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Tacoma's Topia Launches Skoot Cloud App

Topia Technology, developer of secure, cloud-based file syncing and sharing solutions for individuals and businesses, announced the Skoot cloud application.

Topia’s New Skoot Cloud App Provides Unmatched, Secure File Access and and Sharing Across Devices, Storage Locations and Cloud Services.

With Skoot, you are able to browse all your files, devices and cloud services at once; access, share and move content across PC, Android, Dropbox, Google Docs and more.


Skoot is a new, simple and secure way for users to quickly browse, access and share files saved across devices and services, such as PC, Android, Dropbox and Google Docs, with support for iPhone and iPad coming in the next couple weeks. With Skoot, subscribers securely cloud-enable everything they have, so they can log in once and view all their content. Users grab what they need, share files with others and even remotely move documents between devices. Unlike other cloud, file sharing or remote access services that work in a silo or require that all content be uploaded to the cloud, Skoot makes all your files accessible no matter where they sit.

Traveling with just your laptop or iPad and need a doc off your work desktop? Or forget to put something into Dropbox? Open Skoot to grab it and browse securely through your other stuff while you’re there. Try Skoot for free for 30 days.

“Cloud services have dramatically improved the way users store and access content in their home and business lives,” said Janine Terrano, CEO of Topia Technology. “Yet for individuals with more than one device, location or service, we saw an untapped opportunity to put the user in the center of their own personal cloud for the utmost convenience, privacy and security. Logging in just once on the device at hand, users have all their content – stored across computers, cloud services, mobile devices and more – right at their fingertips.”

Skoot is designed for users that want to easily access all their content, regardless of where it’s saved. It creates a personal, secure cloud encompassing all a user’s computers, files, devices – even other cloud services. Can’t remember where you put something? Skoot makes everything easy to get to; log in from any device and search content by location (i.e., device), file type or file name.

Users can now make thoughtful decisions about what goes in the cloud, stays on the device or is protected in Skoot’s Vault. This is the first time individuals get to put files where they want them without limiting access, and files no longer have to be uploaded to the cloud to be accessed remotely.

Skoot is:

All your Stuff – Browse and securely grab your content regardless of where you are, where it’s stored and what device you have. Access your files across PC, web, tablet, smartphone, etc. and between devices. Continue to use all the free storage your favorite cloud and file-sharing services (Dropbox, Google Docs, etc.) provide. Skoot is your personal content browser.

How you Want it – You are the center of your own personal cloud. Put files where you want them (device, cloud, Vault) and fill your cloud with as much or as little as you want. Easily share your content any time. Browse or search all your stuff on every device at once, without multiple services and log-ins.

Wherever and Whenever – Don’t worry about where you put content, you can still get it using whichever device is at hand – PC, Android tablet, iPhone, etc. No longer pre-plan (or forget) to have the right file, at the right time on the right device.

Protected and Private – Secure your content with end-to-end encryption and protect your file-sharing services for the first time. Use the Skoot Vault to secure and encrypt all your sensitive files.

Skoot enables users to treat sensitive documents, such as business files or financial documents, with care, so they are not exposed in the cloud. Most cloud services store data on their servers “in the clear” with little or no protection. Skoot’s end-to-end encryption provides users with a secure alternative. Skoot never moves a user’s file until requested, and when a file is moved it is heavily encrypted. For even further protection, subscribers can use Skoot’s Vault. Based on the same principle behind a safe or safe deposit box, users place electronic documents in a Vault that is accessible from anywhere, but only they hold the key.

“Today’s cloud providers offer great value and convenience to users, they just don’t work well with each other,” added Terrano. “We’re excited to show prosumers how easy it is to use all their favorites – together and securely – for the first time. No longer feel burdened to choose, consolidate or manage them separately.”

Skoot starts at $4.95 a month and includes 2GB of Vault space.

Skoot for Business: Highly Secure and Flexible

Skoot helps businesses support secure employee access to multiple cloud file syncing and sharing and data storage services (Dropbox, Google Docs, internal SMB stores, etc.). It offers employees an improved way to grab and share content while ensuring enterprise-grade security, enforcing policies and connecting and consolidating different cloud data stores. Skoot adds unparalleled data encryption to existing solutions during the file transfer process, so businesses can protect the cloud file syncing and sharing services employees use. And the Skoot Vault gives employees a simple means to protect sensitive files.

“Skoot makes bring your own device – BYOD – a great productivity opportunity for businesses of all sizes,” added Terrano. “It not only helps IT teams improve remote access via a broad mix of devices, but across the range of cloud services employees connect to them. Staff also have insight into where employees are storing files.”

