Helping your cause with virtual desktop

Helping your cause with virtual desktop

B D Narayankar

Imagine you have forgotten to send a file through email to your boss, which had been stored on your laptop's desk, and the boss is yelling at you to send it to clinch an all-important deal. And you are away hundreds of miles away on a sojourn for a week. God save you, if you would lose your job on that note. Chill, now there is a way out. You can access your data, files and videos, saved on your computer's desktop, anytime, anywhere. Nivio, a virtual desktop, promises you just that.

This software is developed by a team of experts, including Sachin Duggal, Iqbal Gandham of Net4India and Jonathan Roberts of PSINET Europe.

Nivio allows access only to Windows XP desktop. You can sign through a web browser and view your personal desktop and access files. It also allows you to write new files and transfer them to your desktop at home. It gives you access to programs running on another machine as it would on your own. The desktop has five giga­bytes storage capacity.

The bundle of free software tools includes Outlook Express, Internet Ex­plorer, Real Player, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Mozilla/Firefox browser, Foxit Reader and a host of other free­ware. Efforts are on to include Adobe and Tally.

With the Indian PC market not being mature for these softwares and a low PC penetration compared to the West, analysts say Nivio is great software that would help small and medium enterprises reduce infrastructure costs.

Nivio is in talks with a major internet service provider (ISP) to bundle their services with the provider. They are also looking at tie-ups with hosting companies and low-end un-branded PC makers. "We are exploring ways in which we can offer this to people who do not have a PC." Gandham said.

For details contact:
Archana Sharada
Principal Consultant
Blue Lotus Communications
archanas@bluelotuspr.com