Making effective use of “cloud computing” technologies developed by data storage equipment maker EMC Corp, the US telecom biggie AT&T intends offering Web-based data storage services for corporations, with its launch of AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service.

The singular, on-demand storage offering by AT&T has been designed to endow enterprises with an extremely scalable, pay-per-use service, which will be beneficial for firms looking for flexible storage alternatives. According to AT&T, the service allows storage, distribution and reclamation data by accessing the firm’s network cloud.

Cloud-based storage services charge companies as per their use, at an agreed monthly rate per GB; thus doing away with their unnecessary purchase and maintenance of storage equipment.

Necessitating no upfront capital outlay, the service mechanically scales storage capacity up or down as per customer requirement. The service would be ideal for companies with fluctuating storage requirements, as they would have to pay only for the storage capacity used by them. 

Going by market researcher Gartner’s predictions revenue from cloud-based storage and backup services will likely see a 22 percent increase this year to about $400 million.

Roman Pacewicz, Senior VP of strategy and application services at AT&T Business Solutions, said: “The demand for data storage continues to grow at a staggering rate, driven by the need for 24x7 access to business critical data.”