Amazon has launched a facility for individuals and companies who want to store computer files remotely, but don't need regular access to them.

Known as 'Glacier', as a take on the idea of cold storage, Amazon's plan is to offer to store documents and information securely, and allow owners a limited amount of free access to them.

Storage can cost as little as $5 (£3.17) a month for up to 500Gb of capacity, much less than other rival remote storage providers.

When it comes to retrieving files, Amazon lets up to five per cent of the total of anyone's stored files be accessed for free each month, but above that allowance, it charges for access by the gigabyte.

Rik Henderson, of tech website Pocket-lint.com wrote: "Glacier is not designed for instant transfer, rather [it] is a safe vault for back-ups that could prove essential down the line.

"In consumer terms, that could mean those wedding photos and the like that you would be devastated to lose should your own back-ups fail."