Introducing the New Cloud Control Panel

<h1 style="font-size:30px;font-weight:normal;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:arial"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(81, 76, 76); font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; ">New Server and Control Panel Names</span><br></h1><div class="region region-content" style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:arial;font-size:13px"><div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system"><div class="content"><div class="content"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="line-height:1.4em"> We're continually evolving and growing to provide you with nothing less than an extraordinary experience. As part of our effort, we've made many improvements to our products and how you interact with them. We need a way to let you know where you are and what you're working with, so here are the new names for our Cloud Control Panels and Cloud Servers:</p> <ul><li>The New Cloud Control Panel is named <em>New Cloud Control Panel</em>, or simply, the Cloud Control Panel.</li><li>The existing Cloud Control Panel is now called Cl<em>assic Cloud Control Panel</em>.</li><li>Our new Cloud Servers are called <em>next generation Cloud Servers Powered by OpenStack</em>, or just<em>next generation Cloud Servers.</em></li> <li>Existing Cloud Servers are now called <em>first generation Cloud Servers</em>. In the New Cloud Control Panel, a blue asterisk follows the name of each of your first generation Cloud Servers. </li></ul><p style="line-height:1.4em"> You'll see these new names throughout this article and as soon as you log into the New Cloud Control Panel.</p><h2 style="color:rgb(81,76,76);font-size:18px;margin:0px">Quick Access to Rackspace Products</h2><p style="line-height:1.4em"> You can work with the any of the supportelike products by clicking the product name located at the top of the New Cloud Control Panel. The product names run along the top of the page and look like this:</p><p style="line-height:1.4em"> One click and you'll be in the product workspace where you can begin managing your cloud resources. By popular demand, you'll notice that DNS now has its own dedicated workspace where you can manage DNS settings for all of our products. </p> <p style="line-height:1.4em"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(81, 76, 76); font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; ">Organizing and Finding Your Cloud Resources</span></p><p style="line-height:1.4em">Several exciting new features help you organize, find, and efficiently manage your resources no matter the size or shape of your cloud inventory.</p> <h3>Tags</h3><p style="line-height:1.4em">Tags let you add customized labels to any of the assets that make up your cloud infrastructure. They're completely flexible, so there's no limit to how many tags you create or how you assign them. For example, you could distinguish your servers by their functional role, a certain website association, a specific technology, or even by geographical location.</p> <p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="183" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/NewCPTagging.png" width="530"></p><p style="line-height:1.4em">If you hover your mouse over a first generation Cloud Server, you'll also see the first generation Cloud Server tooltip.</p> <h3>Filters</h3><p style="line-height:1.4em">Our new filters help you find all assets that share these common properties: Tag, Status, Image, RAM, Region, and Type. When you create and tag assets, the filters are automatically populated. When you click a check box next to a filter, the list of assets shows only the matching assets.</p> <p style="line-height:1.4em">Here's an example of what the filters might look like for Cloud Servers:</p><p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="605" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Jan%2030%20-%20Cloud%20Servers_0.png" width="194"></p> <p style="line-height:1.4em">You'll notice that tags are also included in the list of filters. This gives you a powerful yet simple way to find only the specific assets you want to work with. For example, you could filter your list of servers to show all 2 GB Cloud Servers that you've tagged as production. Using the Status filter, you can drill down even further and find the servers that are currently Running, Offline, or have a different status. </p> <h3>Search</h3><p style="line-height:1.4em">With a convenient and fast new search field in the upper right corner of each asset listing (servers, files, and load balancers) you have yet another method for locating any asset, merely by entering part of the asset name, tag, or IP address in the search field. </p> <p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="161" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Feb%2001%20-%20search.png" width="354"></p><p style="line-height:1.4em">Using tags, filters, and search, your cloud inventory can grow to any size and you'll still be able to promptly locate and manage any asset.</p> <h2 style="color:rgb(81,76,76);font-size:18px;margin:0px">Performing Administrative Actions</h2><p style="line-height:1.4em">We've added a variety of new ways to perform administrative tasks. It doesn't matter if you're currently looking at a list of assets or a detailed view of a single asset. There's no need to switch screens or leave your current location to perform a task; every task you might want to perform is right where you need it.</p> <h3>The Actions Cog, Actions Menu, and the Edit Pencil</h3><ul><li>When viewing resouces in a list, click the actions cog to the left of the asset name and you'll find a drop-down menu with all available actions for that asset. The actions cog is always part of every list, whether it's a list of servers, files, or load balancers. The following screenshot shows the Actions cog drop-down menu for a first generation Cloud Server named 1TestVyatta:</li> </ul><p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="439" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Jan%2029%20-%20create%20server_1.png" width="197"></p><ul><li>If you're looking at the details of a specific asset, you'll find the Actions drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the page. Again, all the actions you can perform on the asset are easily accessible. </li> </ul><p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="424" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Jan%2029%20-%20Actions_0.png" width="186"></p><ul><li>You'll also see that you can edit an existing setting for a resource by clicking the edit pencil that appears next to the asset description. For example, you could resize this server, change the image, or add a record by selecting the option that appears after the description for each setting:</li> </ul><h3><img alt="" border="2" height="230" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Jan%2029%20-%20server%20details.png" width="521"></h3><h3>Pop-overs</h3><p style="line-height:1.4em"> Whenever you perform an administrative action on an resource, you'll instantly see a pop-over that lets you modify the settings or perform an action without taking you to another screen. This makes modifying an asset much faster since you don't have to wait for the page to reload. Here's an example of the Reboot Server pop-over accessed from the server list for a first generation Cloud Server called 1TestVyatta:</p> <p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="251" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Feb%2001%20-%20Pop-Ups.png" width="454"></p><h2 style="color:rgb(81,76,76);font-size:18px;margin:0px"> Accessing the Classic Cloud Control Panel</h2><p style="line-height:1.4em">You can reach the Classic Cloud Control Panel from the user account drop-down menu located in the upper right corner of the page. The user account menu is labeled with your Rackspace Cloud account user name. From this menu you can access billing information, API Keys, and usernames/contacts. It looks like this:</p> <p style="line-height:1.4em"><img alt="" border="2" height="181" src="http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/sites/default/files/field/image/Feb%2001%20-%20First%20Gen%20Servers.png" width="236"></p><h2 style="color:rgb(81,76,76);font-size:18px;margin:0px"> Additional Enhancements</h2><p style="line-height:1.4em">Our goal is to make using the Rackspace Cloud as easy as possible by providing a full-featured Control Panel that lets you do your job, and never gets in your way. In the near future you'll see additional enhancements and new features in the New Cloud Control Panel, so check back frequently for more information.</p> <p style="line-height:1.4em">As always, we'd love for you to send us your feedback!</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>

Introducing the New Cloud Control Panel

New Server and Control Panel Names  We're continually evolving and growing to provide you with nothing less than an extraordinary experi...

