How are you planning on using the service?

We are exploring the ways in which we can use this service to store data as a backup repository, as a 2nd or 3rd tier disaster-recovery center, or even the only remote DR center for a SMB.

Several things come to mind here at the university....  #1 Online storage for Students/Staff #2 Research data (need to look into security options...)  #3 desktop fileshare....kinda like Mozy, but more of an on/offline drive.  #4 we are a user of iTunes U...  would be cool to store data on the internet rather than expensive stuff here.

Of course a cool web interface would be nice...

Just brainstorming for now...  I'm more of a storage guy than a programmer but looking forward to working on this.

Brian, thanks for the post.

#1 is a great use case that I'd love to explore further. Several other universities mentioned this as well. Is there a particular application you had in mind - or would this be something you would build yourself?

#4 - How does iTunesU work? Do you essentially purchase a license for the iTunes portal and run it from your own DC? Does it have a light content management / billing capability from an administrator perspective?

Thanks LeoLung for the post. Just got back into the office from EMCworld and the holiday weekend

Honestly #1 if we could link up AFS into Atmos it would be very interesting...  We are a pretty big user of AFS here at the university and it is used mostly for web pages, filestores, etc.  Replacing AFS would also be an option...if there was a 'webified' interface into ATMOS.  I have some coding resources here that might want to dive into this a little bit easier, but I was wondering if someone is already developing a client interface?

#4 I need to explore this further, but my understanding is that we have a local repository of MP3/Movie material that is stored locally.  At some point in time it is forwarded onto iTunes...  Need to look into it a bit more.

Hi Brian,

By AFS, you mean Apple File System? Or Andrew File System?

We have a Flex-based "object browser" interface that we will release sometime soon. If we were to open source the code, would your team be interested in working on it?

Let me know when you've had time to look at iTunes U a bit more. On the surface, it seems like an iTunes / Atmos onLine integration would be a killer app for universities.

Leo

Andrew File System...  We have quite a bit on here from user home directories to webpages for the University.

Would love to have an interface to access storage w/ Atmos.  I need to ask a few people still here, but I'm sure there would be intrest in working on it.

I agree with the iTunes/Atmos integration...  Would save a ton of money on storage and infrastructure.

Is there a costing model being worked on yet?  I know with Amazon S3 it is free to save, but costs $$ to retrieve.  Wondering if you are that far into the project yet.

Thanks!

Brian

Cool. I'll look forward to your team's feedback.

Amazon is most definitely not free to save (unless there's some educational plan I'm unaware of). You'll be paying them monthly for whatever you've uploaded into the system. We won't be free to save either, but will try to offer more flexibility.

Leo