Pepperdine has recently made available a storage utility called Anywhere Storage powered by the technology company Xythos.
This storage space has been available to faculty and staff since the beginning of the academic year but was only introduced at the beginning of this semester. Most students remain unaware of its capabilities and even its existence.
The program allows users to upload and store up to 1 gigabyte of personal files online. Once files are uploaded and stored users can publicly share files in a controlled and secure format online.
Users can select the specific users or groups with which they would like to share their files. Gerard Flynn Institutional Technology Support director explained that Xythos will revolutionize the way Pepperdine students collaborate.
“Unlike Google docs Anywhere Storage allows users to edit at separate times and to re-open an old version of the same document Flynn said. Xythos allows users to edit, store and share any type of information. I worked in Tech Support for a while and once saw a girl in tears after her computer crashed and she lost a 14-page paper.”
An advance from floppy disks and flash drives Internet storage still sounds unreliable to some people. Junior Bridgette Walker hasn’t used Xythos yet but is concerned that the Internet could be unavailable when she needs to access a file. ‘What if WaveNet is down or I’m in a place without Internet service?”
Pepperdine Technology Manager Alan Reagan explained that Anywhere Storage can be uploaded on PCs as a drive. “This allows users to work offline. When the computer reaches Internet service it will automatically sync with online storage.”
Xythos has promised the release of a MAC drive function but they have not yet released a date.
The Xythos program is slightly different for faculty users. A “Dropbox” feature allows students to submit papers projects and other documents into their professor’s storage space. Faculty can request additional storage space by simply contacting the support desk.
Junior Wade Hartgrave said he is aware of Xythos’ capabilities but said they do not meet his needs.
“One gigabyte of space wouldn’t hold even a two-minute video in High Definition Hartgrave said.
Sharyl Corrado, assistant professor of history, has used Xythos since it was made available in August 2009.
I use it for all of my work everything Corrado said. I don’t have anything saved on my computer at home or at the office. I save everything on Xythos.”
Corrado said she appreciates that she can access her files anywhere and uses it mostly for PowerPoint. Corrado also encourages students to save their files on Xythos.
“When my students come up to me and say they lost their work I always say you should have saved it on Xythos she said.
However, Corrado said she has not used the file-sharing feature often between herself and her students and explained that it could be more user-friendly. Corrado values the ability to implement the program as a drive to avoid always having to access the Internet.
I’m a fan. I like Xythos.”
Students can access Xythos at storage.pepperdine.edu.