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5 Factors That Affect Cloud-based Data Upload and Retrieval

If you want to start a document on your laptop and revise it on your phone, you can. If you'd like to listen to your music library from either your tablet or your work computer, you can do that, too. Gone are the days of being tethered to a single device. The reason for this: the cloud.<br> <br>Simply put, cloud computing involves storing data and applications on remote servers and accessing them via the Internet rather than saving or installing them on your personal computer. You can use the cloud to house text files, photos, videos, music and the like, either as primary storage or backup storage, often for free or for a nominal price.<br> <br>But the cloud isn't just about storage. In this age of Web mail, social networking, online bill paying, automatic phone backups, multiplayer online gaming and video streaming, a lot of us are already performing a variety of personal and business activities in the cloud, whether we realize it or not.<br> <br>Many businesses are using the cloud to handle some or all of their information technology needs as a more inexpensive, efficient and flexible alternative to purchasing, running and maintaining in-house computing equipment and software.<br> <br>But the cloud is not without its pitfalls. Here are five factors that can affect, and sometimes impede, your ability to access your data.<br><br><br>Category of Cloud Computing<br>There are several types of cloud service, and which one you are using can affect how and how much you can interact with your data. Three common categories are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).<br> <br>With SaaS, you are simply accessing software over the Internet that is offered and maintained entirely by the cloud provider. The type of software can include e-mail, content management systems, productivity software and business applications. SaaS requires the least amount of setup on the end-user's part, but also provides the least amount of control and flexibility as far as system functionality, and what can be uploaded or downloaded from the cloud.<br> <br>With PaaS, the cloud host provides a hardware and software platform on which you can develop, install and run applications, Web sites or other services. You don't have direct access to the backend servers, but you have more control over what you can do on them.<br> <br>With IaaS, the cloud host provides computing resources including physical or virtual servers, storage space and networking capabilities over which you have a lot of control. You are basically renting access to a portion of a data center's network and servers, and you can install and upload anything you want to them. You don't have the responsibility of maintaining or upgrading equipment, but do have to configure the servers and set up any software you might need. An IaaS service can be a public, private or hybrid cloud. Public clouds are shared by a number of users who select and access service over the Internet; private clouds allow users to have dedicated servers on a private network; hybrid clouds involve a little of both.<br> <br>The types are not always mutually exclusive, as an SaaS provider might house their software on PaaS or IaaS cloud services, and a PaaS host might use the services of an IaaS provider. This potential nesting means that problems of a provider you don't even know you're using can cause issues with getting to your data or services.<br> <br>And which type of service your company is using may determine things like who you contact when you have a problem -- someone in your own IT department versus a third party. It also impacts things like security, which, as you will see next, can affect your ability to work with your data.<br> <br><br>Security<br>Security isn't just about protecting your identity and financial information, although those are important. It is also key to preserving the integrity of and access to your data and applications in the cloud. Things like firewalls, encryption, backups, isolation of resources, the strength of authorization at user interfaces and screening of employees and other customers can determine who can get to your resources, how they can do so and what they can do with them.<br> <br>There are many disruptive things that a malicious intruder can do. A denial of service attack, which involves bombarding a system to the point where it is inaccessible for normal usage, can render your cloud services temporarily unavailable. A hijacked account could lead to your data or business transactions being redirected for ill purposes, or loss of access to your own services. A compromised system could allow a virtual machine housing your applications and information to be migrated to a malicious server, leading to exposure of information and possible loss of data. Malicious software (malware) can infect the system and disrupt operations, or even compromise your home or work computer if it spreads.Even if an attack doesn't cause you to lose data or access, any security breach will likely lower your comfort level with storing or retrieving information from the cloud.<br> <br>Unfortunately, there are no entirely unbreachable systems. Anything accessible via the Internet is vulnerable. But the tougher a cloud provider's security and the better its ability to detect and recover from breaches, the less likely you'll be to lose access, data or peace of mind.<br> <br>And security is not all up to the cloud host. Personal lapses, such as succumbing to a phishing scam (where you are tricked into giving away login credentials) or downloading malware from another source can have consequences for your cloud access as well. Vigilance is required on all sides.<br> <br><br>Bandwidth and Other Budgeting<br>The cloud can give you access to hardware, software and infrastructure that would be prohibitively expensive for a person or company to purchase outright. But what you are able to do with it depends upon how much you are willing to pay for the privilege.<br> <br>While there are lots of free cloud options for individual users -- quite useful for things like e-mail and document and photo storage -- most of them start to charge you monthly or annual fees when you want to store more than a few gigabytes' worth of data. You could easily hit your limit right in the middle of transferring the 100 or so pictures you took of your children, pets and meals this week. Of course, the error message saying you have run out of space is likely to be accompanied by instructions on how you can purchase more.<br> <br>Cloud services geared toward businesses offer a lot more space and capability, with various types and levels of service. Companies can pay for things like per-gigabyte storage or database space, rental for dedicated servers (physical, virtual or both) with varying amounts of memory and storage on an hourly or monthly basis, hosted software applications on a per-user basis, network bandwidth usage, additional IP addresses and IT management services. The ability to ramp up service quickly and pay only for what you use or think you will use are big advantages. However, if you underestimate your needs and don't opt for enough space or enough servers, you could run into issues while working with your data. Hitting a storage wall is a lot worse when you are uploading time-sensitive customer data than when you are saving your dog photos.<br> <br>Still, if you're willing to pay for it, you can always add more. And some cloud setups will scale automatically as your usage changes. (Although this might result in sticker shock when you get the monthly bill.)<br> <br><br>Bandwidth Caps and Throttling<br>The cloud may come with usage fees, but cloud services aren't the only ones keeping track of how much you're uploading and downloading. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) have implemented bandwidth caps, which are limits on the amount of data you're allowed to transfer over their network each month. The caps vary by provider and plan, but amounts anywhere from 100 to 250 GB per month are not uncommon. Aside from file transfers, you're using up bandwidth anytime you surf the Net, play games online or stream Netflix or Hulu videos, among other things.<br> <br>Reaching your limit comes with penalties. Your provider might charge you per-gigabyte fees for whatever amount you go over the limit, throttle your bandwidth speed (i.e. slow down your connection) or even cut off your service. The latter two would definitely put a damper on your cloud upload and retrieval capabilities. And sometimes usage is capped during certain times of the day on shared networks like cable and satellite, so heavy users might experience slow-downs during peak usage times.<br> <br>There are other things besides usage level that can get your data throttled, too. Many major Internet providers have begun using the Copyright Alert System to penalize people suspected of uploading copyrighted material for piracy purposes. After a few offenses, your ISP can do anything from sending you warnings to throttling your speed to blocking your service. The system reportedly monitors for uploads of known copyrighted files over peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software, and tracks those files based on IP address. Anyone using your service could get you into trouble, so be sure to secure your WiFi and be cautious about sharing your Internet access. However, you can get around the monitoring by masking your IP address using a virtual private network (VPN).<br> <br><br>Network Issues and Downtime<br>Cloud services are by definition remote, so you have to be able to connect to them over a network connection. There are multiple potential points of failure, including issues with your home network, your Internet service provider, the cloud provider's network or even their own ISP, not to mention obvious things like your power going out or your computer dying. If any one of these things goes down, you are out of luck getting to your data or applications.<br> <br>Network congestion will also affect how quickly and easily you can upload or download via the cloud. Extreme slowness can be just as bad as an outage when you're trying in vain to get to data you need right away to finish that last-minute presentation or paper.<br> <br>Sometimes catastrophic disruptions occur over entire data centers, or portions of data centers. Services can be interrupted by a weather event or other natural disaster, a power outage, equipment failure or simply unscheduled downtime for repairs or maintenance. While cloud hosts strive for 100 percent uptime, this is a lofty goal. Things happen, even to the big players.<br> <br>Amazon, an early pioneer in the cloud service area, has had several highly publicized outages from 2011 to 2013. Some of them took down or impaired well-known sites including Reddit, Netflix, Coursera, Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Flipboard, Vine and even Amazon itself. They have been attributed to thunder storms, power outages, human error and even a glitch in a single networking device in one case.<br> <br>Microsoft's Windows Azure service had an approximately 10-hour disruption in February 2012 caused by a leap day-related software bug. Google had an outage of only a few minutes in August 2013 that took out all of their services, including the search engine, Gmail and YouTube, and reportedly cost them around half a million dollars [source: Bloomberg]. According to the analytics firm GoSquared, the outage also reduced global Web traffic by 40 percent [source: Bloomberg, Mack].<br> <br>For a person at home trying to watch a movie on Netflix, outages can be an annoyance. But for a business, even short disruptions can have a major impact on revenue. It's a lesson that anyone relying on the cloud should spread their service over multiple data centers, or even multiple providers, if possible. Backing up data regularly in some automated fashion is also a good idea. Redundancy is key. It comes with a price tag, but it may be worth it if you need constant access to your data and services.<br>

