Seagate has announced a number of consumer-oriented storage solutions at CES. One of the most interesting is its free software and Web-based service that makes currently available Maxtor Shared Storage II network attached drives available remotely. The home or business local area network attached device can be made available not only to the owner of the drive, but access to the whole drive or folders on the drive can also be made available to anyone, by simply sending them an email message. Thus, the drive or folder and its contents are available wherever Web access is available. Each user may be assigned either read/write or read-only access to the drive or folder.

The recipient of the email must register with Seagate’s online service and create a user name and password to gain access to the drive or folder. After the username and password are entered, the drive or folder is available to the user. The software and the supporting Web-services are free to owners of Shared Storage II devices.

Seagate’s Jon van Bronkhorst noted that "The Maxtor Shared Storage II establishes a secure connection to the service without the need to disable firewalls, which would leave a network open and unprotected."

"We have entered the age of anywhere access, and people are dependent on access to information regardless of their location," BenHur Castro, senior director of Product Line Management for Maxtor Storage Solutions told Tom’s Guide. "Our new web access and share software for Maxtor Shared Storage II is the first step to delivering on the theme of anywhere access by providing a secure and easy-to-use connection to files on your networked drive."

According to van Bronkhorst, "The Anywhere Enterprise is a simple concept with a simple mission - allow corporate users to work anywhere using any device. But it is end users who are driving this move - often bypassing the IT department entirely - by turning to consumer technologies to blend personal and professional lifestyles. The ’Anywhere’ revolution will be the most significant change since the integration of the Internet into organizations. It will boost productivity to new levels, alter the way companies deploy technology and shift the balance of power in the IT vendor landscape." (Source: Yankee Group Research, Inc.; Executive Summary, Consumers Define Anywhere Enterprise; March 2007)

The new application is expected to be available for download from www.MaxtorSolutions.com in March as a free download.