'MediaMax' V6 beta underway

After several delays it's for real. Beta testing v6 is underway since the early hours march 15 after receiving a mail from Steve Iverson. I can't tell very much about it as I'm asked to keep everything under wraps for now as not to clutter the new beta service with any other persons then the beta testers.

I can tell you though that the name MediaMax will be a thing of the past as there is a new name and a new website that goes along with it which won't suprise anybody with a hint of marketing sense. Atm, the beta testsite is really only a bare product as beta testers are asked to evaluate download, folder management functionality and especially upload performance. In the next couple of weeks other functionality as sharing and searching will be added for us take apart as well.

I've run into a couple of snags at the moment which have to do with the setup of my test account, but I can report that the upload speed (webupload) is back at the level before their last major outage. Granted, there aren't to many people on the new system, but the fact that the speed is back is a good first sign. I'm also told I'll be getting my hands on a windows client uploader soon to try out so webupload won't be the only option available.

Processing Delays revisited

The last entry on the MediaMax blog dates from march 6, but that problem was solved even though their blog hasn't been updated to reflect that. However, since the last 2 days it has reared it's ugly head again. For the last 2 days hardly any uploads will show up in your account and for the very few uploads that do there isn't any pattern noticeable. Don't bother re-uploading the file either as experience has shown it will not improve your chance of seeing it popup in your account so we can only sit tight, wait, and hope MediaMax figures out where our uploads go and can fix it without having us to re-upload all files that haven't shown up so far.

We're also, again, at countdown for V6 beta testing which should start the 15th if memory serves ... if it's not postponed again that is.

New update from Mediamax

Thanks to John Hood for posting comments in the previous entry, including the following update from the MediaMax blog:

"An update from our hosting company:

The SSC has received multiple alerts for loss of connectivity to customer equipment in the NJ2, AT1, SC8, DC4, DC2, CH3 and HDC data center. Engineers are taking appropriate mitigation steps to recover client managed services. Engineers are investigating the configuration of the Intelligent Agent as a possible cause.

Currently all Blade Frames are being worked in parallel for recovery.

UPDATE: Engineers have identified a how to restore connectivity and are bringing clients back online now."

I had to post it here because I'd be interested if there's anyone out there who could translate it? :-)

Uploading problems continue

Mediamax has struggled for the past several weeks with uploads and processing which were originally addressed to an uptick in upload traffic, but later reported to be caused by a database error which they hoped to have fixed soon.

Since around midday yesterday (CET) the upload system seem to have collapsed totally with upload speed being only a fraction of what people used to get and almost always sooner or later dropping to near zero before the upload crashing altogether. I have not notice an entry about this on MediaMax own blog about this also and seeing V6 beta has been delayed and we still have to muddy around with V5 it would be a good thing if they could patch up the system a little at least.

Version six delayed - 84% of voters with significant or extreme problems with Mediamax

There is a posting on the last blog entry here from John Hood of Mediamax, stating:

---quote begins
We've had a huge uptick in uploading recently which has taxed our resources. This situation will be alleviated with v6.
beta testing has been delayed until the UI is finished. we want to create a quality product and think that's more important than rushing something out which is what happened with v5. I think we can all agree that was an unfortunate decision as we've said before. Having said that, we should be releasing the api shortly.

Thanks for your patience.
---quote ends

I've missed updating the voting figures.

The response to the question "How do you rate the Mediamax service in December 2007?" was:

A: No problems : 4 votes (10.5%)

B: Rare problems : 6 votes (15.8%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 10 votes (26.3%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 18 votes (47.4%)
(causing severe difficulties)

There were just 39 votes in this round and I didn't manage to set things up for January voting.

It seems we are all a bit tired of the situation with Mediamax.

If anyone would like posting rights for this blog to keep people informed of experiences with version 6, please let me know.

75% of users who voted had significant or extreme problems - things are improving!

Things have been going a bit quieter here recently.

The poll on how you found the service in November 2007 received only 48 votes.

The breakdown was:

A: No problems : 5 votes (10.4%)

B: Rare problems : 7 votes (14.6%)
(within tolerable levels)

C: Significant problems : 12 votes (25.0%)
(difficult to tolerate)

D: Extreme problems : 24 votes (50.0%)
(causing severe difficulties)


So how is the service performing in December? Polling is now open and will run for a week into January.

OFFICIAL BLOG: Network outage

This is on the official Mediamax blog dated 4 December. See:
http://mediamaxblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/network-outage.html

---quote begins
Network outage

UPDATE: This problem has been corrected and everything should fully functional.

We are experiencing some network connectivity problems which may result in the inability to get to the MediaMax website. This should be resolved shortly and we apologize for any inconvenience.

As always, we will update this post with updates on this issue.
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