AOL buys online locker provider

America Online on Thursday announced the acquisition of Xdrive, a privately held company specializing in online storage and backup services.

Xdrive will now operate as wholly owned subsidiary of AOL under its digital services business unit, and will remain at its current location in Santa Monica, Calif. The company's management team and 34 employees will now report to Gio Hunt, senior vice president of new business ventures at AOL.

Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.

AOL said Xdrive would continue to serve existing customers. Xdrive manages an online storage platform that lets subscribers access and protect their digital assets, such as music and video, from any location. It offers users storage safety and security and automatic backup, AOL said.

Rival Internet companies are touting online storage offerings designed to let subscribers store anything they want in secure servers. AOL has also been showing interest in expanded storage for its members.

"The digitization of consumer home media is skyrocketing, with consumers and AOL members increasingly looking for easier ways to protect and manage a wide variety of important data files and digital media assets," Hunt said in a statement. "Xdrive will further enhance AOL's consumer storage offerings to deliver a more safe and secure digital lifestyle for our members."

[jamie.p.walsh]

Drive toward hosted media

This represents a move toward mainstream hosting of digital media. I wouldn't be surprised to see aol develop a media center interface that would connect via broadband to a variety of devices whereby you could stream your music to any device while it was hosted on their servers. I would also see them build an iTunes like model where you would buy the media at a cheaper price, store it remotely and be able to access it anywhere via an internet connection using your AOL logon. Sort of a hybrid of the subscription and purchase models.

[XDMOlson]

Let me update everyone...<br /><br />On November 12 2008 Xdrive LLC part of AOL LLC sent out to Xdrive account holders an AOL Official Mail notifying them that the Xdrive service will be shutting down on January 12 2009. On December 12 2008 Xdrive LLC part of AOL LLC sent a second notice to Xdrive account holders.<br /><br />Check your SPAM box if you don't see it in your Inbox especially if you have a non AOL email account.<br /><br />I would not recommend waiting until the last day. Get it done today...!<br /><br />I recommend choosing ElephantDrive and to make transferring those digital assets over as easy as possible just click the link http://www.elephantdrive.com/m/ct.aspx?ici=267 ...this is the Xdrive to ElephantDrive migration page.<br /><br />ElephantDrive is the only solution provider working in cooperation with Xdrive using their Open Xdrive API. While competitors of ElephantDrive may offer discounts on their subscription plans you'll have to do all the work of transferring your digital assets. ElephantDrive is committed to helping every Xdrive account holder make transitioning their digital assets seamless and transparent by using the Xdrive to ElephantDrive migration page.<br /><br />ElephantDrive offers packages that are designed to protect the digital assets of individuals, SMBs, and large organizations.<br /><br />Xdrive consumers with questions about transferring their digital assets over to ElephantDrive can check our Common Questions page.<br /><br />https://www.elephantdriv...ve_migration.aspx#Learn<br /><br />Matt K. Olson<br />Consultant @ ElephantDrive