The cloud is where your end users want to back up and share their digital content. They already use iTunes and Dropbox, and cloud services make sense for mobility initiatives and where non-mission-critical data is involved. And a cloud storage strategy should be simple to set up, right?

Well, no. Cloud storage used to mean simple disk drive replacements like SkyDrive and iDisk, but today there are dozens of product categories. Vendors are trying to meet a diverse set of consumer and business needs, and that's creating confusion. There's a big difference between using bulk cloud storage as an alternative to off-site tape or as an online data repository for distributed applications versus having a cloud service replace an entire backup infrastructure--software, hardware, tape library, and staff. And there's lingering IT resistance to cloud storage, as our InformationWeek 2012 State of Storage Survey revealed.

Despite these issues, more enterprises are giving cloud storage a whirl based on some powerful potential benefits, including no capital expense; good support for mobile workers; monthly, usage-based pricing; easily expandable capacity; and the ability to off-load hardware and software management. To help IT teams sort out the market, we invited 26 providers to take part in our InformationWeek Cloud Storage Buyer's Guide; 14 answered the call. Their responses provide insights on the state of IT cloud storage adoption and the features of most interest to businesses.

In our full report, we include full responses from ADrive, Backup Technology, BUMI, Carbonite, Code 42, Dakota Backup, Dropbox, Egnyte, EVault, EVS, Nirvanix, Symantec, YouSendIt, and Zetta. These vendors span multiple market segments, and we'll help ...