OFS and BaaS – why you need both

At first glance, the services can be easily confused:

  • A small application is installed on your endpoint device, perhaps from a consumer “app-store”
  • Behind the scenes, there is a cloud-based storage service; typically billed on capacity used
  • Your changes to local files seem to be magically updated, with no effort at all

Yes, it’s very easy to see how OFS and BaaS are similar. 

  • If the cloud-service retains multiple versions of your data, is it BaaS?
  • If the cloud-service allows other devices to access your data, is it OFS?

And for individual users and their consumer data, one might use either service for both goals – but they are NOT the same.

Maybe individual consumers can blur the lines on these, but IT organizations and their companies cannot. To better explain the differences, and to really understand what is going on in both spaces, Terri McClure joined me to discuss the topic. Terri covers file-based storage (including the OFS market), while I cover data protection (including BaaS).

Yes, there are some technical similarities between OFS and BaaS – but companies cannot afford to confuse the two, nor can they confuse consumer offerings with the types of OFS and BaaS services that will either safeguard corporate data or expose it to the world.

Follow Terri or I on twitter at @ESGanalystTMac and @JBuff, respectively.

For all of the newest OFS perspectives, check out her blog.

As always, thanks for reading.

[Originally posted on ESG’s Technical Optimist.com]

Leave a Reply