Dive Brief:

• Google has launched a new service that allows users to physically mail in their storage drives so their data can be absorbed into the Google Cloud.

• The service, called Offline Media Import/Export, is offered through Iron Mountain, a third-party service provider.

• The service is particularly useful for enterprises looking to store a terabyte or more of data in the cloud.

Dive Insight:

Mail-in services like Offline Media Import/Export are of growing interest for businesses. To upload data using a typical business broadband line, it would take more than a week.

With this service, after the data is loaded into the Google Cloud, customers can have the storage drives shipped back, destroyed, or stored in a physical vault.

Amazon and Microsoft also support physical mailing of storage drives to enable loading of data into the cloud.