Sony acquires Facebook's Startup

Sony acquires Facebook's startup for Blu-Ray Data Back Up.

Facebook Inc. is now working towards redesigning the infrastructure of the internet by coming up with technology that is new and innovative. The company constantly works on new hardware that will help them streamline their online operations. The social media giant recently breathe in life to Blu-ray by coming up with a system that can transform the optical disc that will have the ability to save millions of pictures that are uploaded on the social media platform, every single day.

At this point of time, Sony Corporation the organization who made Blu-ray disc possible have bought a startup that developed from FB project that has the aim to provide a platform for comparable technology to several businesses on the Internet.

Frank Frankovsky is said to be the founder of Optical Archive Inc. who was earlier responsible to administer Facebook’s mechanism for streamlining data center hardware that supports the social platform. According to him, Sony and Optical Archive have collaborated to work on Blu-ray that comprises of the robotic specification that help them in storing and retrieving data on multiple optical disc similar to what Facebook has been using.

Currently, the data center that has been operating services for Facebook usually store information digitally on hard drives or flash drives. However, the CEO of Optical Archive believes that Blu-ray is a cost-efficient and reliable solution when it comes to storing of data that is relatively old. However, this platform is not just right for such data which is accessed by the masses on a frequent basis. On the other hand, it is extremely suitable to access those photographs that that have been stored five years ago. Frankovsky also stated that the software by the company is extremely suitable for being used in finance-related firms that require the preservation of data for regulatory purposes even in those situations where people are supposed to observe it.

Jason Taylor, the director of engineering at Facebook believes that these Blu-ray discs are relatively cost effective for all those firms which require the retention of data. These discs can be used as a backup as an alternative to hard drives and flash memory. According to estimates, a Blu-ray disc can hold around 25 to 50 GB of data Frankovsky and Sony Corporation are working on such discs that can retain data around 1 terabyte.

Hence, Sony is acquiring good software that has been in use by Facebook since a fairly long span of time and is likely to benefit them too.

Facebook Increases Userbase Through Internet.org In India

The social media giant has quite smartly managed to increase its user base in India by offering a free internet app to users.

Facebook Inc has been carrying its activities in India for quite some time, hoping to penetrate deeper into one of the most populated countries of the world. Only recently it was seen that the social media giant announced a new venture for the developing software and internet industry in the South Asia’s region and planned to provide free internet to the users in order to attract more and more users.

At first this idea was opposed by quite a lot of companies as proposing a project in which free internet is offered is rather dangerous for firms that are earning from selling internet to the customers. Despite the criticism, the media company managed to provide free internet and browsing service through Internet.org to the users in India where the market still shows massive signs of growth.

According to recent news, it has emerged as a pleasant surprise for Facebook that the service that the networking site was previously opposed for has been working quite perfectly for the firm as it has seen a huge number of users flowing in using the free service. Through Internet.org, the social media company has been enjoying the user base of around 800,000 users which has come around to be quite a success for the firm. The new app that has been made available for customers through a number of telecom services operated in the country is being used by users which are not showing signs of slowing down.

Internet.org has helped Facebook make quite a few revelations among which one of them shows that around 20% of users who are now using the free app were not using apps on smartphones before. So by using Internet.org, they are reaching out to the social media giant which is turned out to be a huge step considered by the company. This app has resulted in being quite a useful one where the users do not face any connectivity issues and in a country where internet usage is still growing and developing, this has turned to be quite a significant step towards progress in the field.

Internet.org was established in India in February 2015 in collaboration with Reliance Communications and was offered to customers living in cities like Gujrat, Mumbai and Chennai.

On the other hand, this app has been receiving negative remarks from all over the country considering that it is affecting the net neutrality system in the state. Also, it being a zero rating app has resulted in affecting the business and usage of other apps of its kind.