Microsoft plans online storage service

Microsoft is planning to launch an online storage service, according to an article in Fortune Magazine.

"Microsoft is planning to use its server farms to offer anyone huge amounts of online storage of digital data," the article says. "It even has a name for that future service: Live Drive. With Live Drive, all your information--movies, music, tax information, a high-definition videoconference you had with your grandmother, whatever--could be accessible from anywhere, on any device."

Adam Sohn, global public relations director for Microsoft's online business group, confirmed the existence of a Live Drive project but declined to elaborate.

"Windows Live is a set of services build around people. Its major goal is to unify customers worlds so they have access to the people and information they want anytime, anywhere from any device," he wrote in an e-mail. "We are already making major investments in roaming scenarios with our services, as well as search and sharing scenarios across PCs and devices with things like Sharing Folders in Windows Live Messenger and folder sharing and sync with our acquisition of FolderShare. We'll continue to invest in services that enable anywhere, anytime access and Live Drive is the codename for a project in this space. We have no other details to announce at this time."

Google, meanwhile, also appears to be working on an online storage service dubbed "GDrive," according to an internal memo the company accidentally posted online last month.

Google and Microsoft are in a heated battle to be the one company that Internet users turn to for accessing information and services online. Already they offer free storage for e-mail, so hosting other types of personal data would be a natural extension of what they already do.