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.
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.
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
Posted by geoperdis 
Posted by geoperdis 
Posted by geoperdis 
