Will Platypus Be The Answer For Mobile Professionals?
Platypus, also known as GDrive could be a great answer for mobile computing professionals who work on the go. Instead of having to worry about bringing everything with you when you’re working, you can simply access your files via the Internet.
This virtual storage solution that has been rumoured to be in the making for a few years has been talked about for quite some type in online circles and has been mentioned by many names including: GDrive, Platypus, Google Web Drive, Google Amethyst, and Google Cosmo.
The forthcoming (and presumably free) product offering is said to work with Windows, Linux, and with Mac so users can access their data anywhere. Anyone who is a mobile professional knows that life is easier if you can access absolutely everything while on the go. Laptops traditionally aren’t as robust as desktops but a neccesity for the mobile workforce and being able to quickly get hold of your data while on the go is wonderful. Here are some potential scenarios where Platypus / Gdrive could be helpful:
Gdrive saves the day:
An employee of a company leaves work for the day and goes home with their laptop. They’ve planned to work on a spreadsheet that’s on their hard drive at the office but once home they realize they forgot to save the spreadsheet to their thumb drive. No problem! They access Gdrive on the internet and download their spreadsheet from their work hard drive.
Platypus to the rescue:
A journalist is working on a story and is under deadline. They have a power failure at home. They quickly dash to an internet cafe across town that isn’t impacted by the problem and because of Platypus, they can access their story and get it to the editor before deadline.
GDrive isn’t out yet but when it’s released it could definitely be the beginning of the end of the need for storage drives.
February 26th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Hi,
I work for http://www.nomadesk.com, which offers easy and secure file sharing, wherever you are. I read your post on Google’s GDrive with great interest and just wanted to add NomaDesk to the mix.
NomaDesk, trusted by mobile (“nomadic”) businesses for several years now both in Europe and the U.S., has similar features such as the ones you mention. We are convinced that the more data gets synchronized, the more likely it gets compromised. Therefore, NomaDesk includes an encrypted virtual drive that keeps your files securely available off-line and remote file shredding and IP-tracking with TheftGuard. Of course, we impose no limits on storage and bandwidth.A Mac version is on its way.
NomaDesk works with a local client and allows access to your files from anywhere on the web. We have very good reasons to work with a local client, next to the already “traditional” web interface (e.g., box.net, the late Xdrive, etc.):
(1) 100% availability of the data, regardless of network quality
(2) 100% performance when editing files, using any type of program
(3) 100% simplicity; just drag-n-drop files to synchronize and share them
(4) 100% security on the PC also: the virtual drives that NomaDesk creates on the PC are encrypted and can be shred remotely via our online TheftGuard service.
The bulk of our users, which are SOHO and SMB teams, appreciate the straightforward and secure file sharing they get through using the NomaDesk client software. You should know that in most cases NomaDesk replaces the traditional file server, FTP and VPN – with success!
Please let me know your thoughts.
Kind regards,
F.