Editor’s Note: Alexander Haislip is a marketing executive with cloud-based server automation startup ScaleXtreme and the author of Essentials of Venture Capital. Follow him on Twitter @ahaislip.
In the beginning there was the cloud. And it was good. But over time it can also be surprisingly expensive. If you’ve ever said “Oh my god,” at the end of your billing cycle, you’re may be… → Read More
I get press releases every week about some new (or old!) company and their so-called cloud solution. Some folks are clearly abusing the popularity of the “cloud” buzzword, and others are actually doing interesting things with distributed computing, infrastructure- and platform-as-a-service, orchestration, and related technologies. Amazon is the prime mover on IaaS, but OpenStack, CloudStack and… → Read More
LogMeIn, the company known best for its remote access tools, is today launching its own cloud storage service, as an alternative to others like Dropbox or Box, for example. With “Cubby,” as it’s called, users can share files across Macs, PCs, iPads, iPhones, or Android devices.
The difference between some other cloud offerings and the new service is how it works: instead of having to copy files… → Read More
Microsoft has announced that it has signed its largest-ever cloud services deal, an agreement with the All India Council for Technical Education to deploy Microsoft’s Live@edu service to some 10,000 technical colleges in the country, covering 7.5 million users.
The deal is significant not just for its size but also as a mark of how cloud services are developing in two big areas at the moment… → Read More
We’re at a technological inflection point, a major branch of computing is splitting off and everyone from the sysadmin to the CEO is wondering what it will mean.
The usual cabal of vocal technologists isn’t helping the situation. The chatterboxes maintain a constant chant of change: “Cloud, Cloud, Cloud!” Yet they fail to contextualize it in the overall IT architecture. They imagine a… → Read More
Yandex may be in line to become the default search engine on devices that Apple sells in Russia. But for now it’s engaging in a little competition with Cupertino, and others. Today the Russian search giant is launching its own answer to iCloud: a free web-based storage product it’s calling Yandex.Disk.
Users of Yandex.Disk get up to 10 gigabytes of space that they can use for personal… → Read More
With Windows 8, Microsoft is introducing more portable, cloud compatibility in the form of Windows To Go, but what about those seeking a solution today that works on devices running Windows 7? WorldDesk claims to have an answer.
The Northern Irish-founded, now Menlo Park, Calif.-based company has launched a new virtualization platform that it says allows all Windows 7 users to carry their… → Read More
There has been a bit of a landrush of late on enterprise companies focused on big data and how best to harness that in the cloud, and today sees the launch of a new fund that will fuel the growth of even more companies working in that space. OpenView Venture Partners is today announcing its third fund of $200 million, aimed at operational support for enterprises, including in areas like big-data… → Read More
Today marks another step in the evolution of cloud services for consumers: Jolicloud, the Paris-based company that was one of the first to move on offering users a “cloud-based desktop,” today launched another product that extends what users can do in the cloud even further, with the introduction of Jolicloud Me.
Available from today in private beta on Android, iOS and HTML5 in private beta… → Read More
Much was made of the news last week from Apple that its businesses had effectively created over 500,000 jobs in the U.S. not just directly at its company but at the many that link into the ecosystem it has created. Today, Microsoft teamed up with IDC to publish some research that took that one step (or actually 13.5 million steps) further:
The two say that cloud computing services will generate… → Read More
This is another one for those who love to mark the consumerization of enterprise technology: iCharts, the cloud-based charting service that once described itself as the “YouTube for interactive charts”, has now picked up $3.1 million in funding to try to do precisely that: make its platform something used by the public at large.
The Series A round comes from a group of private equity investors… → Read More
Another cloud startup is making enhancements to improve the performance and functionality of its services. This one is squarely for enterprises and comes from Huddle, which today is announcing Huddle Sync, a service that promises “intelligent” synchronization of enterprise work files to serve users what they need, when they need it.
Huddle is banking on the idea that services like Dropbox will… → Read More
Attachments.me, the startup that promises to take the pain out of searching through email attachments, is gradually ramping up the services that it’s offering to users: from today, it has an option to automatically file your attachments to specific folders in the cloud. And it has also expanded support to include Box, which now joins Dropbox in its list of supported cloud storage partners. → Read More
Numecent, a stealth startup building a patented “cloudpaging” technology, just raised $2 million in Series A funding from undisclosed corporate investors. The $2 million tranche is a part of a larger $10 million funding round, and is in addition to the $7.5 million in seed funding the company has already raised from private investors. Exact details as to what Numecent is developing are not known… → Read More
One of the fastest growing enterprise software companies is Sydney-based Atlassian, which makes product management software for software development. CEO Scott Farquhar and president Jay Simons were in New York City last week talking to investment bankers exploring an eventual IPO and dropped by the TCTV studio.
