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Taking a page out of the books of Web-based storage providers, Google March 1 began offering User Managed Storage to meet Google Apps customers’ requirements for additional space for their content in the cloud.

Google Apps is the search engine’s suite of e-mail, document, presentation, spreadsheet and other apps, all residing on servers in Google’s data centers all over the world.

Most users leverage Google Apps for free but a portion pay Google $50 per user, per year for additional security, management and support.

Google has long offered User Managed Storage for consumers who want to purchase more storage space when they fill the quota on their personal Google Accounts for Google Docs (1GB free allotment), Picasa Web Albums and Blogger (1GB allotment combined).

Now customers with paid Google Apps accounts may also purchase extra storage for Docs, and Picasa Web Albums and Blogger. This will be useful for workers who upload tons of Docs files and photos to Picasa or Blogger.

For more, read the eWeek article: Google Apps Customers Get User Managed Storage .