Here in Metro Detroit, where UBX Cloud is headquartered, we have had a relentless parade of thunderstorms the past two days – including tornado warnings and widespread wind damage. As is always the case when we get storms like this – especially in a part of town where there are big trees and older, overhead power lines – power outages are inevitable.

That presents an interesting question for companies who deal in large volumes of data: Is Big Cloud the best option for data storage when I’m facing the possibility of local power outages?

The short answer is no.

The somewhat short answer is hell no.

But let’s back up and consider why:

Cloud storage seems to be immune from the effects of power outages because your data is stored online – which seems a lot better than storing it in an on-premise device when the wind or a falling tree limb could shut off your power.

But that’s not really how any of this works.

For one thing, there is no such thing as data that only lives “online.”

Everything that’s “online” is on a physical server somewhere. All digital data has to live on hardware.

At UBX Cloud we store data for our clients in multiple locations, and we generate backups constantly. We have way more storage capacity than we actually sell, so there’s no chance of your data getting pushed out from an overload. That’s the much more present threat to data, and it happens with Big Cloud all the time because they intentionally sell more capacity than they have. That’s not an accident. It’s a business strategy.

Our storage partners have all the reliable backup power sources, too. And even if we did lose power, the backup dataset would not be affected because it doesn’t depend on electrical power to be retrievable. (In the same way that the files on your computer don’t disappear when you turn the power button off.)

Power outages are not a threat when you store your data with a partner that has the infrastructure we do. By contrast, putting your data in the hands of distant, impersonal giants who don’t know you and don’t care about you will never turn out well.

We hope you are safe in the aftermath of these storms. We hope your data is safe too. If you’re not storing it with us, we can fix that right now. Call us at 586.322.5000 to get that process started.