Revenues for calendar year 2011 (which is different than its fiscal year) were… → Read More
It is the dawning of the age of cloudquarius. Acer, in addition to a set of ultrabooks, just announced something it’s calling AcerCloud. This service, like iCloud, brings all of your content onto all of your devices, allowing you to “create, acquire and consume on different devices.” → Read More
Cloud storage platform Box (which you no longer have to refer to as Box.net as it now owns Box.com!), has seen incredible growth over the past year, both on the consumer and on enterprise side. Much of the growth has been driven by mobile, with the company seeing a 140% increase in mobile customer implementations each month in 2011, leading the total number of new mobile users to jump up by 171%… → Read More
Over the years, software development has ping-ponged between server-centric and client-centric designs. Today, with dominant mobile platforms like iOS and Android, apps have entered a hybrid client-server architecture.
What this means for developers is that they have to juggle more technologies than ever before. And in response, we’re seeing the rise of developer platforms that handle… → Read More
Wyse Technology is launching a new app for Android users today called Wyse PocketCloud Explore, which will allow you to search for files you have stored on any phone, tablet, PC or Mac. The app works in conjunction with a software client installed on your computer, so you can perform universal file searches, then view the files, rename them, move them into folders, share them or download them to… → Read More
Pogoplug is launching the fourth generation of its flagship product today, the Pogoplug Series 4. As with all Pogoplug hardware, the new device lets you attach your hard drives and plugs into your router in order to instantly give you your own personal cloud of online storage.
The service also comes with 5 GB of free online storage optimized for mobile users, and allows you to purchase… → Read More
Cloud application services provider Iron.io has just closed a $1.4 million round of seed funding, led by Baseline Ventures, the same investors who led the seed rounds for Instagram, TaskRabbit, Heroku, Weebly and many others. Additional investors participating in this round are Ignition Partners, Cloud Capital Partners, Citrix Systems, Jonathan Siegel, Matt Ocko, Jared Kopf and Lance… → Read More
Cloud storage service and device maker Pogoplug is unveiling its latest offering today: a new service for mobile users that offers 5 GB of free online storage. To use “Pogoplug Cloud,” you first sign up directly from your mobile phone or tablet (iOS or Android 2.2+), then download the app and begin the upload process.
And that’s where Pogoplug really begins to shine: it automatically uploads… → Read More
The cloud is now your hard drive. And not just a few dozen Gigabytes, Terabytes or even Petabytes, but all of it – infinite storage – for only $10 per month. This is the incredible promise of the new TechCrunch Disrupt finalist Bitcasa.
The company is launching a new cloud storage, syncing and sharing service that blows away its competitors, including hard drive manufacturers and online… → Read More
Google Docs suffered an extended outage this week, which raised concerns, yet again, about the reliability involved with storing mission-critical documents in the cloud. Personally, I’d rather trust Google’s redundant server infrastructure than my own hard drive. However, for enterprise users, the problem with cloud outages is that local I.T. staff can’t do anything about the problem, unless… → Read More
Cloud Engines, Inc., makers of the Pogoplug line of devices and accompanying software, are launching a new hardware product today called Pogoplug Mobile. The device works like the company’s current Pogoplug product – you attach your hard drive or drives, plug it into your router and instantly have your own personal cloud. In short, it’s like a NAS (network-attached storage) box for your… → Read More
Almost every single keynote at LinuxCon, and certainly every private conversation I had with folks here, involved “cloud” in some way. As Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst observed in his keynote, there’s no single definition of “cloud”. There’s no doubt that Amazon has really pioneered the default cloud offering, but there’s a lot of work going on to build better, more robust, and more open cloud… → Read More
Ever heard of Dropship? It’s an open-source project that “enables arbitrary, anonymous transfers of files between Dropbox accounts.” Dropbox hopes you haven’t; they tried to squelch it this week, and even accidentally reported that it was subject to a DMCA takedown notice, with predictably futile results. I’m mostly sympathetic: I’m a huge fan of their service, Dropship was a clear violation of… → Read More
MP3s are so last century. As we’ve previously reported, Apple is moving iTunes to the cloud and is slowly signing on record labels to supply content. The latest company to fall is apparently Warner Music. The company signed a deal with Apple last week. → Read More
Everyone’s favorite under-estimator of social media, Malcolm Gladwell, might get a chuckle out of Amazon’s EC2 problems this week. First, they took out Foursquare, Reddit and Quora service, as TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher reported yesterday. The disaster in the cloud also put a stop to those who would Tweet the revolution via Act.ly, a site that gets petitions going virally, online.
The site and… → Read More
PogoPlug, the host-it-yourself file sharing appliance, has a few new things for you. First there’s the PogoPlug Video, which adds easy streaming of videos from your location, without the need to transcode the source. Videos are streamable to the PogoPlug mobile apps on iOS and Android, as well as Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and “most media players and Internet-enabled TVs.” The other big release is… → Read More
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