Google GDrive on the way?

People have long used existing google apps in order to leverage file-storage. The ability to use gmail as a filesystem, and googles existing “google docs” solutions go part way to implementing this as a service.

The latest buzz appears to be about a google filesystem solution being touted as GDrive.

As an avid user of online backup solutions, specifically our own bespoke solution working on top of Amazons S3, this certainly seems like a viable and interesting proposition - but it leaves me wondering why it has taken so long?

Mashable mentioned this way back in 2007, with the ability of increasing your storage allowance on Google, but a dedicated service has not managed to materialize yet. With alternate services, such as third parties leveraging Amazons S3 service, maybe google have opened their eyes to the restrictions their current Google Docs provides, and are looking to expand upon this.

Google already provides indexing solutions for your documents, through both google desktop, and the google search appliance - it seems like a natural shift to be able to provide storage within their cloud to utilize their existing search platform.

The existing Gmail service is currently offering 7288MB of email storage - much of which will never be touched by the vast majority of mail users. If this limit is truly available to each gmail user (as opposed to simply hyping up their true capacity), it would make sense that they currently have considerably more storage resources than they require. Maybe this could be a viable usage of googles current overstocking of storage?

Google, as ever, are currently keeping silent about their plans - and the gdrive is currently nothing more than a rumour. But given the current size of mailbox allowances being far beyond the worldly requirements of most,  It certainly seems like the direction they should be looking towards.

UPDATE: As mentioned by HandyBiteSize, hidden mentions of the possible GDrive appear in Google Apps CSS Files