From the original UFO base station, Apple released the AirPort Extreme, giving way to today’s Time Capsule, an easy to use backup solution for your Mac. With the introduction of iCloud however, we’re seeing less and the less the need for local media storage. If our files can retain themselves in the cloud, and in sync across all our devices, then what’s the purpose of needing them locally? Well, for starters space. So how can we better invent a system to store files locally in this post-PC world?

Exchange the idea of the Time Capsule with a localized iCloud Hub. A storage device that mediates the entire households specific media (purchased and not), and caters well to iOS devices. Setup would be a synch, seeing as you can already setup an AirPort Extreme or Express using iOS.

The idea of a centralized hub isn’t a new one, many of us I’m sure have dabbled with NAS or even Mac Mini’s as home entertainment centers, or media hubs. This vision though, is catered specifically to those entering this market for the first time.

The Vision

Activate the device, join its network. Bridge it to yours as wire it as you would normally with a router or standard AirPort device. Access the device via Settings from your iOS device, add each iCloud credential in your household. Trigger which files for each account you want merged with the device, Music, Photos, etc.

By offloading your entire media catalog you completely free the space utilized on your iOS and PC devices. Your entire household has access to their specific account to retroactively see or manipulate all of their media content. Seeing as Music Match can already host your entire music catalog, for those not willing to subscribe yearly, they can offload it locally and use Home Sharing or AirPlay from the local iCloud to stream media wirelessly without tolling their iOS batteries.

Better yet, include two Thunderbolt ports into the actual hardware of the iCloud Hub and allow an easy sync solution to your PCs. In this way you can quickly offload all your media contents quickly, efficiently and free up all available space previously clogged by dated media. Keep local only what’s relevant to you.

The Everything Hub

In the initial setup, it would be helpful to have an option to segment a separate partition of your choice dedicated to Time Machine. Seeing as iOS won’t need it, and now that your media is stored off your actual PC, backing up should take a fairly minimal amount of space, even if you’re supporting multiple PCs. Adjusting the allotted space can provide adequate redundancy for your most recent backups.

Migration Assistant can utilize this as well. Seeing as your unique iCloud ID provides safe access to only your specific media files and back-ups, plugging in a new PC over Thunderbolt or WiFi can get you immediately restored and running again.

Ideally the hardware internally of the device will allow for TBs of storage, itself backed up, and extremely easy to expand. I can imaging being able to add a second iCloud Hub simply by plugging a new one into another Thunderbolt port, and immediately doubling storage. Though this gets out of my realm of expertise, I’m sure the Genius’ at Apple can manage much better than I.

The Magic

What I do see though, are a variety of interesting case studies. Currently if you want to import photos, you snap them with your camera, plug it into your PC and use Aperture or iPhoto to import them.

iCloud will do a fantastic job of storing your last 1000 shots, which can leveraged in this case. On import, iCloud can upload your shots, Events, etc, and automatically download them to your specific iCloud account on your iCloud Hub. iPhoto itself can option on keeping only your last 1000 photos stored locally on your PC, and remove the rest as soon as their safely migrated to your iCloud hub.

Imagine being able to offload all your media and content immediately, safely backed up, and available to any of your devices via a single unique login. Maintain an uncluttered hard drive, and have access to your entire media catalog via iOS.

Ideally the iCloud Hub provides a solution for consumers to retain enough storage space, safely guarded, and safely backed-up in a method that allows post-PC device users to get away with using just iOS devices on a more regular basis.

In effect this creates a straightforward path to where the PC itself becomes a redundancy, less needed since media can collate together in a single, non-screen device, that is extremely transparent, and extremely easy to use. It can be the wireless hub for our homes, or the data center for your professional needs. Either way it can facilitate our daily digital interactions in a simple, clean and magical manner.