We have designed the Storj network to provide users better security, availability, performance, and economics—across a wide variety of use cases—than either on-premise storage solutions or traditional, centralized cloud storage.

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• Security
  We have designed our system to be the equivalent of spreading encrypted sand on an encrypted beach. All data is encrypted client-side before reaching our system. Data is sharded and distributed across a large number of independently operated disk drives which are part of a much larger network of independently operated storage nodes. By design, it is not possible for Storj, Satellite operators, storage node operators, or would-be bad actors to mine or compromise end user data. The level of decentralization on the network creates powerful disincentives for malicious actors, as there is no centralized trove of data to target.
• Availability
  While the centralized providers may calculate and publish theoretically high availability numbers, these calculations depend on drive failures being uncorrelated. In fact, in any data center, the chances of an individual drive failing is highly correlated with the chances of another drive failing. In a decentralized system, by contrast, each node is operated by a different individual, in a different location, with separate personnel, power, network access, and so forth.
  Therefore, the chance of an individual node failing is almost entirely uncorrelated with the chances of other drives failing. As a result, the kinds of availability we obtain are not subject to storms, power outages, or other “black swan” events. Even if the chance of an individual drive failing in the Storj network is higher than in a centralized cloud, the chance of collective failure (e.g. losing 20 out of 40 independent drives) is vanishingly small. In addition, the chance of losing one file is not correlated with the chances of losing a second file.
• Performance
  For read-intensive use cases, the Storj network can deliver superior performance by taking advantage of parallelism. The storage nodes are located close to “the edge,” reducing the latency experienced when recipients of data are physically far from the data center that houses the data. The particular erasure coding scheme that we use ensures that slow drives, slow networks, or networks and drives experiencing temporarily high load do not limit throughput. We can adjust the k/n ratio so that we dramatically improve download and streaming speeds, without imposing the kinds of high costs associated with CDN networks.
• Economics
  In a decentralized network there is little marginal cost to being a storage node operator. In our experience, the vast majority of operators are using existing live equipment with significant spare capacity. There is no additional cost to a storage node operator in terms of capital or personnel. Running a drive at full capacity does not consume significantly more power than running a drive with excess space. And, with careful management relative to caps, most operators should not experience increased bandwidth costs. Consequently, operating a node represents nearly pure margin, and these supply cost savings can be passed on to end users.
  We have designed market mechanisms on the demand side as well, to prevent any Satellite operator from cornering the market. Even after providing a healthy margin to farmers, demand partners, and Satellite operators, we believe we should be able to provide profitable storage services at a fraction of the cost of equivalent centralized cloud storage providers.

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Put Your Extra Disk Space to Work

• Get Paid
  We pay you for your unused disk space to power the Storj Network and securely store encrypted data from Tardigrade cloud storage users.
• Be the Cloud
  Node Operators host data from users all over the world, enabling a truly private, totally secure, and completely decentralized cloud solution.
• Use Existing Hardware
  Operating a Node doesn’t require extra hardware or power-hungry CPUs. All you need is a solid internet connection and enough hard drive space.

Helping Developers Weave the Fabric of Tomorrow’s Internet

• Encrypt & Upload Files
  Files are encrypted client-side before being uploaded to our network, ensuring data is stored securely... and we don’t stop there.
• Split Files & Distribute
  Encrypted flies are split into smaller fragments and distributed to optimal Nodes across our secure, global network.
• Store & Retrieve File Pieces
  We pay Hosts to run Storage Nodes where file fragments are privately stored, making data breaches a thing of the past.