Abstract:
A system includes a private communications network to provide content to a user using a first, base amount of bandwidth, a policy server, coupled to the network, for managing services provided to a user of the communications network and a data center, coupled to the network, for providing online storage to the user by the communications network, wherein the first, base bandwidth of the communication network is increased to a second, increased bandwidth for a data upload made by the user. The use of a private network addresses the security and efficiency issues of transmitting data over a public network and increased bandwidth enables data transmission between a user and a data center to be completed in a timely manner.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This disclosure relates in general to online storage, and more particularly to providing secure and efficient data transport between a user and online storage. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Recently, there has been increased pressure to protect, store, and efficiently share data. This increased pressure has facilitated the growth of the storage-as-a-service market. Key players in this technological area are known as storage service providers (SSPs). Analysts predict that the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of online backup services will increase by dramatically in the coming years. As small-to-medium businesses anticipate the need for storage capacity to grow annually, the cost for such businesses to procure, power, and manage their own “data warehouses” becomes prohibitive. 
         [0003]    In the hours following any catastrophic network failure of any scale, every business no matter the size could see the benefit of a remote, geographically diverse data backup, storage and restoration service. Particularly vulnerable is the small-to-medium businesses space whose managers may not be fully aware of the risk factors, have the technical expertise, time, or budget to implement their own solution. 
         [0004]    Moreover, as the amount of digital data generated annually continues to climb, consumption of external disk capacity used for traditional business data, replicated data, and fixed content combined is expected to expand rapidly. Investments in new technology are focused on gaining efficiencies. However, for the small business the increasing amount of storage required can quickly render brand new hardware at the server and the end-user PC level obsolete. Scalable, and with the ability to increase capacity as the customer&#39;s business needs grow, online storage would allows the customer to get more out of their hardware technology investment. The customer would no longer has to contract with an information technology (IT) consultant, procure replacement drives or undergo risky data migrations when the storage space on their hardware reaches capacity. 
         [0005]    In the fixed content category alone, small businesses can save many thousands annually by making their product catalogs, brochures, digital photographs, and customer deliverables available for secure download to anyone they grant access. For the small business, saving the ever increasing cost of paper, printing, postage, and overnight couriers makes them more competitive in the marketplace, contributes directly to their bottom line, and for the small business it can make the difference between seeing red and black. 
         [0006]    Looking closer at the traditional methods of distribution, beside cost savings an added benefit would be that each time they share these items via their secure server space versus traditional methods the customer would be doing their part in becoming more environmentally responsible. This environmentally responsible approach would be especially appealing to the communities and a great number of customers they serve as the customer would be reducing the “carbon footprint” of their products. The carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are produced and released into the atmosphere when the goods are made, shipped and stored, and then used by consumers. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    To overcome the limitations described above, and to overcome other limitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding the present specification, embodiments for in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth are disclosed. 
         [0008]    The above-described problems are solved by providing a private network to address the security and efficiency issues of transmitting data over a public network. Increased bandwidth is utilized to enable data transmission between a user and a data center to be completed in a timely manner. 
         [0009]    An embodiment includes a method for providing online storage that includes providing, by a user, a request for initiating a data upload over a private communications network to online storage at a data center, processing the request for initiating a data upload to identify an additional amount of bandwidth beyond a base level of bandwidth to provide the user and providing, to the user, the additional amount of bandwidth beyond the base level of bandwidth for the data upload to the data center. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment, a system for providing online storage is provided. The system includes a private communications network to provide content to a user using a first, base amount of bandwidth, a policy server, coupled to the network, for managing services provided to a user of the communications network and a data center, coupled to the network, for providing online storage to the user by the communications network, wherein the first, base bandwidth of the communication network is increased to a second, increased bandwidth for a data upload made by the user. 
         [0011]    A computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, provides online storage by forwarding a request by a user for initiating a data upload over a private communications network to online storage at a data center, processing the request for initiating a data upload to identify an additional amount of bandwidth beyond a base level of bandwidth to provide the user and modifying the bandwidth of the private network to provide to the user the additional amount of bandwidth beyond the base level of bandwidth for the data upload to the data center. 
         [0012]    These and various other advantages and features of novelty are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and form a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the disclosed embodiments, the advantages, and the objects obtained, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to accompanying descriptive matter, in which there are illustrated and described specific examples of the disclosed embodiments. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]    Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers represent corresponding parts throughout: 
           [0014]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system providing in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an online storage architecture according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  illustrates a diagram of a network for providing online storage according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a diagram of the network data flow between an application and online storage according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a simplified diagram of a data center network according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a map that demonstrates the geographic redundancy of data centers according to an embodiment of the invention; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is a flow chart of a method for providing in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth according to an embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    Embodiments of the present invention are directed to in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth. 
