Devnet says hello, waves goodbye

But rather than wait for what some predict to be a tsunami of adopters when the cloud software is released at the end of the year, Devnet is eating its own dog food to develop solutions for resale.

Wikipedia defines Wave, which was revealed at Google's I/O developer conference on 27 May, as a "personal communications and collaboration tool".

Deveson will seed Google applications built on this web platform that splices e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and social networking into an industry "buzzing with possibilities", he say­s.

"We'll be launching Wave apps locally [and taking] on a development role like we do with Google Maps and other platforms [where] we add on top of the cloud computing stack."

Devnet will focus on services such as security and data loss prevention, Deveson says, plugging holes in the basic Wave implementation and customising features for clients.

"[There are] two models - bespoke development and frameworks that we could modify or host locally and then tune it."

Sensitive data stored behind a corporate firewall could be federated or made available as part of a cloud platform based on Wave, he says.

Many of Wave's advanced features demonstrated at the I/O conference, such as multimedia sharing, needed high-speed, reliable internet connections that would be aided by a national broadband network (NBN).

"We think that the broadband network is a great policy initiative," Deveson says. "We think it will foster innovation at a software level and at companies. From an Australian developer point of view, [it] will allow smaller companies to [grow] and export products and services."

Deveson says that in some cases Google's cloud cuts bandwidth needs because data is transferred as needed. But areas outside the capitals still demand better access, especially for branches, he says.

"If you're a manufacturer sitting on the edge of a CBD you might be just far enough away from the [telephone] exchange not to get the coverage you want at the price you want to pay for it. Companies could choose lower-rent offices with better access. At the moment they have to choose one or the other."

Google Wave - wave.google.com

Devnet - devnet.com.au