The app is available immediately in the US and will be rolled out to other countries gradually. Download it now to get a chance to win an Android tablet and 6 months free subscription to the new nivio app!

It’s available in the Chrome app store now and it’s free for 14 days; so what are you waiting for? Give it a whirl and we will give you a chance to win an Android tablet and 6 months free subscription to the nivio for Google Drive app. You heard that right!

All you have to do is be the most innovative and creative in telling the world your experience with the nivio for Google Drive app. Just complete 3 easy steps:

Step 1: Download the nivio for Google Drive app
Step 2: Tell the world your experience with the app
- Post your most creative thoughts about the app on your Facebook page
- Like the nivio Facebook page
- Tweet about the new nivio for Google Drive app using the hashtag #niviorocks. C’mon, we know you can declare your love for us in 140 characters or less
- Extra points for a LinkedIn post!
Step 3: Send us the links to or screenshots of your posts and your Google user name

Top 10 most creative and fun entries will win an Android tablet and 6 months FREE subscription to the nivio for Google Drive app! You just might be one of the lucky ones. So hurry up and get started!

Only the first 1,000 entries will be eligible. Our esteemed panel will choose the 10 best entries as soon as we have reached the goal of 1,000 entries. Check back often on this blog to get an update.

The nivio for Google Drive app integrates seamlessly into Google Drive, thanks to our sleep-deprived yet amazing engineers and the fantastic support from Google. Just right click on a file, select nivio and voila! The file opens instantly in its native application in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Project, or Visio.

Sachin says: “This is the best of both worlds – a safe place for your files with Google Drive storage and your favorite Microsoft Office 2010 apps – all available anywhere and everywhere. With just one click, Google Drive users can now open and edit their Microsoft Office files the way they were meant to be opened – inside the native application. This is just one way nivio brings the magic back to computing.”

What is this Google Drive that everyone is talking about, you ask? Google Drive is a new cloud storage and collaboration service from Google. It allows you to store your files online and access them from any device: in desktop folders on Mac or PC computers, in mobile apps onAndroid or iOS devices, or from any web browser by visiting drive.google.com. Google Drive is available with 5GB of storage for free, and additional storage may be purchased.

So go download the new nivio for Google Drive app and tell your friends!

Seema Lindskog
CMO and Chief of Customer Smiles

“This is the best of both worlds – a safe place for your files with Google Drive storage and your favorite Microsoft Office 2010 apps – all available anywhere and everywhere.” says Sachin Dev Duggal, founder and chief wizard at nivio. “With just one click, Google Drive users can now open and edit their Microsoft Office files the way they were meant to be opened – inside the real application. This is just one way nivio brings the magic back to computing. It is also the start of a very powerful relationship with Google.”

The nivio for Google Drive app enables users to open and edit Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Project, and Visio files by simply right-clicking and choosing nivio from the menu. The file will instantly open within a browser and changes to files can be saved in the user’s Google Drive.

“Giving Google Drive users the ability to work with their files in their native applications from any device using nivio is a huge leap in productivity for our users.” said Scott Johnston, Group Product Manager at Google. “We’re excited to have nivio as a Google Drive launch partner.”

As a Google Chromestore app or standalone service, nivio is setting the standard for anywhere, everywhere hassle-free access to a Windows desktop in the cloud. The nDesktop delivers the latest Windows experience and a large variety of apps, on any connected PC, Mac, Chromebook, Android device, iPad, iPhone, or other smartphone – all through an HTML 5 browser.

About Google Drive
Google Drive is a cloud storage and collaboration service from Google. Drive allows people to store their files online and access them from any device: in desktop folders on Mac or PC computers, in mobile apps on Android or iOS devices, or from any web browser by visiting drive.google.com. Google Drive is available with 5GB of storage for free, and additional storage may be purchased.

Google Drive also allows people to create, edit and share files with one another. Google Drive applications are third-party applications that work seamlessly with Drive. By integrating with the user account and file data stored in Drive, these web applications provide a simple way for people to open files from Drive, make changes or edits in the application, and then save the updated file in Drive. Google Drive applications are available in the Chrome Web Store.

About nivio
nivio is a global cloud desktop start-up headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in the UK, India, and Australia. nivio provides always-on access to desktop applications and data within the familiar Windows environment from anywhere in the world, on any connected PC, Mac, Chromebook, Android device, iPad, iPhone, or other smartphone.

nivio’s game-changing business model enables subscribers to have their own always available Windows desktop in the cloud and pay only for the apps they need, when they need them. nivio’s integrated technology platform with unique IP maximizes capacity, availability and flexibility, while minimizing latency for both storage and application access. For more information, visit www.nivio.com.

nivio was founded by two friends who want to educate 100 million children over the course of 50 years with their foundation – Sachin & Saurabh. This is what started the journey and what the team at nivio calls their enabled vision. In 2011, the duo paired up with Alicia Keys and her organization, Keep a Child Alive (KCA), for the eighth annual Black Ball NY to raise $3.5 million for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS.