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system  100  providing in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth according to an embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 1 , a customer  110  is coupled to a communications network provider  120 , such as a cable operator, through an interface device  122 , such as a router or cable modem. Most operations performed by the user are performed employing a first predetermined bandwidth  124 . For example, the first predetermined bandwidth  124  may be used for browsing the Internet, VoIP calls, content download and other typical online activity. The communications network provider  120  controls the amount of bandwidth using policy servers  130  that allocate bandwidth according to contractual arrangements with the user. The communications network provider  120  provides and maintains their own network for providing content and/or data to users  110 . The communications network provider  120  may provide cable programming, movies-on-demand and other services/content over the network. The communications network provider  120  may also provide the user access to the Internet via the network. 
         [0023]    One service that the communications network provider  120  may also provide involves allowing the user to access a data center  140  to store data remotely for archival, backup and remote access. Control of the data center  140 , including the actual storage devices/systems  150  may be provided by a server  152 . The data center  140  may be provided and maintained by the communications network provider  120  or may be out-sourced to a storage vendor, i.e., a storage vendor may be coupled from a data center side  142  to a communications network provider side  126 . Nevertheless, the communications network provider  120  and the data center  140  communicate to facilitate data uploads and data restores. When the data center  140  is provided by a storage vendor, a secure connection with the communications network provider  120  is established. Thus, when the user  110  uploads data to the data center  140  through the interface device  122 , the data traverses only the network of the communications network provider  120  and the secure connection  132  between the communications network provider  120  and the data center  140 . This transaction will herein be referred to as “in-network.” 
         [0024]    All ingress and egress data traffic to the primary and/or secondary data center  130  will traverse only the private network of the communications services provider  120 . This greatly reduces potential packet loss, latency, additional network hops, and carriage fees typically inherent with normal Internet traffic. The greater the number of hops, the more points of failure and the more time it takes for data to traverse the path to its destination. Thus, the packet loss, the latency, the network hops, and the security risk inherent with any data bouncing around the Internet is eliminated when the data stays on the network of the communications network provider  120 . 
         [0025]    The online data backup service may also be configured to provide remote drive capabilities where a customer utilizes the system as a secure and remote network drive. In such a transaction, the user may send an invitation  160  to remote computer  162 , e.g., a co-worker, associate, customer, etc., to indicate the user at the remote computer  162  may download designated files, including very large files. The invitation  160  may be sent to other users at large without having to grant each user access to the secure drive. To provide security, strong administrative tools may be used to provide customers the ability to manage data restore, drive segmentation, user access levels, and read/write permissions from anywhere, at anytime. 
         [0026]    Because a data upload from a user  110  to the data center  140  may be bandwidth intensive, a boost  170  in bandwidth may be provided by the communications network provider. However, only when the user is on the network of the communications network provider will the system recognize an upload and provide the bandwidth boost. When a customer orders the service, necessary information, such as the user rate code, is loaded to the system  130  of the communications network provider  120 . The information is used to establish eligibility of the user for backup service. Once eligibility is established, the appropriate amount of storage is provisioned for a user  110  at the data center  140 . 
         [0027]    Not all uploads will trigger a bandwidth boost for the user. Only an upload request to a specific provisioned data store at the data center  140  will trigger the bandwidth boost  170 . For example, when a user  110  at an approved IP address makes a request, the policy server  130  will authenticate the IP address and authorize an upload to a specific provisioned server using additional allocated bandwidth  170 . The additional allocated bandwidth  170  is provided for the duration of the upload. 
         [0028]    The amount of storage provisioned to the user  110  on the storage devices/systems  150  and the amount of bandwidth boost  170  available to the user  110  for data transfers with the data center  140  may be dictated by service level agreements. Data may also be made available to the user online at any location. For example,  FIG. 1  shows a user  162  accessing the data center  140  via the Internet  182 . However, this type of transaction is not an “in-network” transaction and thus is not characterized by the security afforded an “in-network” transaction. When data is routed over public networks, the data may be encrypted, but will still traverse the public network thereby allowing possible interception where the encryption theoretically may be broken. In addition, the bandwidth boost  170  is not afforded the remote user. 
