Kickstarter Campaign: Nanohive - Personal Server and Personal Cloud

Concept is cool, but that is a really ugly looking device...

I'll pass on this one. Yet another me2 product throwing around buzzwords like cloud. Just call it the personal server and leave it at that, don't insult our intelligence.

Hi Carlos,

Since you asked.. Just curious, I noticed the project page says that the prototype was an Odroid board.

My question was, firstly, why is the developed product not an Odroid too? It seems a lot of hard work to redesign to make the nanohive do exactly what the Odroid does (and likely at a cheaper cost, since it is made in higher volume).

I understand that the mains power supply is in the same enclosure, but some may see that or the mains connector as a negative (e.g. Europe).

Finally, is there a hard disk built-in, or does external storage need to be used?

If it requires external storage to become the personal cloud, I think this is a problem, because many home network storage NAS devices allow you to host websites on them anyway (if one really wanted to), so the Nanohive would be redundant, given that the first use-case listed for the Nanohive is that it allows you to host websites. A NAS device doesn't cost much more, and is likely faster with SATA disk access.

What we call our "cloud" is as a way to access files stored over the web, with encryption, with yourself and people you create permissions for.  This is different than what is typically called a "web server" for http.  Ultimately everything is stored on a server whether you are storing your information on Box or Nanohive so the difference is semantics.

As far as the exterior shell, remember that we are on Kickstarter to further the development of the product. If you look on our Kickstarter page one of the things we mention with regards to this is redesigning the exterior case. What you see now is what we call a "sketch model" in the design world.

Thanks!

While the processors are the same we've eliminated some components and added others as our needs are different.  The cost of the board and ancillary components doesn't provide a cost advantage where we'd want to adapt different hardware to our application.  Developing our own hardware also allows us to add features in the future, for example Wi-Fi. 

We plan on implementing stretch goals that will include a solution to make Nanohive compatible worldwide.

There is no hard disk - the data is stored in on-board flash, which is another important hardware difference. 

Nanohive does not require external storage but in fact provides 8GB of internal memory.  While current NAS devices offer some of the same features, our open platform, portability, power consumption and low cost are what we view as the key advantages of our product. 

Thanks for your question!

Hi Carlos,

Thanks for the information. It's good you reply to questions, unlike other kickstarter project creators who don't know how to deal with queries from difficult to please consumers like me : )

I'm possibly not in the target audience for this product, but nevertheless best of luck.

The fact that you think semantics is the difference between a cloud and a server is embarrassing. People like you who get into the tech industry with no understanding of tech are the worst.

A cloud is scalable, you need to have virtualization for it to be a cloud. Since you are in the business of talking down to people, I'll simplify it for you. A cloud grows, a server does not. They both have a way for you to access resources from anywhere. Your product does not grow, therefore you are not a cloud and continue to make me lose respect for you with your tone.

And before you say something ill-informed again...no, having a couple of USB ports does not make a cloud.

I'm rather confused what makes this different from several other commercially available products already on the market.

While the kickstarter cost is less, the others certainly have consumer 'peace of mind' that they have support, proven technology and all the other things associated with commercial devices.

I don't think 8GB is anything to advertise, since I regularly carry a 32GB in my pocket, so without adding an external drive (adding more $) you really have a limited use device.

I'm also very unsure why you use the term 'cloud', since its not in some inaccessible data warehouse, buried in the interweb thingy.

Its just a NAS that (assuming your router allows) will let you access the files while you're not on the home network.

(This also goes for the commercial products I've seen)

The term 'server' used to mean a high powered device that was designed to run 24/7, had plenty of grunt, and various redundancy inbuilt,  to allow multiple users access to programs and data.

Now the lowliest of devices can 'serve' files etc, and IMO this device doesn't appear to much more than that.

I also presume that you will be making the supply prongs suit the various countries, and subjecting it to electrical conformance tests in order to meet the necessary legal requirements for domestic appliances.

This is often why some low volume manufacturers choose external power packs ... it makes their life easier.

Thanks

Mark

I'm amazed if there is any target market for it.

Like you say, a NAS at best (and underperforming with 8GB and no high-speed disk interface), and as a 'server' it is very sub-optimal for serving files or applications in any scaleable and reliable manner for the reasons you describe.

I'd be interested to know out of curiosity, is it really a complete board redesign replacing the Odroid in their prototype? Sounds a significant effort for 1000 devices. The snippet of PCB layout on the kickstarter page doesn't look like state-of-the-art for a single-board-computer. It looks like a bunch of passive components.

Perhaps they are constructing a PCB for (say) the power supply and some ancillary functionality, and reusing a pre-built SBC? Not that it improves the end product, but just curious.

Thanks for your response.

I want to clarify that we do not believe that semantics are the only difference between a cloud a server and in no way intended to speak down or be condescending.

Although we are a start-up, we are not people with no understanding of tech. If you check out our Kickstarter page you can see that our 2 engineers very much a part of the tech world.
Our main engineer and tech guru is a former employee of Intel (among many other things) and is, in part, responsible for some of the most ubiquitous technology found in today's (and tomorrows) computers and processors.

All of the responses that you read go through him prior to posting and are far from ill-informed.

We don't mean to "insult anyone's intelligence" and just want to convey to you that we know what we are doing.

Hi Mark, We're aware of NAS products which offer similar functionality but we've really intended this to be a simple and minimum-cost method of hosting files and websites. We've designed to keep power consumption low and make a device which is small and out of the way.  To keep costs down we've had to stick with 8GB. We do refer to this data as available on the cloud due to its remote accessibility but as you said the term usually implies a separation between the user and the storage medium. 

Thanks