5 Factors That Affect Cloud-based Data Upload and Retrieval

If you want to start a document on your laptop and revise it on your phone, you can. If you'd like to listen to your music library from ...

Read more »

5 Factors That Affect Cloud-based Data Upload and Retrieval

If you want to start a document on your laptop and revise it on your phone, you can. If you'd like to listen to your music library from either your tablet or your work computer, you can do that, too. Gone are the days of being tethered to a single device. The reason for this: the cloud.<br> <br>Simply put, cloud computing involves storing data and applications on remote servers and accessing them via the Internet rather than saving or installing them on your personal computer. You can use the cloud to house text files, photos, videos, music and the like, either as primary storage or backup storage, often for free or for a nominal price.<br> <br>But the cloud isn't just about storage. In this age of Web mail, social networking, online bill paying, automatic phone backups, multiplayer online gaming and video streaming, a lot of us are already performing a variety of personal and business activities in the cloud, whether we realize it or not.<br> <br>Many businesses are using the cloud to handle some or all of their information technology needs as a more inexpensive, efficient and flexible alternative to purchasing, running and maintaining in-house computing equipment and software.<br> <br>But the cloud is not without its pitfalls. Here are five factors that can affect, and sometimes impede, your ability to access your data.<br><br><br>Category of Cloud Computing<br>There are several types of cloud service, and which one you are using can affect how and how much you can interact with your data. Three common categories are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS).<br> <br>With SaaS, you are simply accessing software over the Internet that is offered and maintained entirely by the cloud provider. The type of software can include e-mail, content management systems, productivity software and business applications. SaaS requires the least amount of setup on the end-user's part, but also provides the least amount of control and flexibility as far as system functionality, and what can be uploaded or downloaded from the cloud.<br> <br>With PaaS, the cloud host provides a hardware and software platform on which you can develop, install and run applications, Web sites or other services. You don't have direct access to the backend servers, but you have more control over what you can do on them.<br> <br>With IaaS, the cloud host provides computing resources including physical or virtual servers, storage space and networking capabilities over which you have a lot of control. You are basically renting access to a portion of a data center's network and servers, and you can install and upload anything you want to them. You don't have the responsibility of maintaining or upgrading equipment, but do have to configure the servers and set up any software you might need. An IaaS service can be a public, private or hybrid cloud. Public clouds are shared by a number of users who select and access service over the Internet; private clouds allow users to have dedicated servers on a private network; hybrid clouds involve a little of both.<br> <br>The types are not always mutually exclusive, as an SaaS provider might house their software on PaaS or IaaS cloud services, and a PaaS host might use the services of an IaaS provider. This potential nesting means that problems of a provider you don't even know you're using can cause issues with getting to your data or services.<br> <br>And which type of service your company is using may determine things like who you contact when you have a problem -- someone in your own IT department versus a third party. It also impacts things like security, which, as you will see next, can affect your ability to work with your data.<br> <br><br>Security<br>Security isn't just about protecting your identity and financial information, although those are important. It is also key to preserving the integrity of and access to your data and applications in the cloud. Things like firewalls, encryption, backups, isolation of resources, the strength of authorization at user interfaces and screening of employees and other customers can determine who can get to your resources, how they can do so and what they can do with them.<br> <br>There are many disruptive things that a malicious intruder can do. A denial of service attack, which involves bombarding a system to the point where it is inaccessible for normal usage, can render your cloud services temporarily unavailable. A hijacked account could lead to your data or business transactions being redirected for ill purposes, or loss of access to your own services. A compromised system could allow a virtual machine housing your applications and information to be migrated to a malicious server, leading to exposure of information and possible loss of data. Malicious software (malware) can infect the system and disrupt operations, or even compromise your home or work computer if it spreads.Even if an attack doesn't cause you to lose data or access, any security breach will likely lower your comfort level with storing or retrieving information from the cloud.<br> <br>Unfortunately, there are no entirely unbreachable systems. Anything accessible via the Internet is vulnerable. But the tougher a cloud provider's security and the better its ability to detect and recover from breaches, the less likely you'll be to lose access, data or peace of mind.<br> <br>And security is not all up to the cloud host. Personal lapses, such as succumbing to a phishing scam (where you are tricked into giving away login credentials) or downloading malware from another source can have consequences for your cloud access as well. Vigilance is required on all sides.<br> <br><br>Bandwidth and Other Budgeting<br>The cloud can give you access to hardware, software and infrastructure that would be prohibitively expensive for a person or company to purchase outright. But what you are able to do with it depends upon how much you are willing to pay for the privilege.<br> <br>While there are lots of free cloud options for individual users -- quite useful for things like e-mail and document and photo storage -- most of them start to charge you monthly or annual fees when you want to store more than a few gigabytes' worth of data. You could easily hit your limit right in the middle of transferring the 100 or so pictures you took of your children, pets and meals this week. Of course, the error message saying you have run out of space is likely to be accompanied by instructions on how you can purchase more.<br> <br>Cloud services geared toward businesses offer a lot more space and capability, with various types and levels of service. Companies can pay for things like per-gigabyte storage or database space, rental for dedicated servers (physical, virtual or both) with varying amounts of memory and storage on an hourly or monthly basis, hosted software applications on a per-user basis, network bandwidth usage, additional IP addresses and IT management services. The ability to ramp up service quickly and pay only for what you use or think you will use are big advantages. However, if you underestimate your needs and don't opt for enough space or enough servers, you could run into issues while working with your data. Hitting a storage wall is a lot worse when you are uploading time-sensitive customer data than when you are saving your dog photos.<br> <br>Still, if you're willing to pay for it, you can always add more. And some cloud setups will scale automatically as your usage changes. (Although this might result in sticker shock when you get the monthly bill.)<br> <br><br>Bandwidth Caps and Throttling<br>The cloud may come with usage fees, but cloud services aren't the only ones keeping track of how much you're uploading and downloading. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) have implemented bandwidth caps, which are limits on the amount of data you're allowed to transfer over their network each month. The caps vary by provider and plan, but amounts anywhere from 100 to 250 GB per month are not uncommon. Aside from file transfers, you're using up bandwidth anytime you surf the Net, play games online or stream Netflix or Hulu videos, among other things.<br> <br>Reaching your limit comes with penalties. Your provider might charge you per-gigabyte fees for whatever amount you go over the limit, throttle your bandwidth speed (i.e. slow down your connection) or even cut off your service. The latter two would definitely put a damper on your cloud upload and retrieval capabilities. And sometimes usage is capped during certain times of the day on shared networks like cable and satellite, so heavy users might experience slow-downs during peak usage times.<br> <br>There are other things besides usage level that can get your data throttled, too. Many major Internet providers have begun using the Copyright Alert System to penalize people suspected of uploading copyrighted material for piracy purposes. After a few offenses, your ISP can do anything from sending you warnings to throttling your speed to blocking your service. The system reportedly monitors for uploads of known copyrighted files over peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing software, and tracks those files based on IP address. Anyone using your service could get you into trouble, so be sure to secure your WiFi and be cautious about sharing your Internet access. However, you can get around the monitoring by masking your IP address using a virtual private network (VPN).<br> <br><br>Network Issues and Downtime<br>Cloud services are by definition remote, so you have to be able to connect to them over a network connection. There are multiple potential points of failure, including issues with your home network, your Internet service provider, the cloud provider's network or even their own ISP, not to mention obvious things like your power going out or your computer dying. If any one of these things goes down, you are out of luck getting to your data or applications.<br> <br>Network congestion will also affect how quickly and easily you can upload or download via the cloud. Extreme slowness can be just as bad as an outage when you're trying in vain to get to data you need right away to finish that last-minute presentation or paper.<br> <br>Sometimes catastrophic disruptions occur over entire data centers, or portions of data centers. Services can be interrupted by a weather event or other natural disaster, a power outage, equipment failure or simply unscheduled downtime for repairs or maintenance. While cloud hosts strive for 100 percent uptime, this is a lofty goal. Things happen, even to the big players.<br> <br>Amazon, an early pioneer in the cloud service area, has had several highly publicized outages from 2011 to 2013. Some of them took down or impaired well-known sites including Reddit, Netflix, Coursera, Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest, Flipboard, Vine and even Amazon itself. They have been attributed to thunder storms, power outages, human error and even a glitch in a single networking device in one case.<br> <br>Microsoft's Windows Azure service had an approximately 10-hour disruption in February 2012 caused by a leap day-related software bug. Google had an outage of only a few minutes in August 2013 that took out all of their services, including the search engine, Gmail and YouTube, and reportedly cost them around half a million dollars [source: Bloomberg]. According to the analytics firm GoSquared, the outage also reduced global Web traffic by 40 percent [source: Bloomberg, Mack].<br> <br>For a person at home trying to watch a movie on Netflix, outages can be an annoyance. But for a business, even short disruptions can have a major impact on revenue. It's a lesson that anyone relying on the cloud should spread their service over multiple data centers, or even multiple providers, if possible. Backing up data regularly in some automated fashion is also a good idea. Redundancy is key. It comes with a price tag, but it may be worth it if you need constant access to your data and services.<br>