         [0029]    Embodiments may be implemented in a suitable computing environment. Embodiments may also be implemented in combination with other types of computer systems and program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. By way of example, computer readable media  190  can include computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media  190  includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information  192 , such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media  190  typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or, in some instances, other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both the communications network provider  120  and the data center  140 . 
         [0030]    Embodiments implemented on computer-readable media  190  may refer to a mass storage device, such as a hard disk or CD-ROM drive. However, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed or utilized by a processing device, e.g., server or communications network provider infrastructure. 
         [0031]    By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media  190  may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a processing device. 
         [0032]    As mentioned briefly above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored and arranged for controlling the operation of processing devices. Thus, processing devices, such as server  152 , storage devices/systems  150  and the infrastructure  130  of the communications network provider  120 , may be configured to execute instructions that perform the operations of embodiments of the present invention. 
         [0033]    It should also be appreciated that various embodiments of the present invention can be implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on a processing device and/or (2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within the processing devices. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performance requirements. Accordingly, logical operations including related algorithms can be referred to variously as operations, structural devices, acts or modules. It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that these operations, structural devices, acts and modules may be implemented in software, firmware, special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereof without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention as recited within the claims set forth herein. 
         [0034]      FIG. 2  illustrates a simplified block diagram of an online storage architecture  200  according to an embodiment of the invention. The online storage architecture  200  provides a service that delivers a secure, secondary level of data backup and file storage for a user in a communications service network. Data is backed-up or stored from a primary source of a user, such as a PC or server. A communications network provider may provide differing service levels of storage via the online storage architecture  200 . Additionally, the online storage architecture  200  may offered a discrete, subscription based, stand alone service where greater blocks of backup and file storage capacity, e.g., measured in gigabytes, can be used to drive incremental revenue from the existing base of bandwidth only subscribers. Further, newly bundled subscribers that require additional backup and file storage capacity may expand their service. 
         [0035]    A billing system  220  provides to the middleware interface  222  a service code associated with online storage for a user. The middleware interface  222  acts as a gateway between all other systems in the online storage architecture  200 . The middleware interface  222  informs the user that the user is allowed X gigabytes of storage and how to activate the online storage. The middleware interface  222  also provides data identifying the user and the amount of storage associated with the user to the policy server  230 . The policy server  230  controls allocated bandwidth for data transfers between the user and the online backup  240 . The policy server  230  allocates bandwidth on demand according to a policy governing bandwidth subscribed to by the user. A user/system interface  226  is coupled to the middleware interface  222 , the customer records database  262  and the online storage  240   
         [0036]    A firewall  250  is shown disposed between the online storage  240  and the other network components. A web browser  242  or a personal computer  244  may be used to configure storage backup services. A computer providing a web browser may also be coupled to a data modem, e.g., a cable modem. Data may thus be transferred between the user and the online storage system  240  via the cable modem termination system (CMTS)  260 . The CMTS  260  is coupled to the policy server  230 . A database  262  stores users&#39; account information for allocating online storage and bandwidth. The online storage  240  is coupled to the middleware interface  222 . 
         [0037]    Once a customer&#39;s account is entered in the billing system  220 , information is forwarded to a customer management tool  224 , and simultaneously to the storage system  240 . The storage system  240  may be provided by an internal or third party vendor. Regardless, the vendor provisions the amount of storage that was ordered. The backup client is downloaded to the desktop of the user via the CMTS  260  and the user begins initiating automatic backups. When a user initiates a storage backup, all of the traffic is routed through a bandwidth on demand policy server  230 . When the policy server  230  recognizes that an upload has taken place to that data center  240 , it will identify the policy to enforce and enable the appropriate use of bandwidth available to the user. Any increase or boost in bandwidth for data transfer applies not only for every upload, but also for the duration of every upload. Different service levels may be provided for different storage provisions and bandwidth combinations. 
         [0038]    Furthermore, use of the online storage service provided by online storage architecture  200  helps customers document compliance with various industry and regulatory guidelines pertaining to the availability and maintenance of data Inherent remote drive and file sharing capabilities also promote and facilitate collaboration between the employees, vendors, and customers without requiring the skill set, time, risk, or cost of implementing and managing local file servers and complex network configurations. 
         [0039]    Online storage is a critical service that a customer can grow with while providing incremental revenue and customer loyalty and retention opportunities to a communications network provider. Moreover, online storage services have the potential to cause users to become very dependent, very quickly on the services of the communications network provider. Immediate gains in security, compliance, productivity, and overall collaboration with their employees, vendors, and their own customers make for an easy decision tree supporting bandwidth upgrades to provide greater remote access throughput, storage capacity upgrades to handle more storage and greater collaboration, contract renewals, and new business referrals to vendors and customers they collaborate with. While capturing the attention of and in many cases renewing the attention of formers, current subscribers, and new prospects, online storage presents a solid opportunity to drive increases in revenues, customer retention and new subscriber acquisitions. 
