Business News Holding

Tag: cloud-services

  • Cloud Storage Services Linked With Apps by Cloud Elements Hub

    A one-to-many document hub integration platform has been created by Cloud Elements that will offer a single API for developers to link cloud applications with the leading cloud storage and document services such as SkyDrive, Dropbox, Microsoft SharePoint, and Box.

    The company has also indicated that the new document hub will have support for Rackspace Files and Amazon S3 by early 2014.

    Cloud elements is extremely talented in creating ‘elements’ that are extensions of API’s whose main work is to speed up the integration of various cloud services. The company serves both SaaS developers as well as corporate IT teams that aim at integrating their applications with a variety of cloud services.

    In the past, such integration required the use of custom written integrations that always had to be updated.

    The CEO of SlideFish, Neil Smith indicated that the new elements from the company have taken a lot of pain from them. He indicated that the company will no longer have to worry about changes on the API from different cloud storage providers. This will enable such SaaS companies to integrate their services in a large scale at a faster and more reliable way than before.

  • SugarSync Cloud Storage Service Abandons Freemium for a Paid Account Model


    SugarSync that has long been viewed as a Gladiator in the hosted cloud storage service has decided to go mercenary. The company has announced that it is doing away with the free storage tiers for a ‘paid only’ service model. Current customers will still be able to access their files and are set to get discounts of up to 75%.

    CEO Mike Grossman said that the company has decided not to offer free storage forever. He added that SugarSync is unique as compared to other service providers because it provides more than just basic file storage. Instead, the company offers premium services that offer unprecedented control and flexibility for prosumers and small businesses over their data through the unique multisync capabilities.

    This basically means that the company is targeting more business clients. SugarSync is, in a way, pivoting since competitors like Google Drive, box and Dropbox are taking the oxygen from the casual cloud market.
    The free accounts will be closed on 8th February 2014 while users can still sign up for a 5GB 90 day trial or a 60GB 30-day trial. However, SugarSync will attempt to monetize the customers as soon as possible instead of letting you keep your free storage.

    Grossman indicated that there are many companies that giving away free storage, however, these companies may not be viable in the long run. He indicated that the company is already in a solid financial position and is set to further strengthen its business. This is definitely an interesting maneuver by one of the major players in a world with dozens of GBs for free.

  • My Cloud from Western Digital

    Nowadays, it is almost impossible to create a digital baggage. You need to start by backing up your PC’s data. Your devices also need more storage space for backups, offloading photos to storing secondary media libraries. If you think like me, then you definitely need cloud based storage services.

    With the help of a 2TB external NAS Western Digital’s WD My Cloud, you can create your personal cloud at home and consolidate your data within easy reach.  Any Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device can read and write to the drive because the external hard drive connects through Ethernet cable to your wireless router instead of the traditional USB to your PC, Android or iOS devices.

    The WD My Cloud hardware sets up instantly by plugging in the AC adapter and snapping the Ethernet cable into your wireless router. There are downloadable and administrative apps for PCs and Macs and also apps for Android and iOS mobile devices. You can also type in a URL in any browser to connect to the drive’s onboard management tools, much like you would do to gain access to your browser based dashboard on the router.

    After login in to the WD portal and creating a My Cloud password account, all your mobile devices connected can read and write to the drive whenever they are connected to Wi-Fi.

    You can move content into folders called ‘shares’ that can be either private or public. It is possible to set up permissions for users of any of the shares. You will start off with some preset shares that include a private share with your name, a public folder SmartWare folder for backups and a “TimeMachineBackup” folder for Mac users.

  • Online Storage Firm Sets Its Sights beyond the Cloud


    Egnyte, an online storage company, has formulated plans to beef up its security as it seeks to position itself as a cloud player that can ease privacy anxieties attributed to the US government’s online surveillance program.

    The Mountain View Company, which prides itself from raising $33 million from venture capitalists such as Kleiner Perkins and Google ventures, is set to announce five additions to its advisory board on Wednesday. It is taping the tech executives from marketing giant Y&R, biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, security firm Sophos and elsewhere.

    Egnyte provides cloud storage as well as collaboration tools for businesses and competes with firms such as SugarSync,  and DropBox.

    Late last month, Egnyte announced a new product dubbed Storage Connect that will allow businesses to access data on different levels of sensitivity and in various physical locations through one user interface.

    The company is also set to unveil its prism prevention program on the same day that will allow businesses to detect when their employees make use of insecure file sharing programs that could enlist government monitoring.

    Vineet Jain, the chief executive officer of Egnyte has intimated that cloud is overhyped and many corporations will certainly relocate some of their data from behind the corporate firewalls into remote servers.

    Most companies deal with data dichotomy by setting up and managing different systems for different types of information through different vendors. However, Egnyte that was formed in 2007 has developed an on-premise storage service as well as a hybrid cloud.

  • New Zealand Cloud Storage Node Opened By Mega

    Mega cloud storage service announced via its blog that it has opened a New Zealand storage node. This will serve customers in Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

    This node comes seven months after the launch of Mega by former Megaload founder, Kim Dotcom. The launch saw 500,000 signups within the first 14 hours. 

    The company indicated that the transfer of files to and from an account will originate or terminate in the New Zealand node. However, API requests as well as storage of metadata will still be done from Europe.

    Mega also indicated that its geographical data redundancy policy will still apply to the new node. This means that all the data on the New Zealand cluster will still be mirrored to the European site. This is because New Zealand customers are legally barred from offshore storage of sensitive data.

    Mega has significantly updated its C++ SDK to enable it to work on the broader platform support. This is according to customer feedback.

    Mega however noted that there are security challenges in relation to the use of computers in general and specifically regarding the use of JavaScript-based cryptography.