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The web browsing space has been congested with new web browsers, with many purporting to be the latest in innovation and security. Many have failed to truly deliver- but new web browsing company, RockMelt has decided to use the Cloud to give it an edge.  

But before we focus our attentions on them, let’s have a quick potted history of the web browser. In the beginning we had the WorldWideWeb- established 1991. Then rivals emerged. First came the NCSA Mosaic in 1993- the first graphical web browser. And within the Mosaic team, there was a desire to take the concept a stage further.

So step forward Marc Andreessen. After building his own company (Netscape), he launched the Netscape Navigator in 1994, which at the time held an enormous stranglehold over the browser market at its peak.

Microsoft took charge of proceedings in 1995 with Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer once held an enormous monopoly of the market (95%) in 2002, but it has seen its market share considerably reduced  over the last eight years.

Opera appeared in 1996, and while it never achieved widespread popularity, it has managed to infiltrate a percentage of the mobile phone web browser market in more recent times. Apple has also enjoyed relative success, growing numbers by integrating the users of their products with the launch of Safari in 2003.

And most recently, Google have attempted to infiltrate the market with Chrome. The open-source package has gained a growing following in just two years, and with its apps, and connectivity,

But it was the Netscape launch of Mozilla in 1998 which provided Microsoft Explorer with its most consistent market rival. The business later evolved into Firefox- who are currently the second most-used web browser on the market.

Now Andreessen’s back, having pumped in a great amount of money into the team formed largely from his successful Netscape group. Unlike other browsers on the market, RockMelt will be able to boast the Cloud and increased social interaction as the two most important weapons in their arsenal.

Let’s start with the Cloud. RockMelt is to become the first browser that you can log into and fully backed by the Cloud. It means that users are able to accesse their personal browsing experience and personal pages from anywhere and can customise their internet experience.

However, the Cloud aspect will mean that RockMelt has a fair degree of control over the viewing history of its users- but the company promises to put this data to good use. Like its other competitors, RockMelt will be free and will make the majority of its money from advertising space. The new browser will make the internet experience quicker. It might be a boss’s nightmare, but it will certainly make recreational internet browsing a more interactive process.

The company has tried to re-invent the shape and design of its webpages by attempting  to update the very tried and tested web browser format which has been followed across all platforms. Social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are to be made available instantly from wherever you are on the web, with tool bars for these facilities existing on either side of the page.

The left hand side integrates Facebook friends, so you can chat, write messages and read status updates, while the right side is for Twitter and RSS feeds, with notifications springing up to alert you to the number of messages and posts you’ve accumulated.

In the opening post of the RockMelt blog, the team said:  “RockMelt does more than just navigate Web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the Web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search.

“And of course, RockMelt is fast, secure, and stable because it’s built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. It’s your browser – re-imagined and built for how you use the Web.”

Eric Vishria, RockMelt’s co-founder and CEO said: “Today’s Web users need a browser that does more than just navigate pages. RockMelt helps people do the things they do every single day – keep up with their friends, share, get updates, and search.

“We are very excited to begin offering early access to the RockMelt beta as we begin the race to our first million users.”

Last month we posted a blog which advised businesses that are interested in moving to the Cloud to not build technology before securing a security team capable of managing it. This time, we pose a different question-what’s the likelihood of the Cloud becoming a mainstay in your business? And if your company does implement Cloud Computing solutions, to what extent should you do so?

It’s one thing to adopt aspects of the technology, applications and software gadgetry offered through the Cloud but quite another to use it to overhaul an entire business structure.

On the one hand, there is the capability to use the Cloud to maintain the status quo and simply adopt the business data within the cloud for the sole purpose of cutting costs. There is nothing wrong with this of course- the chance to remove the hassle of running an IT department on a fraction of the cost is a worthwhile factor to consider on its own merits.

But the Cloud is capable of much more- and taking a half-hearted approach to implementing it into a business will prove an Achilles heel further down the line.

