Enterprise File Fabric™
Today we released our new Web File Manager UI. We believe it is a significant improvement over our prior File Manager UI in terms of simplicity and ease of use:
One of the first things to notice is that the Web File Manager can operate in a single pane. In fact this is its default mode.
Continue reading “Storage Made Easy release new Web Cloud File Manager UI”
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Users on the Storage Made Easy US service:
https://storagemadeeasy.com
can access the Storage Made Easy Beta Channel
http://beta.storagemadeeasy.com
to check out the new Storage Made Easy File Manager UI.
This will work with existing account details and existing data and it is a big change in style and look and feel.
Continue reading “Check out the new Storage Made Easy Cloud File Manager Web UI”
by Today we pushed out a new update on our Cloud File Manager that changes the design to be a responsive design.
This means that the File Manager will adapt it’s layout depending on the size of the screen it is being view on.
For example here is the File Manager as viewed from a normal desktop web browser
If I resize the desktop window then the File Manager adapts to show less information but for it still to be usable:
Continue reading “Cloud File Manager Responsive Design Update”
by The latest iOS SME client app version 3.13 released on the 25th March has been updated with very useful new features, following is a list of some of the main ones:
— Document Provider —
The new Document Provider feature makes SME Cloud available to other 3rd party apps giving easy access to your SME files.
For example, you can now import a file from a mapped SME Cloud into dropbox as follows:
by Today we have upgraded the Storage Made Easy Web Cloud File Manager.
The Storage Made Easy Web File Manager is different to a lot of file managers that you see today as it is hierarchical in nature and resembles a true file tree (akin to windows explorer). It’s hierarchical nature enables it to easily work with and manoeuvre around large data sets.
Over the years we have had a lot of feedback from companies and users about how they would like to see the File Manager work and what features they would like and we’ve used this feedback to make improvements, which are outlined below:
Large Layout in inline Mode
The File Manager layout is now larger in inline mode taking more advantage of the screen space.
The File Manager has been optimised for iPad / Tablet
A number of optimizations where done for working with the desktop Cloud File Manager on a tablet. The first is that it opens in full screen mode when being used on such devices. The second is that there are optimizations that make it easier to use such as being easily to widen / constrict the view on each pane. Also interactions have been optimized to work with touch events. The selection of files has also been made easier with checkbox selection options (these selection options are also available when using the FM from a PC).
Easier File Selection
A lot of feedback has been made to us about making file selection easier. To that end we have made it easier to select files by using a checkbox paradigm. Check boxes appear so that a file can be selected when the mouse is placed at the left hand side of a file.
Image Previews
Image thumbnails can now be previewed as the File Manager is browsed.
Help Inline
The File Manager now contains help guides showing how to action the most common functions such as copy/paste:
Default PDF Viewer is now native
The default PDF viewer is now a native viewer rather than Google Viewer (although Google Viewer can still be used and be setup to be the default). This means the viewer sandboxes any data viewed in this way just to the SME service.
New Themes / Custom Themes
There are two new large themes for the File Manager a blue theme and a normal theme. The existing themes have been rename to “tiny”. Also now, for Appliance users, custom themes can be created. This will be available in the next Appliance version.
The File timestamp to be used can now be selected
As SME is an abstraction between the remote cloud it works with more than one timestamp. Firstly it has its own concept of time, based on UTC, as to when a timestamp was modified through the SME service. Next it handles what the timestamp shows on the remote cloud service, and lastly it can show the local file time of a file uploaded to a remote service via SME (this may be different to the remote cloud time as some cloud services ignore the local file time and simply timestamp the file at the time it was uploaded to their service). Although all three are handled the user can now set which they want shown by default.
Edit on Hover
When hovering on a file, certain options are displayed for easy access. This has been enhanced so that files that can be edited, such as documents, text files etc can be edited by clicking the edit icon on hover.
Comments view is now collaborative / real time
When working in full file / comments view, if another user is also reviewing the same file and making comments then the comments will appear in real-time like an instant message
Search inline
The File Manager now features an inline folder search (rather than having to move out to the tabbed search). This is a quick search mechanism to search for files in folders and sub folders.
Favourites and Quick Upload placed at top of file tree
Favourites and Quick uploads have been placed at the top of the file tree for easy access. These can also be configured to be hidden.
New way to copy / move files
Copy and Move can still be done by selecting files and drag and drop but now there are buttons and a wizard to make copy and moving files between folders or cloud services even easier.
There are also other numerous small changes and bug fixes but this post highlights the main functional changes.
by We did a general update to our platform today, and whereas some of the updates will form a part of future blog posts, I wanted to highlight that our new look File manager is now available in beta as a link adjacent to the current File Manager after login.
We’ve taken in all your feedback and simplified the menu bar and options. The Menu bar now shows only frequently used options, and all other options either on folders or files are available on a right click.
The way the file manager works snow also more akin to a traditional file manager with folders and files in both left and right hand panes.
Sharing options have been consolidated in one place for files, and files can easily be selected using shift-click, just like on a desktop. Once selected multiple files can be moved or shared just by dragging and dropping. Also folder sharing has been introduced.
The tablet version is optimised for touch screens and selecting multiple files is just a matter of clicking to the left of the file, and a tick will appear to let you know the file is selected. Showing options can be done by doing a long touch or press.
We hope you like the changes and look forward to your feedback
by It’s seasonally topical to write a blog post that will draw a close to the old year with some predictions for the New Year, so read on for a post that fits with that trend…
2011 has been an eventful year for SMEStorage. On the business side we have always been a privately owned self funded company. We have never been VC backed and we’re profitable and have needed to be to be self sufficient. To enable us to expand the founders took a decision to raise some money to enable the company to continue to grow and expand the company. To this end Vehera, the owning entity of SMEStorage sold a small amount of equity enabling Vehera to raise a million dollars to fund the companies push for 2012. This will give the ability to add some more staff to enable us to grow the opportunity we see for our technology with ISP’s and the Enterprise.
