Streem Acquired by Box

Box + Streem

Streem only started accepting beta users back in April and while I am not sure they actually let any users in, they must have let the CEO and others from Box in to test them out since they have announced today that Box has acquired Streem. Streem actually reminded me a great deal of Bitcasa when they first launched. The statement about the acquisition on the Streem website lists three things that Streem developed:

 
  • We developed StreemFS, a new filesystem that enables users to natively access files in the cloud right on their desktop, turning the cloud into an extension of their hard drive. No more space on your hard drive? Streem stores files in the cloud and doesn’t take up any space locally.
  • We designed custom streaming and buffering algorithms to make files stored on the cloud open as fast as local ones. Want to watch a 2GB video on your desktop? Streem will open it in your favorite video player and start playing immediately — there’s no lag or delay.
  • We created an on-the-fly video transcoder that instantly streams videos regardless of their original format. Unsure about the format of your video or on a low-bandwidth connection? Our transcoder will stream the proper format and dynamically fluctuate the quality of the video stream based on your internet speed.

Bitcasa also developed custom streaming and buffering and transcoding. They also just recently announced the BitcasaFS. Sound familiar? At least Bitcasa got to the point of actually letting people use their service, but perhaps if Bitcasa had been acquired they would not have upset the large majority of their beta uses.

It will certainly be interesting to see what Box does with Streem. Box has traditionally been focused on business cloud storage while Streem seemed to be more consumer oriented with the focus on streaming video and audio.

If you got into try Streem out what did you think? I never got access so I only have the news releases and typical marketing material to go on.


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