We’ve got a couple of clients using our LIfetime Cloud package (which enables users to mix and match Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Box.net, Gmail-as-a-Cloud, Email-as-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud, MobileMe, and Webdav clouds) to integrate with Microsoft Sharepoint to enable them to:

To access Sharepoint they use the WebDav provider. Once the WebDav provider has been added as a Cloud Provider (from My Account -> Packages) you need to enter the following details:

Once you have done this you can choose whether to sync the metada from the files and folders held in Sharepoint to SMEStorage and then you will also be able to access the files through the SMEStorage platform.


After you have done this you can choose to do a scheduled background sync to another cloud provider such as Amazon S3. To do this go to MyAccount->Providers and choose to add a ‘New Provider‘.  Choose the Primary Providers as your WebDav SharePoint Provider and choose the new Backup Provider to be Amazon S3 (or whichever other cloud you wish). You can then choose how often you want the sync to occur i.e. hourly, daily, weekly.





That is it, you now have Sharepoint integrated with your SMEStorage account.

We’ve added some new features to the site. These are:

Favourites: You can now make any file a “favourite file” by clicking on the favourites star.





Once a file is a favourite it is accessible on your desktop from the favourites tab and in your FileManager from the Favourites group.





You can configure your Favourites tab to open on login from My Account -> Options tab.


We’ve also tweaked the file explorer based on user feedback so that it is larger and has a scrollbar on the directories making it easier to browse and use.

We’ve updated our API manual and you can download it from Google Code. It provides a files system on top of one cloud or many.  The SMEStorage API is what is used to build all our client tools. You can use it to access any of the clouds we support (which is pretty much all of them) and you can use it to import/export between different cloud, in real-time or as a scheduled sync. You can use the API to backup email to any cloud, as it has specific functionality for this, or pretty much anything you can think of.

We are please to announce support for MobileME, iDisk and any WebDav compliant storage cloud from today. WebDAV is the Distributed Authoring and Versioning extension to the standard HTTP/HTTPS web protocol. It allows a client to browse a remote filesystem, usually with a graphical browser that makes it appear that your files are on your desktop. 


This means that anyone who uses these storage clouds with SMEStorage (and remember this does not stop you using them with your normal clients) will get access to our clients:


Web: Rich File Manager,  features integration with best of breed web 2.0 vendors and collaboration features


Windows: Virtual Drive, Shell Integration, Sync Features, Dedicated Explorer, Integration with MS Office & Open Office


iPhone: Web based iPhone client in which files can be viewed, shared, collaborated on, and also viewed offline


Facebook: Share your files on Facebook with your friends


iGoogle: Access your files directly from your iGoogle Portal Page.


Amongst ther storage vendors apart from Apple that support WebDav are Bingo Disk, FilesAnywhere, iDrive.


You can also create WebDav compliant folders in Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems and webdav can also be used to access email systems like Microsoft Exchange and also intranet systems such as Sharepoint.

There was an interesting post on PC World recently that asks the question “What happens to the data when an online storage site closes?”. After all two of the main reasons for offline storage are for backup and for access.
What we are starting to see happen in the world of online storage is consolidation and of course the non sustainability of ‘free’ business models. As the article states, “Online storage services that have announced closings in the past ten months include big names in tech: AOL (Xdrive and AOL Pictures), Hewlett-Packard (Upline), Sony (Image Station), and Yahoo (Briefcase). Plenty of lesser-known online storage firms also have kicked the bucket, including Digital Railroad and Streamload MediaMax, which turned into The Linkup.”


One of the reasons we never used proprietary storage services for SMEStorage is that, ultimately, it is very difficult to keep up with the big guys in terms of price. Just look at Amazon. They are the 1oo pound gorilla of being able to sell at a high volume for low margin.


At SMEStorage we have concentrated on providing interoperability with best-of-breed Storage providers and building value services over and above this. For example things such as clients for different platforms, integrations with the best-of-breed Web 2.0, Desktop and social media tools. Innovations such as Email-backup-to-storage, and the ability to move data about from one storage provider to another. Or even have a real-time Cloud Data Backup which, if the primary provider disappears, will have kept the data in sync and available with a secondary provider. Key to this is that you own your data, not us.


If you are using our free Amazon S3 service we give you 250MB, but even using these you are free at any time to export it to any other provider you want at any time, including our other free services such as email-as-a-cloud or gmail-as-a-cloud, but of course you still own the account and therefore the data.


We believe that the most valuable thing is your data and we will keep doing all we can to help you keep it safe, accessible, and available.

Today we launched a multi-cloud file sharing clipboard on our web platform. This allows you to store multiple file links in a clipboard that is stored between sessions. Once you have stored all the links you wish to you can choose to share them over email or with your collaboration groups.


The clipboard can store file links that are stored in multiple clouds which are viewed through our virtual cloud file system.

Today we released our Organisational Cloud Package. This is specifically for businesses who want to take advantage of Cloud Storage.  The Organisational Cloud package supports Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Box.net, Email-as-a-Cloud, Private Cloud, and GMail-as-a-Cloud.


Specific features are:


- Mix and Match Cloud Providers and view all your files from all providers in one File System





- Use one or more Cloud Providers between as many users as you prefer. We offer 5 and 10 user packages but ask us if you want more than this.


- Administrator can invite and manage users, decide which clouds are used, is responsible for public organisation folders, and can monitor logs.


      


- Use your preferred client - Web, Firefox plug-in, Windows Virtual Drive (with explorer, shell and sync tools), iGoogle, iPhone


- Easily Backup or import from different Cloud Providers, which also includes Google Docs and Evernote.


- Integration with Microsoft Office and Open Office


- All Backups can be scheduled to happen in real-time or offline at a specific time each hour,day,week or month.


- Support automated emails backup using POP3 or IMAP with plug-ins available for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express.


- Encrypt your files at any time using SHA-1 secure encryption. Only you have the private key so your files can be absolutely secure.


- Incorporate your own Private Organisation Cloud using a simple FTP Server. This can be used to access files in the virtual file system or even backup from private to public cloud or vice-versa.


- Web platform offers integrations with Zoho Office (create documents directly in the cloud), Evernote, Google Docs, Picnik (inline image editing), ScribD (view PDF’s and other documents), and Twitter (file share using Twitter or be notified of users sharing files with you)


- Rich Collaboration, document workflow and file sharing features.


- Ability to edit HTML, PHP, C++, Ruby, Python, .Net, JavaScript and other languages inline using built in code editor in the web platform.





- Sophisticated Filter mechanisms to deal with large volume of files

SMEStorage now supports Google Docs import. This means you can import any of your Google Docs into SMEStorage. Once in SMEStorage you can choose to export these files or back them up to any other cloud, including Evernote, any Email provider, Gmail, Box.net, Amazon S3, and FTP.

We had a couple of user requests to add TinyURL integration so that you can convert the long unique URL that we provide for each file. We thought this was a good idea so we have added this. Now each long url can be converted to a TinyURL if you wish to use this without having to visit the TinyURL site.

You will notice a new option when you click on a file in the SMEStorage web platform. This is the option to send a file link with comments to Twitter.


To enable this There is a new option underneath the “My Account” link on the sidebar call “Integrations”. You can enter your Twitter account details here. Once you have done this you can use Twitter also to be notified by direct message of any files shared to you from business group shares workspaces that you have setup.






This of course supports all the underlying file storage providers that we support which include Amazon S3, Mosso Cloud Files, Gmail as a cloud, Email as a Cloud, FTP as a Private Cloud, and Box.net, and of course a mixture of these.