Deployed by SMB and enterprise organizations as a cloud service or platform, Skoot enables employees to browse and grab files regardless of where they are, where it’s stored and what device they have at hand, increasing productivity, collaboration, efficiency and unmatched security over the wire and at rest. To learn more about the unique benefits of Skoot for Business, visit www.skootit.com

About Topia Technology

Topia Technology develops secure, cloud-based file syncing and sharing solutions for individuals and businesses. The company’s applications create “personal clouds” to make files accessible on a user’s every device – computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone – regardless of where they are stored. Need to find, search or share all your stuff whenever you want? Get Skoot atwww.skootit.com

Verizon Data Breach on ISSA Agenda

SST Announces Keynoter

The annual South Sound Technology Conference is the technology showcase for Tacoma and the South Puget Sound region.

For years it has brought together leaders from industry, education, and government, both locally and from around the state, to discuss and demonstrate innovations and ongoing applications which utilize technology. Panel and keynote presentations, including networking opportunities, provide a venue to discuss, explore, understand and deploy technology as a solution, an opportunity and an advantage. SST is perhaps this region's best annual event to learn how technology is transforming our business and community life."

Keynoting at the event will be Richard Purcell, CEO of the Corporate Privacy Group. Purcell ranks among the original Chief Privacy Officers in the United States. He created the position at Microsoft in the late ‘90’s, becoming a leading voice in addressing consumer privacy and data protection, domestically and internationally.

Facing Up to the Challenge

Military Affairs Committee Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber

Meeting Notice
Wednesday, Jan. 7
7:30 – 9:00 a.m.
La Quinta Inn
1425 E. 27th St.
Tacoma 98421

AGENDA

Preview of the 2009 State Legislative Session
Sen. Derek Kilmer will give us an overview of the upcoming legislative session, with particular attention to military and veterans’ issues.

MorphoFace Investigate, Facial Recognition for Criminal Justice and Intelligence Communities
Eric Hess, Sr. Biometric's Product Manager’s presentation is covering the MorphoFace Investigate application, its recent successes at PCSD, and a little about Sagem's history in Tacoma.

Sagem Morpho is an integral part of Sagem Securite's global success in the development, manufacture and integration of biometric technologies including fingerprint, iris and facial recognition. Based in Tacoma WA, Sagem Morpho provides R&D support, engineering, technology and customer support services for systems throughout North America, including law enforcement, Federal Government, Homeland Security, civil identification, and applicant background check systems, and is the biometric algorithm provider for the FBI AFIS.

Sagem Morpho actively engages its customers in development of emerging technologies. Its recent work with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department lead to the arrest and conviction in a local identity theft case involving numerous local victims, showcasing the potential of facial recognition for investigative tasks within law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

Breakfast Buffet: $12.00 with RSVP. Non-reserved attendance: $15.00
RSVP: Rose Crist, 253-627-2175; DUE 12 noon, 01/05

(Non-RSVPs welcome, but PLEASE call to help with plans for meals and seating arrangements.) Those persons reserving and not attending or canceling before the RSVP deadline will be billed.

One Rule to Ring Them All?

There may soon be a single point of contact in Pierce County for searching government records. A county public records "ombudsperson" was one topic discussed at an open-government forum last week that brought together county and state elected leaders.

Looking for public records can be a daunting task, said Pierce County Councilmember Shawn Bunney (District 1), but an ombudsperson would help individuals and businesses decide what they need and then help them find it. "Openness is a primary prerequisite of responsible and responsive government," said Bunney, who is drafting an ordinance to create an ombudsperson in Pierce County modeled on a similar position in the state Attorney General's Office. "Too often public-records requests are dumped on a clerk without allocating additional time or funding. I think the public deserves better."

When Washington state's open public records act was created by initiative in 1972, there were two exemptions to what could be disclosed; there are now more than 300 exemptions, said state Attorney General Rob McKenna, whose "Sunshine Committee" will be reviewing each one and making recommendations to the Legislature next year. "Most of these exemptions should be removed," McKenna said.

State Auditor Brian Sonntag said it's mindset that characterizes governments' approach to public records. If jurisdictions decide they'll work to make public records available, it's different than if they try to find ways to exempt records from disclosure. "In the end, remembering whose business we're doing is paramount," Sonntag said. "We can't forget who's writing the checks."

Sonntag and McKenna both lauded Bunney's proposal. It remains to be seen how his peers on the Pierce County Council will respond.