I recently spent some time talking with OxygenCloud. I’ve spent a bit of time talking with these guys over the past year, first meeting them when they called themselves LeapFile. OxygenCloud sells itself as a "secure virtual file system platform, featuring native desktop collaboration and cloud storage for business users". Which basically means that business users can have files stored in the cloud that appear as local files on their machine, a play that is in a similar space to what SugarSync, Syncplicity and DropBox are doing.

I asked Peter Chang, CEO of OxygenCloud we he believed a desktop-centric approach towards file sharing (a la OxygenCloud or DropBox), rather than a browser-centric one (a la box.net) is best. He replied that, in his opinion, DropBox validates the superiority of the native desktop in terms of user adoption and sheer usability. To which the logical follow up question is how OxygenCloud differentiates itself from DropBox. Chang was quick to tell me that the secret sauce they have comes from the ability of users to store their data wherever they want, OxygenCloud gives users granular control over storage location, be it public cloud or private. the OxygenCloud approach towards access and provision is detailed in the schematic below:

schema2

To this end they recently penned an agreement with Data Robotics to allow end users to create private clouds with remote access from any desktop or mobile device (see schematic below)

drobo

We spoke at length of OxygenCloud’s go to market strategy which seems a little unsure at this time. Chang spoke of a “bottom up” freemium model, but then also spoke of OxygenCloud’s focus on being a trusted partner of IT. Those two approaches can have some validity, but seldom do they do so when embarked upon together. Chang made references to a situation where the IT department of an end user signing up for OxygenCloud would be reached out to by the company – as I said this is a noble approach, but doesn’t inspire me in confidence about the chances of significant revenue generating uptake.

Anyway – OxygenCloud is around a month from its beta release – and upon release will work on Mac, PV, iPhone and iPad. Their specific functional areas include:

  • File sharing
  • Permission and encryption
  • IT control (remote policies and remote wipe)
  • Hybrid cloud storage
  • Live annotation (see iPad example below)

iPad_horizontal_Annotate_rev_3_lores

I’ve not yet used the product so can’t vouch for it’s efficacy, but my thoughts having watched this crew for awhile now is that the product is odds-on likely to work, but their business model if the area of concern.

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

1 Comment
  • Hi Ben,

    Thanks for the review! We are very excited about our upcoming beta and seeing our approach as a way to drastically simplify cloud storage. From an end user’s perspective they can access and leverage cloud storage natively from their desktop (and across different devices) to share and collaborate with others, but from the IT’s perspective, they can allocate, provision and control cloud storage and users much easier.

    We’ll keep you posted on the status of our beta, and let me know if you or your readers have any questions! Thanks again =)

    – Julia Mak
    Oxygen Cloud Team

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