5 Factors That Affect Cloud-based Data Upload and Retrieval

If you want to start a document on your laptop and revise it on your phone, you can. If you'd like to listen to your music library from ...

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Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;">Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs</h1><h2 class="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="" style="color: #e6248a; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;">UPDATED</span> From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRweoRunmsGLGLYtAsEbqSVw6loXMzYeuhV2DlXdatMCwOJmr6c7M1SUk4YFLOVjw97pZlhQa0L1wAscvPOyDK5HexXVsM4mVGKBlDz9SgFr-B2Dz3h8jVsasrYSoDlHZnx0B6Kqpr3kc/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRweoRunmsGLGLYtAsEbqSVw6loXMzYeuhV2DlXdatMCwOJmr6c7M1SUk4YFLOVjw97pZlhQa0L1wAscvPOyDK5HexXVsM4mVGKBlDz9SgFr-B2Dz3h8jVsasrYSoDlHZnx0B6Kqpr3kc/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Could collaboration in the cloud help your business? <em>(credit: iStock-AndrewJohnson)</em><br /><div class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; margin-left: 10px; width: 580px;"><h1 class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><br /></h1><ul class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Collaboration in a business used to involve telephone calls, emails, and possibly an instant message exchanged between employees.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">These days, the advent of cloud computing and <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/management/cloud-computing-for-dummies-1157199" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">all the benefits that come with it</a> have paved the way for collaborative cloud-based services that are reshaping how employees work together over the internet, whether its's a trio of founders at a startup or a midsized company with 500 staff.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Many collaborative offerings serve a particular business need, such as storage, social networking, productivity apps, or email. Analyst house Gartner predicts that cloud office systems, which are of an increasingly collaborative nature, will account for 33% of the overall office market by 2017.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">To help you decide which collaborative cloud service best fits your needs, here are TRPro's top 10 services, in no particular order.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;"> Citrix Sharefile</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.sharefile.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.sharefile.com</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Starts at $29.95 (around £18.70, or AU$32) per month</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Citrix ShareFile" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/cloud_services/Citrix/sharefile-mobile-content-editor-580-90.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Citrix doesn't bill its ShareFile cloud service as a collaboration platform as such, but it does come with features designed to help employees work together and stands out by offering customized solutions for over 30 industries.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">As the name suggests, ShareFile is all about exchanging large files with individuals or groups of <span class="">colleagues.The</span> basic version provides 5GB of storage and bandwidth, along with two employee accounts for accessing and transferring files (this rises to $59.95 per month for the Professional package, which provides 10GB of storage and bandwidth and 10 employee accounts).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">ShareFile can be hooked up with Citrix Podio, a social collaboration tool that allows users to set up places in the cloud dubbed Workspaces, where employees can post statuses, make comments, "like" posts and share files. It also features extensive mobile support with apps for <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/ios-7-1157782/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">iOS</a>, <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/android-jelly-bean-1087230/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Android</a>,<a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/blackberry-10-1090522/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">BlackBerry</a> and <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/windows-phone-8-1086692/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Windows Phone</a> for collaborating and sharing files on the go.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Huddle</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/www.huddle.com" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.huddle.com</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: US$20 (about AU$21, £13.50) / user / month (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Huddle screenshot" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Huddle/huddle-image-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Huddle is a cloud-based collaboration platform that pits itself as a rival to Microsoft's <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/business-and-finance-software/sharepoint-online-2013-1128344/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">SharePoint</a> service (see our Office365 entry below). Used by more than 100,000 businesses globally, it offers features based around file sharing and management, content collaboration, people management and tasks. Accessed through a browser, it can be customised, branded and provides support for mobile devices.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Additionally, Huddle offers version control management, which lets employees roll back files to previous versions to view and make changes. 'Workspaces' can also help businesses work on projects, with the ability to control a dashboard view for each one through a menu at the top of the screen.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Huddle prides itself on its security features. Its primary data centre has ISO 27001 certification, and the service is used by numerous US and UK government agencies.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Google Apps for Business</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.google.com/intx/en_uk/enterprise/apps/business/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.google.com/intx/en_uk/enterprise/apps/business/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: £3.30 (about US$5, AU$5.40) plus taxes / user / month, or £33 (about US$49, AU$54) plus taxes / user / year (Free for 30 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Google Apps" src="http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/GoogleApps/google-apps-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Having first arrived in 2006, Google Apps for Business has been around longer than most other services on our list. Now used by over 5 million businesses, it offers access to Gmail in addition to calendars, documents and Drive (Google's cloud storage service).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">All of the services allow users to collaborate in real time, whether it's editing a spreadsheet in Docs, adding dates to a calendar or uploading files to a directory. Google places a premium on simplicity, with features such as sharing documents through a single click, or setting up videoconferencing sessions through its Hangouts feature.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It could also provide employees with a degree of familiarity, as many of the services are near identical to Google's standard consumer Gmail and Calendar products. Head of Google Enterprise Thomas Davies recently told us in an <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/thomas-davies-five-years-ago-bigger-was-better-but-it-isn-t-now--1163959" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">interview</a> that the platform has been allowing businesses to reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO) and is used to drive creativity.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Dropbox for Business</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/business" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.dropbox.com/business</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: US$795 / 5 users / year (about £526, AU$865) (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Dropbox for Business" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Dropbox/dropbox-for-business-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Dropbox for Business is an extension of the company's Dropbox consumer service, with features designed to help companies with five or more employees work together.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Like Dropbox, its business service syncs files across employees' devices, allowing them to continue working on the move (in the presence of an internet connection). Files, which can be password protected and shared internally or externally via links, are stored online in Dropbox's cloud and can be kept in sync by placing them in a sharing folder on users' PCs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Extra <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/dropbox-plans-more-business-features-1162267" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">security features</a> have been added in recent months, including configuration for two-step authentication and mobile pass codes to access accounts. In April Dropbox added a new admin console to the service that gives IT managers a quick view of information on matters such as employees' linked devices, sessions and applications.