On the Technology front we continued building out our support for Cloud’s resulting in SMEStorage now supporting over 35 Storage and SaaS Clouds. We also released a native Windows Phone Client,and also the first versions of Mac and Linux Cloud Tools and we enhanced our native browser plug in’s with support for Google Chrome and Safari. We also enhanced our iOS App for iPhone and iPad many times over the course of the year as well as releasing a native Android client for Phones and tablets. In addition to all of this we also improved our core offering with a myriad of new features which included adding protocol adaptors that exposed Clouds mapped to SMEStorage over WebDav, FTP or the Amazon S3 API, even if the underlying Cloud does not natively support these protocols.
So what for 2012, well, firstly we’ll continue to add more services that can be federated and managed. Shortly we’ll be announcing support for SugarSync, and the UbuntuOne Cloud. We’ll also be adding services less traditionally associated with file stores. The first of these will be BaseCamp, which will be followed by some CRM SaaS services and we have in mind another project / collaboration SaaS tool.
We’ll also be adding even more Cloud governance and e-compliance features. If your interested on our take on Cloud Sprawl and governance please see our prior blog post on this subject.
We intend to push out our revised Cloud Appliance in early 2012. This will give any customer the ability to have a hybrid Cloud governance application that deals with Cloud and local data and service federation that they fully control and own. Customers will be able to host this in their own data centre as it will be available as a VMWare, XEN or KVM appliance. As an alternative we intend to enable easy access to an Amazon EC2 based instance. We also intend to make it easy for resellers to get their ands on it and offer it as a value add to their own business.
It’s our firm belief that with the greater adoption of Cloud, and the increasing array of Cloud Services that 2012 will be the year of Cloud Federation and governance as companies struggle to manage and control the Cloud services deployed in their organisation. We believe that with our advanced service features, comprehensive access clients, and Hybrid on-premise Cloud Appliance that we are well placed to help companies who struggle with these issues.
For general predictions, we’ll make just one, and that is that the “free lunch” is coming to an end. In a volatile economy services that offer “free” may look appealing, but all businesses need to make money to survive and free eventually needs to become paid, and companies need a solid business model to survive. Hoping to capitalise at some point on a large user base of free users is not a business plan. There is room for some element of freemium, we use it ourselves, but our belief is that it has to be underpinned by a solid business plan. If you’d like to read more about this, see this post which goes into a little more depth.
All that remains to be said is to wish you all a “Happy New Year” and we hope all your hopes and dreams are realised in the forthcoming year.
by We’ve now updated our Windows Phone 7 Cloud File Manager to support Windows Mango and this release is now live on the Windows Market.
The release features:
– Updated to support Mango
– Added ability to upload a file directly from the web
– Added share file link to social networks (Windows Live, Facebook,LinkedIn, Twitter etc)
– Now integrates deeper with Pictures hub – pictures can be uploaded (shared) directly from it.
– Added cloud tags and browse files by tags.
– Various other bug fixes and enhancements
SMEStorage for Windows Phone is one of the many client tools for the SMEStorage Open Cloud Platform, enabling data access for multiple different Storage Clouds, and providing additional features and services above the Cloud Providers.
As with all SMEStorage clients, SMEStorage Cloud File Manager for Windows Phone 7 supports:
Amazon S3, Amazon Cloud Drive, RackSpace Cloud Files, OpenStack, Box.net, Windows Live SkyDrive, Windows Live Mesh 2011 (read only), Windows Azure, Microsoft SharePoint, Google Docs, Google Storage, Google Apps Mail, GMail-as-a-Cloud, Google Sites, PogoPlug devices, DropBox, iDisk/MobileMe, Mezeo, Zimbra, FilesAnywhere, CloudMe, SafeSync, Email-as-a-Cloud, FTP-as-a-Cloud, Alfresco, S3 compatible Clouds, Office365 and any WebDAV compliant cloud – within one virtual file system.
by We’ve updated our Rich File Manager on our website to address one of it’s major criticisms which was only loading up to 10,000 items in the cache. Now it has been designed from the ground up and the cache is dynamic and loads on demand so the number files you wish to view in the browser is not a restriction.
It still has the look and feel of a real file system, except of course it aggregates Clouds and is, in essence a Cloud File System Aggregator.
It has a mode where it becomes enlarged and is a web ‘App’ in the browser so you can use it like a regular old File Manager once it’s launched.
You’ll find a beta link under the current file manager if you wish to use it.
by We’ve updated our Android App to version 2.1 The 2.1 update is a substantial update that beefs up the features for local transfer of files from PC’s and laptops. Now users can transfer files directly from their PC over WiFi using FTP clients or a browser. This makes very easy to take files with you that you have stored locally.
The update also adds a scheduler for automation of the synchronisation of files to/from the device and one or more storage clouds. This was a must requested feature from users so we’ve managed to get it into this build.
The third major part of the update is better integration with the Android Operating System so that all upload, download, and file event notifications are visible in the Android notification taskbar.
The tighter integration with the Android OS means that you can now take advantage of SMEStorage Cloud File Manager from many other applications. This is one of the particular strengths of the Android, as is the great notification features, and we are pleased to now be taking fill advantage of these.
This tighter integration means that all downloads and uploads are now processes as tasks that show up in the Android notification bar and the users do not need to stay in the Application for the uploads or downloads to complete
SMEStorage is available from the Google Android Marketplace at:
https://market.android.com/details?id=ta.smestorageg
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