The global cloud storage market is growing very fast due to the emerging requirement for data across various industries. Cloud storage gives users the ability to share and access data remotely while maintaining the quality, integrity and security of data. Low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) without impacting capability or efficiency has fueled huge demand for cloud storage and the global market is projected to grow from USD 78.6 billion in 2022 to USD 187.3 billion by 2027, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18.5%! A lot of players have entered the market with customized solutions to meet the complex requirement of the storage property managers. These solutions play an instrumental role to align the objectives of the enterprises and the property managers. More and more enterprises are shifting from hardware-based storage to cloud environments to make their data management more agile and efficient. So far, so good! But we’re offering control of our data to third-party cloud storage. Data privacy is obviously at risk. What if we have decentralized identities in this field?, powered by XDC Network, is trying to solve this issue with its open-source, trustless, censorship-resistant decentralized cloud storage network.
Introduction to StorX
The technology of StorX combines the flexibility of an enterprise-grade storage solution with open-source technology. Presently, huge storage space remains underutilized for many operators and an affordable, geographically distributed cloud storage can be created out of this. The service of StorX has no single entity behind it and the storage space is entirely created by recruiting storage node operators and thus provides a democratic way of storing data across multiple storage providers.
StorX Drive - web UI
The Components of the StorX Ecosystem
The ecosystem of StorX has three components and these interact to form a safe and private decentralized cloud storage inside a zero-knowledge architecture:
The users can access StorX drive via website or desktop app and upload data.
An individual or an enterprise can become a node operator on Storx. The node operator leases out spare computing space on the StorX network and earns SRX tokens as a reward. If you want to run a node, check page to get an idea about the requirements. A good node must ensure 100% uptime and proper infrastructure.
Constellation: Constellation refers to the distributed p2p network of nodes. Satellite is the machine learning algorithm of StorX that optimizes the distribution of payload on the nodes. It also takes care of data security, metadata and file recovery process.
StorX working model - from StrorX website
The Advantages of StorX
Data is encrypted on the client side. Data is shredded and distributed across a large no of operated disk drives which is part of a big node network.
Reliability: Data on the StorX cloud is duplicated and deduplicated across nodes located in different geographical locations. This protects the system against attacks or unusual events.
High Speed: The decentralized network of StorX is capable of retrieving your data from any geographic location very fast as encrypted copies are stored in distributed locations. Download and streaming speed can be further improved without increasing cost due to the flexible design of the system.
Low-cost: The nodes are hosted by individual operators and this helps to reduce the cost drastically. The majority of the operators use their existing storage resources and capacity. There is no need for the operators to infuse any fresh capital. This helps them to provide storage capacity at a significantly cheap rate.
Low Carbon Footprint: The network architecture enables single-board computers to run the network. Large data centres are not at all required for StorX. As existing underutilized storage space gets used in the network, energy consumption remains lesser than the specially built large centralized data centres. The decentralized nature of StorX allows it to further reduce energy costs by maintaining nodes physically close to each other. Data transportation consumes less energy due to this and electricity wastage is reduced.
Pricing for individual customers - from StrorX website
Tokenomics & Staking
is the native token of StorX. The users pay in SRX to get the service and the node operators receive the reward in SRX. SRX, an XRC20 token issued on XDC Network, gets a real economic value due to this. The correct circulating supply of SRX can be tracked. Storage providers are called ‘Node Farmers’ on the network and they need to stake SRX. The minimum SRX to be staked is determined by an incremental model and a maximum of 1 million can be staked in a node setup. The ‘Node Farmers’ earn staking rewards depending upon node reputation and health of the system. The staking system prohibits bad actors to exploit the StorX Network. SRX also acts as the governance token of the platform. Governance participation is proportional to the token holding stake. SRX is supported by a lot of wallets and exchanges. you can see the list.
StorX comes with high promise and it has the technology to transform the global data environment. A decentralized internet must be blockchain-based to avoid control by monopolistic corporations and surveillance capitalists. The market exploitation by the centralized cloud storage companies is an open secret and a project like StorX can offer a transparent, private, community-driven and cost-effective solution. StorX started as a B2C platform but now B2B support is also there. Obviously, remarkable progress has been made but still, there is a long way to go! It is good to have a blockchain-based cloud but an isolated system is not going to work. StorX wants to create a seamless bridge API and connectors that will communicate with other ecosystems. Recently, the project has Gemma Network, a 3rd generation Blockchain Market. This partnership will create a sustainable blockchain ecosystem by integrating GEMMA’s DEX wallet into StorX’s data storage to enhance the functionality of the storage system. StorX also aims to achieve more resilience of data on the network to offer a service guarantee. When mainnet? It is expected to happen in 2023. Keep an eye on StorX! This small-cap project has the potential to give you nice surprises.
Follow StorX on and join their vibrant to get regular updates. DYOR before investing your hard-earned money.