An important distinction was drawn up this week by CNET guest blogger, James Urquhart: “There is a huge difference between ‘moving to’ the cloud and ‘building for’ the cloud. Are you prepared to invest enough in both?”

Urquhart’s question follows the announcement that Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect, Ray Ozzie, will be retiring from the company in the not-so-distant future. Ozzie’s five year tenure with the computer giants has overseen a technological overhaul in a wide number of areas- Wi-Fi, 3G/4G Networks and downscaled hardware systems to name but a few.

More pertinently, Ozzie has been one of the main visionaries at Microsoft to see the potential and the need for accelerating the capacity and functions of the Cloud. Ozzie’s desire for driving the potential of the Cloud could be said to have exceeded the capabilities of the IT wizards within his own company- pushing the boundaries of combining continuous services alongside connected devices.

Ozzie said: “We’ve seen business processes and entire organizations transformed by the zero-friction nature of the internet; the walls between producer and consumer having now vanished.  Substantial business ecosystems have collapsed as many classic aggregation & distribution mechanisms no longer make sense.”

Cost efficiency remains one of the key factors to attract businesses to the Cloud- but there’s little point trying to save a few bucks if your business simply cannot deal with the ‘live’ nature of the Cloud and the way applications can be used and run.

Taking the more radical step to adopt a TotalCloud has the potential to not only save your business money, but also to embrace the latest cutting technology and steal a march on rival companies. The Cloud places emphasis on what technology does, rather than what technology is. It removes the dependency on internal servers and offers tailor-made packages which will suit businesses on a personal level.

As Ozzie summarises: “Cloud Computing will become pervasive for developers and IT – a shift that’ll catalyze the transformation of infrastructure, systems & business processes across all major organizations worldwide.  And all these new services will work hand-in-hand with an unimaginably fascinating world of devices-to-come.

“Today’s PC’s, phones & pads are just the very beginning; we’ll see decades to come of incredible innovation from which will emerge all sorts of ‘connected companions’ that we’ll wear, we’ll carry, we’ll use on our desks & walls and the environment all around us.”

In the last fortnight, the U.S. Army spent $24.8 million on a contract which will set up a Cloud Computing network for intelligence gathering and analysis. The systems should be completed by September 2011.

The U.S. military Cloud will be packed with capabilities which will aid the army with structures to extract and mine objects, events and relationships from intelligence sources. These will include full-motion video, audio, imagery, financial data, signals intelligence and all source reporting.  The Army plans to build joint enterprise networks with other combatant forces in the future.   

The first app to integrate into the new Cloud will be the army’s Microsoft Exchange e-mail accounts. This transition will oversee more than 1.4 million unclassified network users and 200,000 secret network users.  The first users will be in the Army’s CIO/G’s office and Army headquarters in January-February 2011.

Like all forms of private and public sector business, cost-efficiency remains a key priority for the Army in any design of their new Computer systems. From 2013 onwards, the U.S. army estimates they will make annual savings in excess of $100 million.

The army’s constant movement on tour means the majority of the intelligence has to be stored on laptops and work has to be performed remotely (albeit where an internet connection can be made). The Cloud enables the soldiers to have one single email address which they will be able to access from wherever they are based. At present, U.S. soldiers do not have access to these capabilities.

Security will be one of the U.S. army’s biggest concerns during the construction of their Cloud- especially in light of the recent Wikileaks revelations.  User identity and certification will be of huge concern as well, as competition against enemy technology and intelligence continues to increase.

But with fewer servers and administrators, as well as the elimination of unnecessary seams between thousands of current ranges of local networks, security should be increased. Email storage will grow to 4 gigabytes and the base service will exceed current standards, enabling the Army to skip a generation of Microsoft email capabilities.

The Army’s move should be seen as a huge boost for the Cloud Computing industry. With Cloud security generally regarded as the main reservation which prevents businesses from moving their company  IT  to the Cloud, the Army’s seal of approval offers a clear indication that with the right measures in place, the technology has become sufficiently well-developed.

If the Cloud is considered robust enough to protect a soldier’s life, it’s probably strong enough to protect your business too.

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