         [0040]      FIG. 3  illustrates a diagram of a network  300  for providing online storage according to an embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 3 , a PC  310  of a customer is shown coupled to a cable modem (CM)  312 . An upload/backup session  320  is represented flowing from the PC  310  of the customer to application servers  370  at the data center  372 . The data is routed through the cable modem  312 , and then through the cable modem termination system (CMTS)  330 , which is the cable network in the field. The CMTS signals a storage provider, for example, represented as data center  372 , that an upload is taking place so that additional bandwidth may be allocated to the user performing the upload. 
         [0041]    The CMTS  330  signals a policy server  340  that an upload is occurring. The policy server  340  may actually be located at the data center  372  or at the service provider network  342 . The policy server  340  communicates with a bandwidth-on-demand (BoD) application manager (AM)  350 . The BoD AM  350  routes data to storage devices controlled by application servers  370 . 
         [0042]    The application servers  370  may also recognize the upload instead of being informed of the upload. The application servers  370  may recognize a session and communicate to the policy server  340  to allocate additional bandwidth to the user. Once the data had been uploaded to the storage device, the data may be accessed from any Internet browser. However, to receive the benefit of bandwidth boost and to take advantage of the in-network advantages, the user must be communicating through the cable modem  312 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 4  is a diagram  400  of the flow of network data between an application and online storage according to an embodiment of the invention. The storage system includes a backup restore subsystem  410  and web services  420 . An application  402  may make a request  422  via web services  420  to the online backup (OLB) server  430 . The online backup (OLB) server  430  provides a response  424  to the web services request  422 . The user runs a client that invokes the web interface to perform a restore operation. The web services  420  also facilitates comprehensive management of accounts, such as creation, upgrade and downgrade. 
         [0044]    An application  402  may also provide a request  412  to the online backup (OLB) engine  430 . The online backup (OLB) engine  430  communicates with local storage drivers  440  to facilitate local storage  442  for backup and restore operations. The online backup (OLB) engine  430  also communicates with the online backup (OLB) server  450  for online storage  450 . 
         [0045]      FIG. 5  is a simplified diagram of a data center network  500  according to an embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 5 , data from the network  510  traverses a firewall  520  at the data center. Load balancers  530  are coupled to the firewall  520  to allow balancing of loads between different storage systems. As shown in  FIG. 5 , the data center may include web servers  540 , database servers  542 , administration database servers  544 , application servers  546 , etc. In addition, the data center  500  may include storage gateways  550  providing clustered file servers that further communicate with storage systems  560 , such as storage area networks. 
         [0046]      FIG. 6  is a map that demonstrates the geographic redundancy of data centers  600  according to an embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 6 , a primary data center  610  may be physically located at a first location, e.g., in Sterling, Va. A connection  620  may link another data center  630 , e.g., in San Diego, Calif. Thus, two locations  610 ,  630  are linked for failover so that all the data will be automatically routed to the other location  630  if there is a fault or disaster in the first location  610 . The connection  620  may be provided via an optical carrier, e.g., OC48 providing transmission speeds of up to 2488.32 Mbps. Such connections  620  are used as the backbones of many regional Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Thus, these types of connections  620  would ordinarily be part of the Internet cloud However, instead of using the Internet connection and thus riding over the public Internet, an in-network connection may be made available at, for example, the first location  610 . Thus, the data uploaded to the online storage at the first location  610  would stay in-network instead of traveling the Internet cloud. Additional data centers, such as European Union data center  640 , Chicago data center  642 , etc., may also be provided. 
         [0047]      FIG. 7  is a flow chart  700  of a method for providing in-network online storage with increased session bandwidth according to an embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 7 , a user registers for a level of online storage  710 . The user&#39;s information is entered in the system of the communications network provider  720 . An amount of storage commensurate with the contracted level of online storage is provisioned at the data center  730 . The user initiates a data upload to the data center  740 . The upload request is processed and an additional amount of bandwidth associated with the online storage service level of the user is allocated for the duration of the data upload to the data center  750 . Once the upload is complete, the bandwidth allocated to the user is restored to the appropriate non-upload bandwidth service level  760 . 
         [0048]    The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiment of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not with this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.