What is Cloud Storage Gateway?

A cloud storage gateway is a network appliance or server which resides at the customer premises and translates cloud storage APIs such as SOAP or REST to block-based storage protocols such as iSCSI or fibre channel or file-based interfaces such as NFS or CIFS. In the near future, cloud gateways are expected to increase the use of cloud storage by lowering costs and eliminating data security concerns.

Unlike the cloud storage services which they complement, cloud storage gateways use standard network protocols which integrate 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 and recovery, caching, compression, encryption, storage de-duplication and provisioning.