# # #
Media Contact:
Sam Hallock
Schwartz MSL for nivio
415-817-2500
nivio@schwartzmsl.com

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www.nivio.com

http://www.facebook.com/nivio

http://www.twitter.com/nivio

Technology Review, India’s annual Emtech conference which focused on emerging technologies and their impact was held on 27-28 March 2012. The conference, in its 4th year, brought together business leaders, senior technologists and innovative entrepreneurs. There were several sessions on the emerging technologies in the two-day conference and prominent industry leaders. Research scientists at MIT Center for digital business among many others graced the event with their presence and keynote addresses.

Proud nivians saw live streaming of the event… just to ensure that they don’t miss a glimpse of Sachin and Saurabh accepting the honour. Here are the pics and a video of Sachin’s presentation for you.

I am so proud to be a nivian!

Congratulations Sachin and Saurabh

This interview also delves into nivio’s vision of educating 100m kids through the sachin and saurabh foundation.

Though I still want to know how was Sachin’s experience on his first Radio interview in India

Gurgaon, India – March 15, 2012 – nivio’s Chief Wizard and Co-founder Sachin Dev Duggal has been named to MIT Technology Review India’s 2012 TR35, an award granted to the top 20 Indian technology innovators under 35.

Sachin was recognized for his work with nivio, a company that is moving traditional desktop software and storage into the cloud. With nivio, users can run desktop applications like Microsoft Office on any desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone with an HTML5-compatible browser, paying on a month-to-month basis and never again having to worry about upgrades, viruses, or maintenance. This revolutionary model for software delivery also comes with cloud storage that lets users sync and access files effortlessly across all their devices.

Sachin believes strongly that entrepreneurship is a coupled effort of solving a widespread socio-economic problem and returning shareholder value and does this through the “enabled vision” of nivio which links to the foundation Saurabh and he setup (www.sachinsaurabh.com).

“nivio was started with the goal of finding a way to bring down the cost of technology so that more schools and students could gain access; our 100m kids in 50 years dream. Along the way, we realized we were solving problems common to many other people and organizations as well. I am so kicked at this recognition for the hard work of all our team at nivio especially cos its from MIT and my studies there were life changing.” said Sachin when asked about the award.

Sachin’s placement on the India TR35 is only the latest honor he has earned for his efforts to make software more affordable and accessible. He has also been named a PriceWaterhouseCoopers Leader of Tomorrow, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and a BBC Young Asian Achiever of the Year. In 2009 Sachin was one of the youngest attendees in the history of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where nivio was named a World Economic Technology Pioneer.

MIT’s Technology Review India TR35 program started in 2010 and in the last two years has identified 37 young innovators. This year they received over 250 nominations from all over India, and over a period of three months, a panel of 23 expert judges narrowed it down to 20 individuals who have developed technologies that are likely to benefit the society at large. This year’s list includes innovators in biomedicine, communications, computing, energy, materials, transportation and the web and was announced on March 10, 2012.

About nivio
nivio was founded by two best friends whose goal is to educate 100 million children over the course of 50 years. nivio is a global start-up providing always-on access to desktop applications, data and the familiar Windows OS environment from anywhere in the world, on almost any device, Mac or PC, Android tablet, Chromebook, iPad, notebook or netbook.

nivio’s game-changing business model enables subscribers to pay only for what they need when they need it. nivio’s integrated technology platform with unique IP maximizes capacity, availability and flexibility, while minimizing latency for both storage and application access through an easy-to-use app store.

For more information, visit www.nivio.com.

Media Contacts
Ritwik Sharma
ritwik.sharma@edelman.com
+91 999 990 3898

Jerry Sebastian
jerry.sebastian@edelman.com
+91 971 791 2626

What do we mean irregularities?  Some guys have been a bit naughty!

Here was the first coverage by Brian Madden of Brianmadden.com, followed by Gartner  then the team at arstechnica.com that follows a post from Joe Matz at Microsoft; naturally this made a lot of people ask some questions around how we at nivio do things, and to ensure we are transparent I felt it is important we clearly outline how we license and how we are able to deliver our price points.

We love Microsoft and we love being legal.  This is why a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted on the nivio release on Valentine’s Day.  And don’t believe us just because we say this; here is a little more detail (sorry for being a little techy):

1. Licensing Windows the right way for the cloud / DaaS : We license Microsoft Products under an agreement called SPLA, the Service Provider License Agreement, and we use the Windows 2008 R2 Server to deliver a Windows-7-like experience.  It’s worth mentioning that Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 share the same codebase (this means they are actually built on the same DNA) and so for all intents and purposes the experience to the user is the same.  Here is a screenshot of nivio nDesktop running Windows 2008 R2 in a Browser and the Loading Screen to show its server:

2. How do we deliver Microsoft Office?

We run it in the cloud on the Windows 2008 R2 Server and use the Remote Desktop Services (enhanced by some of our geeky tech) to any client that is connected to the internet including any HTML 5 Browser. We report this to Microsoft under SPLA and give 30 days (and in some occasions 60 days) free.  This free period is provided through our SPLA partnership with Microsoft.

