit, in-flight and at-rest encryption, and 24x7 customer support by engineers. The service is immediately available for the U.S. enterprise customers of all sizes.

Cloud Files can be used on a standalone basis or as a shared storage resource as part of the NTT America Cloud services. This means customers are able to use Cloud Files as an efficient storage medium across all their Web or IT properties, eliminating duplication of data and additional hardware and simplifying storage management.

Included in Cloud Files is a full suite of management controls to give customers more flexibility in managing ongoing storage requirements. System administrators can set usage quotas with role-based permissions, allowing IT administrators to allocate appropriate storage based on department requirements. Companies can also create unlimited storage accounts, which are clearly defined with account names and descriptions, making it easy to manage files and grow storage in line with their business requirements.

Cloud Files enables IT departments to move storage from a capital expense to an operational expense, giving greater flexibility in planning and allocation of capital. IT departments can also save on disaster recovery costs and planning since storing data in the cloud requires no remote physical storage locations and the data is protected from any local disaster scenarios. Pricing is based on usage, and starts at US$0.15 per gigabyte per month, with volume discounts available.

"With Cloud Files we are providing customers with flexibility never seen before in the storage arena," said Doug McMaster, VP of Products & Solutions, NTT America. "Whether it's something simple such as sharing images across websites, or more complex, such as part of a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy, Cloud Files gives customers an unprecedented capability to simplify their storage processes and focus internal IT resources on business critical issues."