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Somewhere between the device & the cloud…

By November 2, 2013One Comment

byodhumor

Somewhere between the device and the cloud…

…is that place that many schools wish existed. That place where students and staff could still access the files which are on their traditional network as they move from a traditional desktop based system to the mobile learning 24/7 mobile device ecosystem. One way of making this possible is through the brilliantly tidy little product called ‘FoldR’. With browser access through a HTML5 interface and also access available via WebDAV or a native iOS app (which is free); FoldR provides a nifty solution to ensuring files don’t have to sit in a Dropbox somewhere or a SkyDrive or anyone else’s drive for that matter. It can all be stored on your servers in your school.

How do they do it?

I’m not a technical guru as many of you know but essentially, a software based virtual appliance is installed on to your server which picks up all of your Active Directory entries (that’s all of the user names/profiles / settings for each of the users on your network) and enables them then to simply access the network through any of the three main access points; web browser, WebDAV or the native iOS app via a front facing specific web domain address. Now, as I said, I’m not the technical guru, but that’s my understanding of it. Anyway, you don’t need to know too much about that as they can, or your technical team, can set that up for you. All you should be interested in is how that can affect workflow, saving and access to documents – well….. that’s it. It does it.

I can recommend the product and their team. They respond quickly to requests – I asked for dual layer security in their iOS app and they developed that to include it and it was on the Apple App Store within a few weeks, which is great when you consider the App Store turnaround is normally ten working days.

BYOD or 1:1

Whether you’re looking at BYOD or a 1:1 rollout, FoldR could prove to be a very useful product that will either fulfill the need you have in order to get access to files or bridge the gap between what you want for your workflow and what is currently available. You can also use it to stream or AirPlay stuff straight from your server too!

Either way, it’s worth a gander. Find out more by visiting them here: http://www.minnow.it/ or contacting them on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MinnowIT

Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson, @ICTEvangelist. Click here to learn more.

One Comment

  • Tracey Duffy says:

    I would definitely agree with Mark. The Gryphon School in Sherborne have implemented Foldr on iPads with great success. So simple to access network files and students have got to grips with uploads very quickly. Kids are also installing it without prompting on their mobile phones.

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