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">In May these were joined by <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/dropbox-for-business-to-get-sso-1144035" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">single sign-on</a> (SSO), which lets employees sign into Dropbox using an existing central identity provider, such as Active Directory, removing the need to remember one more password.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Trello</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://trello.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://trello.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Free - Business Class is US$25 per month (about £17, or AU$27) / organisation / year</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Trello interface" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Trello/trello-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">If you're looking for a solution to manage projects and get things done, Trello is a free and straightforward offering with a simple drag and drop interface.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Trello works using boards that list 'cards', or tasks that can be labelled using short descriptions such as 'In Progress' or 'Completed' to let other project collaborators know their status. Features include email notifications to keep users informed of recent project changes, real time updates when tasks are completed, the abilty to assign cards to particular members and a card voting feature that allows board members to set business priorities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">While these features make the standard version of Trello suitable for small businesses, a Business Class package is also available for $25 (£17) per month. This includes advanced features such as integration with Google Apps, bulk export of tasks, a read-only observer role and extra administrative control.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Socialcast</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.socialcast.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.socialcast.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Free for up to 50 users</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="SocialCast" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/SocialCast/socialcast-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">SocialCast, as the name suggests, is engineered toward social network-style collaboration. The service, which was created by virtualisation giant VMware, has earned inclusion on our list for two reasons.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">First, VMware made SocialCast free for up to 50 users last year. This doesn't mean that it's a restricted service; far from it. Socialcast is a full-featured platform that allows businesses to manage projects, share documents and form groups around projects, departments or specific activities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Users can also create private groups to help employees interact with each other. They can be opened up to the public, and the service can be customised to incorporate a business's specific look or brand.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Moreover, SocialCast offers its entire feature stack on mobile devices, so businesses can download apps in iPhones, iPads, Android and BlackBerry devices.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Office 365</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/hk/smb/cloud/english/office365.aspx" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.microsoft.com/hk/smb/cloud/english/office365.aspx</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price (Small Business) £3.90 (about US$5.80, or AU$6.40) plus taxes / user / month, or £39.60 (about US$59, or AU$65) plus taxes / user / year (free for one month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price (Small Business Premium) £10.10 (about US$15, or AU$16.60) plus taxes / user / month, or £100.80 (about US$152, AU$166) plus taxes / user / year (free for one month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Office 365 screenshot" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Office365/office-365-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">For businesses that have become accustomed to Microsoft's Office productivity suite, Google Apps rival Office365 would make a natural leap from desktop software into the cloud. Businesses that sign up get access to Office web apps, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher and Lync.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Additionally, users get access to hosted email with up to 25GB of storage space per user and the ability to use their business's domain name and set up a public website with no additional hosting fees. That's alongside a web conference function and spam and malware protection.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Office365 gives users a team site on which they can create, edit and review reports, proposals, calendars, and budgets with others in real time. Users are also able to assign tasks that can be viewed on a timeline.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Businesses also get SharePoint as part of their subscription, which gives users additional ways to manage projects and share documents and insights with colleagues, partners and customers.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Yammer</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://www.yammer.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Basic network is free - Enterprise network starts at US$3 (about £2, or AU$3.20) / user / month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Yammer main screen" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Yammer/yammer-main-feed-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Microsoft turned heads in July last year when it officially completed the acquisition of Yammer, a creator of social networks for businesses, for $1.2 billion. Since then, it claims the number of registered users have grown by more than 55% to nearly 8 million, and paid networks have increased more than 200% year-on-year.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Yammer's content collaboration features include file sharing, versioning and the ability to compile notes. The company aims to encourage employee engagement through the use of Trending Files and Popular Content features, in addition to employee profiles and an Online Now live chat feature. Users can also set up polls and events to be shared internally or externally.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Also included are groups, which allow users to filter information based on particular search terms based on shared content. Other features are aimed at making it easier to share content; these include bookmarking and sharing websites and content from within the browser.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Box</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.box.com/pricing/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://www.box.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: £11 (about US$16.50, or AU$18) / user / month (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Box screenshot" src="http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Box/box-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">The 'Dropbox of the enterprise', Box touts itself as an file transfer protocol replacement and stores files in the cloud by syncing with users' folders stored on their PCs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It provides advanced features that include sharing files and folders through the use of links, fine-tuned user permissions, and an integrated file view that works with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop and others, without leaving the browser.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Files of up to 2GB can be shared, and any interaction in the way of downloads, uploads or comments added to files can be tracked in real time. Box also features extensive integration with third party services, including Zoho, Google Gmail, Google Analytics, eFax, DocuSign, FedEx, Watchdog and Twitter.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">MangoApps</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.mangoapps.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.mangoapps.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: (Business package) US$5 (£3.36, or AU$5.45) / user / month, or US$50 (£33, or AU$54 / user / year) (Free for 30 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Mango Apps" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/MangoApps/mangoapps-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">MangoApps is a free service that wraps up employee social networking, team collaboration tools and an intranet into a single service. Aimed at the mid market, it's best described as a personal LinkedIn-style offering tailored for individual businesses.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It even offers direct integration with LinkedIn, allowing employee profiles to be instantly populated with details like contact information, skill sets and expertise. Other features include instant messaging with automatic availability updates, group chat, videoconferencing, and the ability to create private groups and projects.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">MangoApps can also work with other applications via open application programme interfaces, allowing integration with business systems such as customer relationship management, payroll or other HR systems. Accounts can be managed securely using Active Directory, and the service can integrate with enterprise systems such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive and Box.</div></div></div></div>

Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer

Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED  From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer Could collaboration in ...

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Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;">Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs</h1><h2 class="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="" style="color: #e6248a; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;">UPDATED</span> From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRweoRunmsGLGLYtAsEbqSVw6loXMzYeuhV2DlXdatMCwOJmr6c7M1SUk4YFLOVjw97pZlhQa0L1wAscvPOyDK5HexXVsM4mVGKBlDz9SgFr-B2Dz3h8jVsasrYSoDlHZnx0B6Kqpr3kc/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMRweoRunmsGLGLYtAsEbqSVw6loXMzYeuhV2DlXdatMCwOJmr6c7M1SUk4YFLOVjw97pZlhQa0L1wAscvPOyDK5HexXVsM4mVGKBlDz9SgFr-B2Dz3h8jVsasrYSoDlHZnx0B6Kqpr3kc/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Could collaboration in the cloud help your business? <em>(credit: iStock-AndrewJohnson)</em><br /><div class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; margin-left: 10px; width: 580px;"><h1 class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><br /></h1><ul class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Collaboration in a business used to involve telephone calls, emails, and possibly an instant message exchanged between employees.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">These days, the advent of cloud computing and <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/management/cloud-computing-for-dummies-1157199" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">all the benefits that come with it</a> have paved the way for collaborative cloud-based services that are reshaping how employees work together over the internet, whether its's a trio of founders at a startup or a midsized company with 500 staff.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Many collaborative offerings serve a particular business need, such as storage, social networking, productivity apps, or email. Analyst house Gartner predicts that cloud office systems, which are of an increasingly collaborative nature, will account for 33% of the overall office market by 2017.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">To help you decide which collaborative cloud service best fits your needs, here are TRPro's top 10 services, in no particular order.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;"> Citrix Sharefile</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.sharefile.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.sharefile.com</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Starts at $29.95 (around £18.70, or AU$32) per month</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Citrix ShareFile" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/cloud_services/Citrix/sharefile-mobile-content-editor-580-90.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Citrix doesn't bill its ShareFile cloud service as a collaboration platform as such, but it does come with features designed to help employees work together and stands out by offering customized solutions for over 30 industries.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">As the name suggests, ShareFile is all about exchanging large files with individuals or groups of <span class="">colleagues.The</span> basic version provides 5GB of storage and bandwidth, along with two employee accounts for accessing and transferring files (this rises to $59.95 per month for the Professional package, which provides 10GB of storage and bandwidth and 10 employee accounts).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">ShareFile can be hooked up with Citrix Podio, a social collaboration tool that allows users to set up places in the cloud dubbed Workspaces, where employees can post statuses, make comments, "like" posts and share files. It also features extensive mobile support with apps for <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/ios-7-1157782/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">iOS</a>, <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/android-jelly-bean-1087230/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Android</a>,<a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/blackberry-10-1090522/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">BlackBerry</a> and <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/windows-phone-8-1086692/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Windows Phone</a> for collaborating and sharing files on the go.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Huddle</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/www.huddle.com" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.huddle.com</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: US$20 (about AU$21, £13.50) / user / month (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Huddle screenshot" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Huddle/huddle-image-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Huddle is a cloud-based collaboration platform that pits itself as a rival to Microsoft's <a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/business-and-finance-software/sharepoint-online-2013-1128344/review" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">SharePoint</a> service (see our Office365 entry below). Used by more than 100,000 businesses globally, it offers features based around file sharing and management, content collaboration, people management and tasks. Accessed through a browser, it can be customised, branded and provides support for mobile devices.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Additionally, Huddle offers version control management, which lets employees roll back files to previous versions to view and make changes. 'Workspaces' can also help businesses work on projects, with the ability to control a dashboard view for each one through a menu at the top of the screen.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Huddle prides itself on its security features. Its primary data centre has ISO 27001 certification, and the service is used by numerous US and UK government agencies.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Google Apps for Business</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.google.com/intx/en_uk/enterprise/apps/business/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.google.com/intx/en_uk/enterprise/apps/business/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: £3.30 (about US$5, AU$5.40) plus taxes / user / month, or £33 (about US$49, AU$54) plus taxes / user / year (Free for 30 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Google Apps" src="http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/GoogleApps/google-apps-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Having first arrived in 2006, Google Apps for Business has been around longer than most other services on our list. Now used by over 5 million businesses, it offers access to Gmail in addition to calendars, documents and Drive (Google's cloud storage service).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">All of the services allow users to collaborate in real time, whether it's editing a spreadsheet in Docs, adding dates to a calendar or uploading files to a directory. Google places a premium on simplicity, with features such as sharing documents through a single click, or setting up videoconferencing sessions through its Hangouts feature.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It could also provide employees with a degree of familiarity, as many of the services are near identical to Google's standard consumer Gmail and Calendar products. Head of Google Enterprise Thomas Davies recently told us in an <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/thomas-davies-five-years-ago-bigger-was-better-but-it-isn-t-now--1163959" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">interview</a> that the platform has been allowing businesses to reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO) and is used to drive creativity.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Dropbox for Business</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/business" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.dropbox.com/business</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: US$795 / 5 users / year (about £526, AU$865) (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Dropbox for Business" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Dropbox/dropbox-for-business-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Dropbox for Business is an extension of the company's Dropbox consumer service, with features designed to help companies with five or more employees work together.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Like Dropbox, its business service syncs files across employees' devices, allowing them to continue working on the move (in the presence of an internet connection). Files, which can be password protected and shared internally or externally via links, are stored online in Dropbox's cloud and can be kept in sync by placing them in a sharing folder on users' PCs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Extra <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/dropbox-plans-more-business-features-1162267" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">security features</a> have been added in recent months, including configuration for two-step authentication and mobile pass codes to access accounts. In April Dropbox added a new admin console to the service that gives IT managers a quick view of information on matters such as employees' linked devices, sessions and applications.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">In May these were joined by <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/cloud-services/dropbox-for-business-to-get-sso-1144035" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">single sign-on</a> (SSO), which lets employees sign into Dropbox using an existing central identity provider, such as Active Directory, removing the need to remember one more password.