DataDirect Networks, a privately-held information storage company, announced that its Web Object Scaler (WOS) has bagged the New Product Showcase Award at the International Security Conference. This ISC West 2011 Conference is a leading event for the security industry and going on at Sands Expo & Convention Center, Las Vegas. As of now, WOS cloud storage provides unparalleled speed, replication, data integrity and reliability to store, manage and access surveillance video that consequently helps reduce cost and complexity associated with cloud storage. Additionally, it also provides for complete failover, disaster recovery capability and multiple monitoring centers to have access to the video archive at the same time.

“We are entering a new age in video surveillance, an age where we will be able to predict and react to ongoing threats and safety concerns, as opposed to investigating them after the harm has already been done”, said Alex Bouzari, DDN CEO. “The future of video surveillance is being enabled by new and innovative software tools and devices. We are grateful to the ISC West judges for recognizing that DDN’s WOS cloud and object management software is helping create a better and safer world through technology.”

Cloud storage is becoming a hot topic these days, and has also taken on the SNW Spring conference in its fever, as we heard an announcement by Scality, the developer of the highly scalable application centric cloud storage system RING, who just partnered up with hybrid cloud storage and data protection company CTERA Networks. Both companies are targeting Storage-as-a-Service providers, including e-mail and personal cloud storage service providers, with the promise of zero service interruptions and hybrid cloud storage/data protection.

Marking another  industrydevelopment, Scality also raised a funding of $7 million in Series B Funding from Idinvest Partners, formerly known as AGF Private Equity. Boasting strong market response for its products, Jerome Lecat, CEO & Founder of Scality said,

“We have received considerable interest from potential investors as Scality is positioned in the heart of the cloud revolution, with object-based storage being at the early stages of Gartner hype curve. IdInvest who has financed several companies based in the Silicon Valley with R&D in France, is the perfect partner for us, with capacity to continue funding the growth of Scality and significant experience in the service provider market.”

Early today, we also heard about AVG branching out into cloud storage with LiveKive, a service it unveiled on Thursday. LiveKive will offer three tiers of encrypted storage, including a free 5GB version and two paid versions: 25GB for £34.99 a year, or £55 a year for unlimited storage (500GB).

Another development in the domain involves Technicolor, the color motion picture company having operations in Hollywood that announced the launch of a new cloud-based media storage service today. While the details of the service were not given, the company said that media Storage Service will help content owners, aggregators, and distributors as they shift from physical to digital media.