VMware seems to have struck a nerve with its Project Octopus
file-sharing and collaboration technology preview, as requests to
participate in the upcoming beta of the platform number in "the
thousands," said John Robb, senior director of marketing for
end-user computing at VMware.
Though Robb declined to provide a more specific number, he said,
"we got great positive feedback" from the demo of Octopus at the
recent VMworld 2011 conference in Las Vegas. He considers the
response an indication that people need a file-sharing program that
offers a great user experience and the appropriate IT
controls--something they're not getting now.
"We think that there is a false choice between a great user
experience [and] IT control," Robb said. "We think that products
like [Microsoft] SharePoint have over-pivoted toward IT control
with a limited experience for users and we think that the right
answer is great user experience and great IT control."
Project Octopus will enable users to access files from any device,
including smartphones and tablet computers and share them with
people both inside and outside the corporate network, while also
providing a project workflow platform, he said. At the same time,
IT managers will be able to control access to files, apply security
policies, and manage data, particularly that which is out of
date.
"We found that 80 percent of files in a collaboration system are
not accessed after more than two years," wrote Sam Khavari,
director of product management for end-user computing at VMware, in
a blog post that coincided with the preview. "Octopus will
automatically identify these orphaned files, warn their owners, and
if it never hears back, it expires those files and deletes
them."
That's just one of the features in the technology preview. Others
will likely be added based on feedback from participants in the
beta. Asked if the thousands of inquiries means VMware might limit
the number of participants, Robb said it might be rolled out in two
phases. Octopus might first be rolled out to a relatively small
group of users "and get them initial validation and feedback"
before rolling it out to all comers.
Octopus is designed to be integrated with other VMware end-user
computing technology such as the Zimbra Collaboration Server for
Web-based applications, VMware View for virtual desktop delivery,
VMware Horizon for application management, and AppBlast, another
technology previewed at VMworld that delivers applications through
an HTML5-based browser regardless of operating system or device
type.
Octopus has been compared to Dropbox, the Web-based file-hosting
service that runs on laptops, smartphones, and tablets. However,
Octopus is positioned as an enterprise-level offering. Dropbox
provides a free service but for only 2 GB of capacity, while paid
accounts max out at 350 GB.
"When asked when Octopus would be generally available, VMware
spokesman Christian Bateman noted that VMware Horizon was
introduced at VMworld 2010 in late August of last year and became
generally available this past May. He said that nine-month timeline
would be a good yardstick for determining when Octopus would be
G.A."
Source:
InformationWeek USA