I haven’t quite figured out if Wuala is of use to aid workers but my earlier experience with MozyPro is reason enough to try something new and different. Wuala, developed in Switzerland, utilizes a social network for storing random bits of your encrypted data. The service is free or you can purchase additional space beyond the complimentary 1GB. You can also provide up to 50GB of storage space and get the same in return for free.
I am not sure what happens when someone shuts off their server where you have your data parked but perhaps someone out there who is ‘in the know’ can provide us with some free advice.
UPDATE: Check out this story on Wuala that just appeared in The Economist.
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You do not need to worry about computers in the network being on or off. Wuala uses some rather complicated code magic, including redundancy, fragmentation of files, etc. To get a basic idea how the Wuala technology works check out this article in the Economist: http://www.economist.com/research/articlesbysubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348909&story_id=12081445
We believe that Wuala is uniquely fit for aid workers, as it serves a number of needs which might come up in different NGOs. I think for aid workers the following features are the most compelling:
- High privacy, private files stay private
- Possibility to create groups to collaborate
- Publish materials to the public with no traffic restrictions
- Cross over of web site and application (you do not need to install Wuala to run it and you can access files even from an internet café)
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
moritz_ from wuala
Interesting discussion! As an employee of Aventiv, the creators of NomaDesk, I’d like to add our product to the mix here: We offer small businesses and “nomadic” professionals what we call a “virtual” fileserver that’s available at any time, even when no internet connection is available – which might come in very handy for aid workers in the field.
NomaDesk stores your files both locally and on our servers – so you don’t have to worry: even when we shut down our servers, you’ll always have your data available on your local system.
On top of that, we take daily backups of your data and we encrypt the data on your local computer – this means that the content of your fileserver will be invisible to others.
I am really looking forward to your comments on our product… NomaDesk is free to try on http://www.nomadesk.com
Tom Dupon
Online marketing manager NomaDesk
tom.dupon_at_aventiv.com