Backing up and archiving email and other data in the cloud has become popular as a low-cost alternative, and there are plenty of cloud storage providers out there trying to get your business. And the argument about low cost and low maintenance is compelling. With Google, Microsoft, and Amazon getting into the cloud business, it’s gotten quite mainstream.

But a recent article on Network World pointed out that cloud computing vendors are still seeing problems and loss of data–most recently, cloud storage provider Carbonite filed suit last week against a hardware vendor claiming that their equipment caused backup failures two years ago. And they’re not the only one, there are plenty of stories out there about hosted sites either losing data or temporarily going down.

And so it is appropriate to stop and think about whether storage in the cloud really is a good idea–especially for sensitive applications like email, which may contain valuable corporate data or may be subject to regulatory controls regarding archiving. And, the cost argument is only valid if you look at it in the short-term. Granted, most companies today are decidedly short-term in their calculations, but I’ve never seen that as a particularly good thing.