Storage as a service (STaaS) is a business model in which a large service provider rents space in their storage infrastructure
on a subscription basis. The economy of scale in the service provider's infrastructure allows them to provide storage much
more cost effectively than most individuals or corporations can provide their own storage, when total cost of ownership is
considered. Storage as a Service is often used to solve offsite backup challenges. Critics of storage as a service point to the
large amount of network bandwidth required to conduct their storage utilizing an internet-based service.