Last week we released a couple of enhancements to Octopz. They are:

The Octopz document storage space has been doubled to 1 GigaByte per license at no additional cost. So now you can upload, view, markup and save even more digital documents and rich media files.

We’ve added support for Microsoft Office 7 documents, which typically end in .docx, .pptx and .xlsx. You can simply upload, view and markup Office 7 files as you did with previous versions of Office documents, which continue to be fully supported.

The new Custom Branding feature allows you to customize your Octopz Meeting Zone and Rooms with your company’s logo. Simply upload a gif or jpg of your logo and it will be automatically placed in the upper left hand corner. Your logo can be up to 36 pixels high and 360 pixels wide. For instructions, click here to see a short video on how to do this.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, online collaboration, RIA, SaaS, screencasting

Filmmaker Andy Coon stopped by our booth at the How Design Conference yesterday and really liked what he saw in Octopz for film and video creatives. Writing on his blog, Andy said:

Editors around the world rejoice, Octopz is a web application that will allow you to collaborate with your clients anywhere in the world. Granted there are other applications out there but check out Barry Fogarty Co-founder & Chief Evangelist take us through an example of the features for video editors.

Andy also taped Barry’s demo at the booth and published it on his blog. You can see it here.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, geoperdis, Octopz, online collaboration, webware

Octopz co-founder and chief evangelist Barry Fogarty speaks during in the 15 minutes of fame presentation at the mesh conference earlier today.

Technorati Tags: barryfogarty, mesh, mesho7, Octopz, online collaboration, RIA, SaaS, web2.0, webware

Ron McKenzie, Octopz CEO 2.0 and Barry Fogarty, Co-founder and Chief Evangelist.

On May 24, Ron McKenzie, P.Eng. joined Octopz Inc. as Chief Executive Officer. He takes over the CEO function from company co-founder Barry Fogarty, who will assume the newly-created role of Chief Evangelist.

Ron has extensive experience leading fast-growing tech companies both in Canada and the United States. He has held leadership roles in the computing and communications sector with companies such as Hewlett Packard, SGI, FORE Systems and most recently as Executive Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, of MTS/Allstream (formerly AT&T Canada).

According to Ron:

It’s an exciting opportunity to join an organization with such a unique and differentiated solution. It’s a tremendous testament to the quality and originality of Octopz that they’ve launched to such great reviews from critics and customers. I’m looking forward to using my experience in the computing, software and service provider sectors to help propel the company to even greater levels of success.

And Barry, grinning ear to ear because he gets the fun gig of Chief Evangelist, adds:

Ron’s strengths and experience will bring new impetus to the continuing development of our solution and the rapid growth of our business. With Ron leading the team, I am excited to take on the role of Chief Evangelist, allowing me to concentrate on promoting Octopz and working more closely with clients to ensure that future developments continue to not only meet but exceed their needs and expectations.

Find out more about Ron, Barry and the rest of the Octopz team here. The official news release about Ron’s appointment is here.

Technorati Tags: barryfogarty, Octopz, RIA, ronmckenzie, SaaS, webware

Octopz is identified as a 2007 Rising Star by InfoWorld and profiled as part of their Month of Startups feature series. Editor at large Paul Krill starts the story by writing that:

Nobody’s sure exactly how it is that social networks like MySpace and Facebook are really going to make money for their corporate masters. But one thing people have figured out is that online social networks are great mediums for people to share ideas and collaborate. Now one startup, Octopz, is hoping to apply that logic to the topsy-turvy community of creative professionals. In the process, the company is making a splash in the ocean of Internet collaboration hopefuls.

In the article, Octopz co-founder and chief evangelist Barry Fogarty points out that Octopz is:

The ideal solution for creative professionals working with rich media. We make advanced, on-demand collaboration simple and effective.

Barry also shares some background on how Octopz began:

Fogarty says the Octopz application originally was developed for his own use with agencies and clients. “Once we started to use it with our clients, they got interested,” and asked to license it, says Fogarty, who previously owned a company called Diginiche, which produced high-end interactive images.