3. How can we offer a US$2 10HR package for students and US$5 10HR  package for other users?

We use the academic pricing available from Microsoft under an additional agreement, and we collect Student ID and other details on sign up plus run a random audit to ensure that licensing is not being abused. The regular package is really just a corporate SPLA license; however, we take a hit on the offer as we believe it is important to have a low cost entry price point (we also run some funky math around probability etc to work out an average usage). Since our infrastructure runs on Rackspace (our very special partners) we are able to price compute cycles on a per hour basis, and this further allows us to create a 10Hr package.

4. nivio doesn’t believe in unethical practices

We have full aspirations to be a company that in 5+ years has created substantial value for our customers, our shareholders and our foundation (www.sachinsaurabh.com).  More importantly, we have to be able to sleep at night knowing we did the right thing and not a short term stunt to move the market.  Finally, we are split head-quartered in Swizterland which puts a lot of accountability on our board and leadership team (with unlimited liabilities for being very very naughty on me as the President).

5. It’s in our philosophy – more than licensing

The fact we have not taken cheap short cuts in how we do our licensing should hopefully illustrate our reluctance to do short cuts in our infrastructure deployment and service delivery.  nivio has been 7 years in the making; it’s not just about a couple of months of fast-moving PR.

6. Finally, we are a customer company, and our Painted Picture puts us as a company aiming to achieve a Net Promoter Score of > 70% 

We cannot do this if we lose the trust of our customers; therefore, we aim to deliver exactly what we say we will, and we will work with our partners to deliver a service that is compliant and also “magical”.

Sachin Dev Duggal

President and Chief Wizard @nivio @sachinduggal

Take a look at some of our pictures at the booth. Don’t miss Sachin at our Oxygen Bar which was a hit. The message was loud – Get Clear Headed with nivio

Gadgets and Saas were the buzzwords at MWC. With all the benefits that SaaS provides, you don’t really need to buy the traditional installed software. Just rent it as you need it with us. And with nivio’s online storage and synchronization app, it’s even more simpler. It enables you to sync all your data to all of your devices, simultaneously. It’s all simple and seamless.

The buzz today – there is a new app for the iPad that contains key tools to help small and medium-sized businesses learn more about the benefits and risks of cloud computing. The interactive app includes case studies and interviews with cloud experts. The app addresses key debates like public vs private cloud and the options that would best suit an SMB.

And this recent survey by the consultancy Avanade is really interesting. It found that 60 percent of the companies are adapting their IT infrastructure to accommodate employee’s personal devices, rather than restricting use of such devices. Also, 91 percent of the executives say their IT department has the staff and resources needed to manage the use of consumer technologies. In that environment, resistance really is futile.

Will be back soon with more news. Till then, don’t forget to drop your boxes . Visit nivio.com for more

nivio has already been a part of Young Turks in 2009. A revisit in 2012 is an assurance for the company’s transition from boys to men

You’ll have to watch the show to understand this.

Way to go!

Our Chief Wizard, Sachin Duggal talks about the growth of the company and how we complete your apple

Take a look and you’ll know what I’m saying!

So yes if you think about it Sun and Larry Ellison talked about the networked computer over a decade ago but here are some of the key differences from a market as well as “customer want” or “perceived want”

1. We are no longer talking of a home-grown device talking to a networked Mainframe – its now about having ANY Device connect over the internet to your deskop / data / apps

2. The Network PC was clearly a well articulated vision but in the period when broadband was 28.8kpbs you would not be stretching the argument to imply it was more a networked PC in a local area network – ie thin client to local server – where bandwidth was still 10mbps or 100mbps in those days.

3. We have or better still moving from a world where we are selling technology to a world where we are trying to abstract that away from the end user – ultimately look at what consumers do today – its somewhat magical except what they do with their compute device (alas the tablets have started to change this) – it requires too much “headache” to maintain a laptop, pc even a mac.

4. The notion of a “centralised” computer is actually where the mainframe was born – so you could argue that IBM got it before anyone else and then we went to the decentralised world and now we are going back to the utility world.

5. Today broadband is widespread, data is the new currency and people want the ability to work on “their own terms” yet not have to worry about the “how” just the “when” and “now”

6. The use cases have also evolved considerable from BYOD (bring your own device) to work, to needing software for more and more things and thus wanting to rent when needed, to basic college and university work, to grandparents keeping in touch with their grandkids…. today the Computer is as ubiquitous as my toothbrush!

6. And yes Larry (if I may) had the vision sealed – just like others got the tablet (and touch) well before Apple and Google dominated the market space.