Working in the cloud has given many a small business a technological lift, enabling easy access to an ever-growing collection of affordable Web services that are priced based on usage (on-demand) or monthly subscription packages. Sounds great -- it is great -- but if your Internet connection is less than reliable or chokes on fat files, then what?

Having a cloud is not a complete solution," said Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte, which today has introduced a local layer option to its cloud-based hosted file server solution. "People want peace of mind that they have something available."

That's what the 15-person company aspires to provide with the Egnyte Local Cloud, described as a "hybrid cloud/on-premise file server solution" that works even when you're Internet connection isn't. "Most people don't even realize they're working in the cloud," said Jain, who walked me through a demo of how the service works.

"In a nutshell, a user accesses the Egnyte Local Cloud straight from a designated computer drive (hence, on-premises), using the same folder-and-file interface we're all familiar with. When new documents are created or changes are made to existing ones, they're saved to the Local Cloud and replicated to Egnyte's servers. Folders and files can be shared -- perhaps some of your team works out of their home offices -- and they can be sent as links so they won't hog up the recipient's email. The file simply downloads on that person's computer.

Egnyte's offering also comes in handy for backup, which is up to you in terms of what needs to be saved, when it should be saved, and how much bandwidth should be dedicated to the process.

Naturally, you have to purchase the off-the-shelf hardware that lives within your local cloud; that will set you back a minimum $100 for 75 GB, Jain said. Not bad. "We're hardware-agnostic," he said. "We just provide the software." And to more than 2,200 customers to date, Jain added, including consultancies, and the medical, financial, and construction fields. "We're also having good success with nonprofits," he said.

Egnyte Local Cloud is an add-on to Egntye's existing hosted file server offering. It costs $10 per month for up to 15 seats, and $15 per month for 16-plus, on top of whichever monthly subscription plan suits your needs. (They start as low as $15 per month, and should you want to prepay the year, you get one month free.) The service is also accessible via Apple's iPhone.