Apparatus and methods for storing, accessing, and delivering data

A computerized method of operating a cloud storage system for storing a plurality of digital content, comprising:

• creating a plurality of dedicated storage locations associated with respective ones of a plurality of users or user accounts which only the respective ones of the plurality of users or user accounts may access to obtain respective digital content;
• creating at least one common storage location which the plurality of users or user accounts may commonly access to obtain commonly requested digital content, the at least one common storage location disposed topologically at an edge portion of a managed content distribution network and more proximate to the plurality of dedicated storage locations associated with the respective ones of the plurality of users or user accounts;
• and
• creating respective virtual control boundaries around at least a portion of the plurality of dedicated storage locations and the at least one common storage location, wherein the creating of the respective virtual control boundaries enables distributing a load of delivering the commonly requested digital content out to the edge portion of the managed content distribution network.

A computer readable apparatus comprising at least one non-transitory storage medium, the at least one non-transitory storage medium comprising at least one computer program configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus of a computerized cloud storage apparatus, cause the computerized cloud storage apparatus to:

• create a first dedicated storage location specifically associated with a first user or first user account;
• create a second dedicated storage location specifically associated with a second user or second user account;
• create a commonly accessible storage location, the creation of the commonly accessible storage location comprising creation of a data storage device disposed topologically at an edge portion of a managed content distribution network and more proximate to each of the first dedicated storage location and the second dedicated storage location;
• implement a first virtual control boundary associated with the first user or first user account, the first virtual control boundary including the first dedicated storage location and the commonly accessible storage location;
• and
• implement a second virtual control boundary associated with the second user or second user account, the second virtual control boundary including the second dedicated storage location and the commonly accessible storage location;
• wherein the implementations of the first and second virtual control boundaries enable distributing a load of delivering respective data stored at the first dedicated storage location and the second dedicated storage location out to the edge portion of the managed content distribution network.