Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this post. You may want to read about it here: “Taking a break from Zooomr” and “Stick a fork in Zooomr, they’re done“.

Quick note: for those of you already using Zooomr, this may be old news, so skip to the ending paragraphs. I thought a recap of what’s been going on with the site since my last post will help everyone else figure out where Zooomr stands.

About a week ago, Zooomr launched Mark III for good. It was a glorious new beginning, especially after an extended outage during the migration to the new platform. Not only were there various code problems that slowed down the process, but there was a double hardware outage as well. A drive failed on their main database server right before the upgrade, and to top things off, that same server’s RAID controller failed miserably about 15 minutes after the first Mark III launch. That effectively put the site down for good.

“Wait, what do you mean?” you say. “Zooomr’s working right now!” Yes, it is, but it’s only through a miracle — a wonderful outpouring of support from the tech community that took me by surprise. You see, Zooomr was pretty much running on empty as Kris worked hard to launch Mark III. Their main investor had pulled out for reasons that shall stay private. Kris and Tom couldn’t afford to buy more servers, and so they tried to make do with their existing hardware. That’s why a parallel system couldn’t continue to serve a non-updateable version of the site while Kris did the migration. That’s also why there were problems with the upgrade itself. There were no resources for a real sandbox.

After Zooomr went down, a call for help went out from Robert Scoble, Thomas Hawk and Kris Tate. Zooomr users and supporters blogged about this as well, helping to spread the word. Zoho responded in force, letting Zooomr share space and bandwidth in their data center. Sun, who has already awarded Kris a server at their Startup Camp last year, came through in a big way as well, loaning Zooomr one of their Thumper servers, a big monster of a server that holds 42 drives. Dell also came in and fixed the faulty RAID controller on the existing database server. People also donated money to Zooomr, helping offset some of the other expenses associated with keeping Zooomr alive.

All that infusion of tech love put Zooomr back on its feet and gave a much needed boost to Kris and Tom, who were completely exhausted from maintaining complete transparency during the outage by broadcasting live on UStream and answering user questions. Within days, Kris made the necessary re-adjustments to get Zooomr working on the new hardware, and launched Mark III. Kris and Tom decided to launch with an incomplete feature set, so some of the things advertised as being in Mark III are still not there. They did that so they wouldn’t delay things further and be able to launch.

Kris is now working to stabilize the site. Although Mark III is a lot faster than Mark II, there are scalability issues that arise as more users get on the site. Once the site is stabilized, Kris will roll out the other features such as image security (which is very high on my list, since I hate image theft), fully working Groups and Sets, and Marketplace — to name but a few.

Zooomr’s also on a deadline. The loan period for the Thumper server will expire in about 50 days, so unless Sun extends it, they’ll need to raise the funds to buy that server or one like it. They’ll also need more funding so they can keep going. Their business plan is to earn revenues two ways: from Markeplace, where people and businesses will be able to purchase stock photography, and from Pro accounts, where Zooomr users pay yearly fees, currently set at $19.95.

I believe in Zooomr’s potential, and in Kris and Tom. I wouldn’t have stuck with Zooomr through all this time and evangelized their service if I didn’t. What I’ve seen so far of Mark III amazes me. Zipline is one of the coolest features ever, and the way it integrates the social activity of fellow Zooomr users is awesome.

If you happen to be a VC and you’re reading this, please contact Kris or Tom and talk with them. Zooomr can and will be profitable, but they need someone to stick with them for 6-12 months until revenues start coming in. If you’re a Zooomr user, please consider buying a Pro account. It’s the least expensive Pro account I’ve seen so far, and your $20 will really make a difference. Even if you got your Pro account for free, consider paying for it anyway. It’s what I did, and I felt a lot better afterwards.

Let me close by offering my heartfelt thanks to the folks from Zoho, Sun and Dell that helped Kris and Tom through the rough times:

• Zoho: Raju Vegesna
• Sun: Tim Van Loan
• Dell: Aaron B.

Here’s my previous coverage of Zooomr:

• An update on Zooomr
• Zooomr needs your help
• Mark III launches very, very soon
• How many of my photos were stolen?
• Zooomr hits 1,000,000 photos
• Fly to me
• What’s up with Zooomr’s Mark III? (this one made the front page at Digg)
• More good things
• A lot of good things are happening
• Mark III cometh, and that right soon
• The new face of Zooomr
• Here’s to a few milestones
• Lunchmeet’s Zooomr interview
• I spy…
• Winnowing my photos
• Zooomr, the site that keeps on giving (this one made it to Google News through BlogCritics)
• Giving thanks for innovative technology (this one also made it to Google News through BlogCritics)
• Google Earth adds photos but forgets about Zooomr
• Why Riya’s failure is good news for Zooomr
• Just passed 30,000 views on Zooomr
• Video tutorial: How to sign up for a Zooomr account (this was in vogue during Zooomr’s second release)
• My most popular photos
• NYT rounds up photo sites that offer geotagging
• Just passed the 10,000 views mark on Zooomr
• Just got Zooomr’d
• Some big news at ComeAcross

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