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Trello</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://trello.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://trello.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Free - Business Class is US$25 per month (about £17, or AU$27) / organisation / year</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Trello interface" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Trello/trello-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">If you're looking for a solution to manage projects and get things done, Trello is a free and straightforward offering with a simple drag and drop interface.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Trello works using boards that list 'cards', or tasks that can be labelled using short descriptions such as 'In Progress' or 'Completed' to let other project collaborators know their status. Features include email notifications to keep users informed of recent project changes, real time updates when tasks are completed, the abilty to assign cards to particular members and a card voting feature that allows board members to set business priorities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">While these features make the standard version of Trello suitable for small businesses, a Business Class package is also available for $25 (£17) per month. This includes advanced features such as integration with Google Apps, bulk export of tasks, a read-only observer role and extra administrative control.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Socialcast</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.socialcast.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.socialcast.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Free for up to 50 users</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="SocialCast" src="http://cdn0.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/SocialCast/socialcast-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">SocialCast, as the name suggests, is engineered toward social network-style collaboration. The service, which was created by virtualisation giant VMware, has earned inclusion on our list for two reasons.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">First, VMware made SocialCast free for up to 50 users last year. This doesn't mean that it's a restricted service; far from it. Socialcast is a full-featured platform that allows businesses to manage projects, share documents and form groups around projects, departments or specific activities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Users can also create private groups to help employees interact with each other. They can be opened up to the public, and the service can be customised to incorporate a business's specific look or brand.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Moreover, SocialCast offers its entire feature stack on mobile devices, so businesses can download apps in iPhones, iPads, Android and BlackBerry devices.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Office 365</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/hk/smb/cloud/english/office365.aspx" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.microsoft.com/hk/smb/cloud/english/office365.aspx</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price (Small Business) £3.90 (about US$5.80, or AU$6.40) plus taxes / user / month, or £39.60 (about US$59, or AU$65) plus taxes / user / year (free for one month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price (Small Business Premium) £10.10 (about US$15, or AU$16.60) plus taxes / user / month, or £100.80 (about US$152, AU$166) plus taxes / user / year (free for one month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Office 365 screenshot" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Office365/office-365-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">For businesses that have become accustomed to Microsoft's Office productivity suite, Google Apps rival Office365 would make a natural leap from desktop software into the cloud. Businesses that sign up get access to Office web apps, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher and Lync.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Additionally, users get access to hosted email with up to 25GB of storage space per user and the ability to use their business's domain name and set up a public website with no additional hosting fees. That's alongside a web conference function and spam and malware protection.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Office365 gives users a team site on which they can create, edit and review reports, proposals, calendars, and budgets with others in real time. Users are also able to assign tasks that can be viewed on a timeline.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Businesses also get SharePoint as part of their subscription, which gives users additional ways to manage projects and share documents and insights with colleagues, partners and customers.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Yammer</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.yammer.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://www.yammer.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: Basic network is free - Enterprise network starts at US$3 (about £2, or AU$3.20) / user / month)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Yammer main screen" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Yammer/yammer-main-feed-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Microsoft turned heads in July last year when it officially completed the acquisition of Yammer, a creator of social networks for businesses, for $1.2 billion. Since then, it claims the number of registered users have grown by more than 55% to nearly 8 million, and paid networks have increased more than 200% year-on-year.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Yammer's content collaboration features include file sharing, versioning and the ability to compile notes. The company aims to encourage employee engagement through the use of Trending Files and Popular Content features, in addition to employee profiles and an Online Now live chat feature. Users can also set up polls and events to be shared internally or externally.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Also included are groups, which allow users to filter information based on particular search terms based on shared content. Other features are aimed at making it easier to share content; these include bookmarking and sharing websites and content from within the browser.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">Box</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="https://www.box.com/pricing/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">https://www.box.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: £11 (about US$16.50, or AU$18) / user / month (Free for 14 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Box screenshot" src="http://cdn2.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/Box/box-screenshot-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">The 'Dropbox of the enterprise', Box touts itself as an file transfer protocol replacement and stores files in the cloud by syncing with users' folders stored on their PCs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It provides advanced features that include sharing files and folders through the use of links, fine-tuned user permissions, and an integrated file view that works with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop and others, without leaving the browser.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Files of up to 2GB can be shared, and any interaction in the way of downloads, uploads or comments added to files can be tracked in real time. Box also features extensive integration with third party services, including Zoho, Google Gmail, Google Analytics, eFax, DocuSign, FedEx, Watchdog and Twitter.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">MangoApps</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Web: <a href="http://www.mangoapps.com/" style="color: #0099cc; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">http://www.mangoapps.com/</a></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Price: (Business package) US$5 (£3.36, or AU$5.45) / user / month, or US$50 (£33, or AU$54 / user / year) (Free for 30 days)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;"></div><img alt="Mango Apps" src="http://cdn1.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net//art/TRBC/Cloud%20services/MangoApps/mangoapps-580-100.JPG" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: auto; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="580" /><br /><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;"></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">MangoApps is a free service that wraps up employee social networking, team collaboration tools and an intranet into a single service. Aimed at the mid market, it's best described as a personal LinkedIn-style offering tailored for individual businesses.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">It even offers direct integration with LinkedIn, allowing employee profiles to be instantly populated with details like contact information, skill sets and expertise. Other features include instant messaging with automatic availability updates, group chat, videoconferencing, and the ability to create private groups and projects.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">MangoApps can also work with other applications via open application programme interfaces, allowing integration with business systems such as customer relationship management, payroll or other HR systems. Accounts can be managed securely using Active Directory, and the service can integrate with enterprise systems such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive and Box.</div></div></div></div>

Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer

Cloud collaboration services: the top 10 for SMBs UPDATED  From Google Apps and SocialCast to Box, Huddle and Yammer Could collaboration in ...

