Internet hosting provider Rackspace, of San Antonio, Texas, on May 5 launched its own Web-based storage service — dubbed CloudFS — to beta users through its “cloud” computing division, Mosso.
The news comes on the heels of the company’s filing April 28 with the Securities & Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. The company will use a Google-like auction sales method in an attempt to bring in about $400 million.
Key features that set Rackspace apart from established competitors such as Amazon EC2 and Google AppEngine are: 1) data will be available to users anywhere, anytime; and 2) there will be no charges for incoming or outgoing bandwidth for Rackspace and Mosso customers.
Users wanting to store large files, such as movies, will love that idea.
CloudFS will be available to a limited number of customers in a free, private beta for testing and refinement until Q3 2008, when it will open for public beta. Pricing is not yet determined.
We’ll keep watch on this development for you. Go here for more information.