Five Startups to watch in 2008

Following our look at a multitude of emerging web technology companies at the recent Le Web conference, IT PRO shortlists its five companies to watch in 2008.

By Ewan Spence, 8 Jan 2008 at 15:14

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Even in these post dot com times, web startups are thriving. When IT PRO recently visited the Le Web conference in Paris, we were treated to a beauty parade of some of the best and brightest new companies, all trying to pioneer and establish new services and technologies for the web.

This is our pick of the group, the five companies we think have the brightest future ahead of them, and hopefully won't sink without trace.

Zyb

Proudly shouting that there are 12 million contacts securely stored on their website is Zyb, which allows you to back up you smartphone's PIM data (contacts, calendar entries) over the air using the standard iSync software built in to most modern handsets. You can also forward SMS messages to a number if you wish to store them for reference as well. What makes Zyb stand out, is grafting a small 'social network' into the web portal allowing you to get in touch with friends while online.

We were impressed with Zyb on two counts. The first is that the set-up process is remarkably easy - the website takes you through each step while it takes to your handset via an SMS configuration message. All the tricky settings are handled behind the scenes and never once scare a new user. The second is that once I had completed the first sync, it alerted me to any of my contacts who were already using Zyb so I can begin making my Zyb Social Network. A simple touch, but one very much appreciated.

The usual questions and worries about data aside, Zyb works very well. If they would consider a 'white label' version that a corporate IT department could put on their own network and thus restricting it to employees, I think there would be a lot of interest.

Louder Voice

Look at any online store and you're likely to find a 'reviews' section. You're also likely to be thinking just how genuine those reviews are. Which is what Louder Voice hopes to help with. They let you write reviews on your own blog, and then index those reviews in their own system. For those without a blog you can set up a reviews blog on the Louder Voice server (and they promise to help you move it over if you ever upgrade to one of your own). Powered by microformats, it's a simple addition to a blog and provides another route. And for the Web 2.0 generation, Louder Voice has integrated SMS into the service so you can send short, text based reviews into the system as well.

Providing a natural home for independent reviews should give people confidence in what they are reading - by being pointed back at personal blogs and sources, the person behind the words is much more visible, and provides a level of honesty that is lacking in the reviews found on commerce sites. It's also a lot harder to game a system such as this. As with all services, getting people to provide content is the key to success. Allowing you to keep it on your own website, and have traffic pushed to you, should be a good incentive for those joining, and drive traffic to Louder Voice in turn.

G.Ho.st

G.Ho.st, while still at an early stage in it's developments, is the logical conclusion of 'Something as a Service' (such as Amazon's S3 storage service). It is a virtual computer. You log into a virtual desktop environment from any web browser, and you have access to a desktop, shortcuts, 3GB of storage, and a number of applications including email, a web browser and instant messaging.