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Dropbox eyeing Box's turf with new business offering Cloud storage company plans to extend far beyond its current remit

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;">Dropbox eyeing Box's turf with new business offering</h1><h2 class="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Cloud storage company plans to extend far beyond its current remit</h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad8gPUzVRSZU-ZpUTiPooyvuu7vI0_x2Rx7UUrwzVoroJmNykTfhGtcnxIpgRRGRPyMBEukvVsydPEu94oFEzp346_DhCl9bvlEdjbMTRlTu4oMxtNIuGDbaXHzE3urQ9QicjnNCqv7Dh/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad8gPUzVRSZU-ZpUTiPooyvuu7vI0_x2Rx7UUrwzVoroJmNykTfhGtcnxIpgRRGRPyMBEukvVsydPEu94oFEzp346_DhCl9bvlEdjbMTRlTu4oMxtNIuGDbaXHzE3urQ9QicjnNCqv7Dh/s1600/cloud-people-578-80.JPG" /></a></div><br /></div><div>Is Dropbox finally ready to do business?<br /><div class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; margin-left: 10px; width: 580px;"><h1 class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;"><br /></h1><ul class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">Online storage company Dropbox has announced abusiness version of its popular service, a clear indication that it now sees growth beyond its traditional audience. So far, individual users and very small companies have fuelled its meteoric rise, allowing to double the number of accounts in 12 months to a whopping 200 million.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Dropbox already counts Kayak and National Geographic amongst its existing business consumer and its co-founder and CEO Drew Houston said that 97% of Fortune 500 companies use it. During the same event, Houston revealed that a billion files are now saved online, which translates into an average of only five files per account.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Dropbox currently offers three tiers with Dropbox for Business costing $795 per year for five users (about £500, AU$851) for unlimited storage, unlimited file recovery and version history.</div><h3 style="font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">A bigger box?</h3><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">The new service will allow users to access their personal and their company's Dropbox account from one client, which Dropbox says, is as logical as "having your house keys and your work keycard on the same keychain".</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Many may consider this as a no-brainer upgrade aimed to entice millions of free account holders to migrate to paid ones. The free online cloud storage market is evolving rapidly with Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Drive and Microsoft Skydrive likely to push smaller players like Mega or Dropbox to the fringes.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">That announcement is also likely to be seen as a clear indication that Dropbox wants to get a bigger piece of the entreprise market where the likes of Box, Egnyte and Syncplicity are currently major players. Despite dropbox offering of only 2GB of storage for free, far less than the competition, it added a "gamification" aspect that allowed customers to gain more storage by enlisting friends.</div></div></div></div>

Dropbox eyeing Box's turf with new business offering Cloud storage company plans to extend far beyond its current remit

Dropbox eyeing Box's turf with new business offering Cloud storage company plans to extend far beyond its current remit Is Dropbox final...

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Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;">Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case</h1><h2 class="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Microsoft loses another name</h2><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net///art/other/Onetimers/skydrivelogo-578-80.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 326px; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" />Goodbye SkyDrive<br /><div class="" style="margin-left: 10px; width: 580px;"><h1 class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;">Related stories</h1><ul class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;">IE11 Release Preview ready for Windows 7, rated 30% faster than the competition</li><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;"> Windows 7 receives nearly full Windows 8.1 IE11 treatment</li><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;">Windows 8 hits 40M licenses landmark, upgrades outpacing Windows 7</li></ul><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">SkyDrive will soon cease to exist. That is, just the name will be gone, but the service will continue to store your files.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Following a ruling in the English High Court, Microsoft will be forced to rename SkyDrive, its cloud storage service.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">The U.K. court deemed "SkyDrive" to be an infringement on British Sky Broadcasting Group's (BSkyB) trademark on the word "Sky." The company has channels called Sky Sports, Sky One and Sky Movies.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">In June, Microsoft filed for an appeal but decided to agree to the terms set by BSkyB yesterday instead of further ruffling feathers.</div><h3 style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">If not Sky, then what?</h3><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">There's no word on a new name just yet for the software giant, but BSkyB is being rather gracious by letting Microsoft use SkyDrive a little bit longer for at least "a reasonable period of time to allow for an orderly transition to a new brand."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Microsoft released a statement to The Verge stating they're happy to be done with the whole fiasco, which is understandable since they had aprevious name dispute over "Metro," their old name for the Windows 8interface, just last year with German company Metro AG.</div><div><br /></div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul></div></div></div>

Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name

Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name Goodbye SkyDrive Related stories IE1...

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Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h1 class="" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 32px; letter-spacing: -1px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;">Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case</h1><h2 class="" style="color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Microsoft loses another name</h2><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case" src="http://cdn3.mos.techradar.futurecdn.net///art/other/Onetimers/skydrivelogo-578-80.jpg" style="border: 0px; display: block; height: 326px; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" />Goodbye SkyDrive<br /><div class="" style="margin-left: 10px; width: 580px;"><h1 class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px; vertical-align: top;">Related stories</h1><ul class="" style="font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;">IE11 Release Preview ready for Windows 7, rated 30% faster than the competition</li><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;"> Windows 7 receives nearly full Windows 8.1 IE11 treatment</li><li style="display: block; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: 180px;">Windows 8 hits 40M licenses landmark, upgrades outpacing Windows 7</li></ul><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">SkyDrive will soon cease to exist. That is, just the name will be gone, but the service will continue to store your files.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Following a ruling in the English High Court, Microsoft will be forced to rename SkyDrive, its cloud storage service.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">The U.K. court deemed "SkyDrive" to be an infringement on British Sky Broadcasting Group's (BSkyB) trademark on the word "Sky." The company has channels called Sky Sports, Sky One and Sky Movies.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">In June, Microsoft filed for an appeal but decided to agree to the terms set by BSkyB yesterday instead of further ruffling feathers.</div><h3 style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; line-height: 1em; margin: 20px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; width: 480px;">If not Sky, then what?</h3><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; width: 480px;">There's no word on a new name just yet for the software giant, but BSkyB is being rather gracious by letting Microsoft use SkyDrive a little bit longer for at least "a reasonable period of time to allow for an orderly transition to a new brand."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; width: 480px;">Microsoft released a statement to The Verge stating they're happy to be done with the whole fiasco, which is understandable since they had aprevious name dispute over "Metro," their old name for the Windows 8interface, just last year with German company Metro AG.</div><div><br /></div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px; list-style: none; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul></div></div></div>

Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name

Microsoft forced to ditch 'SkyDrive' name due to infringement case Microsoft loses another name Goodbye SkyDrive Related stories IE1...

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