A cloud storage gateway is a network appliance or server

Server (computing)

In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...

 which resides at the customer premises and translates cloud storage

Cloud storage

Cloud storage is a model of networked online storage where data is stored on virtualized pools of storage which are generally hosted by third parties. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for...

 API

Application programming interface

An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...

s such as SOAP

SOAP

SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...

 or REST

Rest

Rest may refer to:* Leisure* Human relaxation* SleepRest may also refer to:* Rest , a pause in a piece of music* Rest , the relation between two observers* Rest , a 2008 album by Gregor Samsa...

 to block-based storage protocols such as iSCSI

ISCSI

In computing, iSCSI , is an abbreviation of Internet Small Computer System Interface, an Internet Protocol -based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage...

 or Fibre Channel

Fibre Channel

Fibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...

 or file-based interfaces such as NFS or CIFS.

According to a 2011 report by Gartner Group, Cloud gateways are expected to increase the use of cloud storage by lowering monthly charges and eliminating the concern of data security. Taneja Group Inc. analysts predict that the cloud gateway appliance market will grow to more than $400 million in 2014, from $11 million at the end of 2010.

Characteristics

Unlike the cloud storage services which they complement, cloud storage gateways use standard network protocols which provide a seamless integration with existing applications. Cloud storage gateways can also serve as intermediaries to multiple cloud storage providers. Some cloud storage gateways also include additional storage features such as backup

Backup

In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up is making copies of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup....

 and recovery, caching

Cache

In computer engineering, a cache is a component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere...

, compression

Data compression

In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....

, encryption

Encryption

In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...

, deduplication and provisioning

Provisioning

In telecommunication, provisioning is the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide services to its users. In NS/EP telecommunications services, "provisioning" equates to "initiation" and includes altering the state of an existing priority service or capability.In a...

.