Aldo Cundari, chairman and CEO of The Cundari Group, an advertising agency and Octopz client is also quoted in the InfoWorld profile:

We find that our clients like the flexibility it (Octopz) brings to the workflow process. We have also seen increase in productivity and a reduction in project cost by removing travel and the hours required (when) constantly chasing (a) client for input and approvals.

The full InfoWorld article is here.

Technorati Tags: adobe, barryfogarty, collaboration, coworking, flash, infoworld, microsoft, Octopz, online collaboration, RIA, SaaS, silverlight, web2.0, webware

Octopz software takes advantage of the web browser and the internet to deliver a unique online collaboration service. Using the web browser means that there is no special software to download and install in order to use Octopz, and using the internet means that our service can be used by anyone with access to the world wide web. It also means that online security is a foremost consideration in designing and providing the Octopz service to our customers.

Octopz users and their guests are required to authenticate themselves via user name and password in order to log into the service. This data is protected and encrypted in transmission. Once authenticated, users can only enter the rooms that they have been given access to by administrators.

Within an Octopz room, documents, digital media and the related markup information is fully encrypted with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and verfied by VeriSign. Later this year Octopz will provide the option to encrypt VoIP and webcam data as well.

Physical security is also a foremost consideration for Octopz. Our servers are hosted by Rackspace in data centres in Texas, Virginia, and the UK. With a Tier 1 ranking, Rackspace strictly monitors access to all data centers using keycard protocols, biometric scanning protocols, continuous interior and exterior surveillance. The data centres also feature N+1 redundant power and HVAC, as well as industry leading fire suppression and UPS equipment.

To see Octopz in action inside your web browser, take the quick tour and then sign up for your own free trial account.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, Octopz, online collaboration, RIA, SaaS, web2.0, webware

Looking to leverage great reviews after its debut performance at Web 2.0 Expo, Octopz makes an appearance on YouTube. The latest news is here.

Technorati Tags: adobe, apollo, collaboration, flash, flex, online collaboration, review, RIA, SaaS, software, web2expo, webware, youtube

In this video, Octopz CEO Barry Fogarty is interviewed by Neo-Fight at the Web 2.0 Expo about our online collaboration software. After Barry’s first take at describing Octopz, Neo-Fight guest host Tony Katz encourages him to try again, this time in English.

By the time Barry is finished explaining Octopz, Tony is visibly impressed, and likes our name and logo to boot. And as the interview winds to a close, Tony takes a moment to translate Barry’s pronunciation of the z in Octopz (“zed” in Canadian) to “zee” for the rest of the North-American English-speaking world.

The full Neo-Fight Web 2.0 Expo report and other eposides of the show are here

Along with including Octopz as one of their top 5 picks at the Web 2.0 Expo (see video above), CNET’s Webware.com announced the Webware 100 competition at the show. They are asking readers to pick the best 100 web apps in 10 categories.

First up is the nomination process which runs until May 7. After all the nominations are in, the editors will select 25 services per category and readers will vote for the winners beginning in late May and runnning until mid-June.

If you would like to nominate Octopz for the Webware 100, we suggest you do so in the communications category. Done!

Technorati Tags: awards, collaboration, Octopz, online collaboration, SaaS, web2expo, webware, webware.com

In the latest dispatch from Web 2.0 Expo, CNET Webware.com’s Josh Lowensohn selected Octopz as one of the top 5 services at the conference. Commenting in a wrap-up video report from the show, Josh, who reviewed Octopz late last week, commented that:

I really liked Octopz. This is a really, really slick flash-based application for collaborative sharing. Designers can use this, small business groups can use this. You can share media files like documents, videos, pictures, all sorts of things. The really great part is it has VoIP (Voice over IP) so you can talk to each other for free. And also you have video sharing.

The full story and video report from the show are here.

Erica Ogg, Rafe Needleman and Josh Lowensohn
discuss their top 5 picks from the Web 2.0 Expo.

Technorati Tags: collaboration, Octopz, online collaboration, review, SaaS, software, web2.0, web2expo