Hollowing out the computer, Mangomind uses a distributed shared memory
architecture originated for massively parallel supercomputers
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are dedicated and encrypted paths that
enable security conscious corporations to send mission critical files over shared
data networks such as the Internet. Mangosoft (MGOF.OB) does not belong to the
VPN Consortium, nor does Mango manufacture VPN hardware. Mango does, however, have
Mangomind, a LAN-style file service that enables VPN-like applications across the
Internet. Mangomind extends the client's existing network services by allowing secure
storage and sharing of data between members of extended business workgroups.
While traditional VPNs require dedicated phone lines and dedicated IT staff
to collect user profiles of remote peering partners and to install, configure, and
manage VPN hardware, Mango was able to set Gilder Publishing up with our very own VPN
and remote Internet storage cache with a single e-mail.
The first member of a Mangomind drive can invite others to join by e-mailing
client software for downloading on their PC. Each member contributing files and folders
to the drive can regulate access of other drive members to them. Multiple users can
simultaneously and securely access and edit Mind drive files. Use requires no training,
no additional hardware, and no IT intervention. The Mind drive does all of the thinking,
arbitrating file reads and writes. All applications operate directly on files without
creating multiple incoherent copies.
Files saved to the Mango drive are encrypted at the end user prior to
transmission over the Internet to Mango's centralized network cache. Managed by
Storage Networks (STOR) and located at the Exodus data center in Boston, the Mango cache
stores data in encrypted form. By contrast, a traditional VPN scheme decrypts files at
the destination storage server. In the Mango system, all decryption takes place at the
client on the edge.
Hollowing out the computer by combining the storage and memory of multiple
users, Mangomind uses a distributed shared memory architecture originated for massively
parallel supercomputers at the late lamented Kendall Square Research. Under the guidance of
KSR co-founder Steve Frank, that company developed systems to share memory among many
microprocessors within its proprietary supercomputer. Frank then brought the basic
concepts to Mango, where they could be executed in software on the accelerated hardware
of 2001. Under the guidance of CTO Scott Davis, the company has launched two products -
Cachelink, which uses the browser cache in your computer to accelerate access to favored web
pages in a company, and now Mangomind, which provides storewidth file services across the Internet.
With the ultimate edge advantage, close proximity to the end user, Mango has
accomplished what highly distributed content delivery networks have attempted for years.
Mango is as close to the edge of the network that you can get-on the users' desktops. Mango
has effectively transformed the desktop into the smartest, most efficient cache on the network,
a cache that knows exactly what to cache, when, and for how long. Cache coherency becomes
a non-issue. Files are cached and content verified using Mango's version check protocol each
time an end user opens or saves a file. Files that have been altered by users working offline
are transparently synchronized when the user reconnects to the Net. No extra time, IT power,
or CPU power is wasted maintaining cache content freshness.
Most storewidth companies pay top dollar for storage IT professionals to maintain
network efficiency and cache coherency on their content delivery and storage networks.
Mango, in an ironic twist, doesn't pay, but is paid by its systems administrators.
Given that close to 90 percent of the business world is proficient in Windows and that Mangomind
was designed with bug-for-bug Windows compatibility, the end user and the cache administrator
are one in the same. Although Mango is a very thinly traded stock, we put it on our list with
the usual cautions. Among the board members is Nick Tredennick of Dynamic Silicon.
