Well yes Mike I am actually a friend of Nirvanix. However, I am also one of their customers, and I was one of their customers before I became a friend of theirs. Part of the reason I came to like Nirvanix over other services like S3 is that they treat there customers like real people. They actually respond to emails and even talk to customers over the phone. Im sorry if my comment sounded "press release-esque" im just trying to spread the good word. So, for your information I am a real human, and I while I may not speak like that, I do write like that :)

I have tested Nirvanix. It was during their beta and I thought it worked nicely, although I only tried a few tests. I was not convinced enough to move away from S3, however that may change as Nirvanix matures. What I find infuriating are reviews like the one posted by "RB" below. "RB" is obviously a Nirvanix employee or close friend of the company (or his review reads magically like a press release they put out). No real human speaks/writes like that. I'm actively trying to decide if switching is a good idea, and reviews like that one are totally useless. I'm looking for indications that either confirm my experience (which, again, was positive) or refute it. Not for bogus materials.

The Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network has been the best platform that I have come across. Not only do they have a user-friendly API, but I also like the pay-as-you go pricing model. Being a start-up, my storage needs are fairly unpredictable, but with Nirvanix I know I am only paying for what I use. The management portal is really easy to use also. I am glad to be rid of Amazon S3's inconvenient storage buckets. Not to mention, they have a Service Level Agreement that they stand behind. I would have to say the best part of Nirvanix is their Customer Support. Instead of automated emails I receive person-to-person support though forums, email AND on the phone. They have helped me throughout development. If you want to see how they match up against the competition follow this link: http://nirvanix.com/comparison.aspx

JD, Nirvanix is a completely seperate company and seperate team. They are not affiliated whatsoever as has been mistakenly reported and as the CEO of MediaMax clarified on his site. Patrick was CEO of Streamload not MediaMax for all but two months before he founded Nirvanix and built the new service and company around it. I know him from previous dealings at McDATA when I was a customer of his at Bank of America (one of the most demanding envts you will find) and he was tremendous at customer service and support and always delivered what he promised. We looked at S3 and used them before. Good service but it lacked a lot of key things. We did a lot of reserach on Nirvanix, including benchmarking. As a beta customer, Nirvanix new service is strong, particualarly the HTTP POST, the files system pieces for move, rename, copy, etc. and the user account amanagement which we would have to build from scratch with S3. Scott

If Patrick Harr is able to reproduce the same mess he left at mediamax I fear for this new startup company8 you can read more about the mediamax troubles at http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/26/streamload-upgrade-goes-very-wrong-some-users-revolt/