Everybody in the web hosting industry should be excited about the cloud. By now, cloud services have become more than a new innovation that your most driven customers are interested in using. Today, the cloud represents the future of infrastructure, web hosting, and internet services.

The benefits of the cloud make it easy to see why. Web applications and content can be hosted with increased reliability, faster processing, and unparalleled scalability.

But as you begin to explore cloud services for your customers and work towards your first cloud infrastructure, do not underestimate the importance of storage.

At HostingCon 2013, you can learn more about every aspect of a successful cloud infrastructure, including storage. With so many cloud storage providers attending this year, you can get answers to your questions, recommendations on approaching the cloud, and forge new partnerships with cloud storage specialists.

Do you really need a storage solution designed for the cloud

As the idea of software-defined cloud services becomes a bigger part of the hosting industry, we need to take the time to ask a very simple question – do we need to make changes, or will our hardware storage cope

The reality is that you could offer a cloud service with a hardware NAS or SAN that you manage yourself. However, this type of infrastructure will rarely achieve the reliability, scalability, and performance your customers expect from the cloud.

When you use expensive hardware storage for your cloud services, you are putting your reputation and quality of service in the hands of hardware. Although you may introduce redundancy and protect against single points of failure in your storage array, your service will suffer if multiple failures occur.

In the case of cloud storage, potentially thousands of nodes work together to store your data. As a result, you are putting your trust in software, not hardware.

With an intelligently designed cloud storage solution, software is always prepared for the fact nodes may be offline, usage may suddenly increase, and your storage requirements may change.

True cloud storage is an essential part of any cloud services and is a must if you want to deliver a full cloud experience to your customers.

Cloud storage providers at HostingCon 2013

Data storage is possibly the most important part of any web hosting service. When you select a cloud storage provider, you need to be certain you can trust the company to keep data safe, secure, and available at all times.

At HostingCon 2013, you can speak face-to-face with cloud storage providers. Whether you want to learn more about the benefits of cloud storage or get advice on your growing cloud infrastructure, HostingCon 2013 is the place.

One exhibitor, Zadara Storage, offers virtualized storage in the cloud. The Virtual Private Storage Array (VPSA) is an enterprise-grade solution that includes an NFS for high performance transfers. In addition, you can scale your storage instantly with just a few clicks and guarantee your business is agile enough to change and grow with your customers.

Of course, even as the industry moves toward cloud services, many service providers are starting to use SSD storage for improved performance. If this interests you, speak to the team from SolidFire, providers of cloud storage on a 100% SSD-based infrastructure.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to learn about cloud storage and meet potential partners. Register for HostingCon 2013 while prices are still low.

For all the latest HostingCon news and information, visit HostingCon – Premier Industry Conference and Trade Show for Web Hosting and Cloud Service Providers