'Net Features : Box

Box Scores Big in Latest Round of Funding

Michael Garrity — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:35:00 GMT

The cloud computing industry is dominated by a few big names – Amazon, VMware, NetSuite, Salesforce, Dropbox, and, of course, Google always seem to take over the majority of the conversation.

However, somewhat quietly in the background, Box has been carving out its own space. The company offers simple and secure online file sharing, centralizes mobile data for customers, offers social workflow features for cloud collaboration, possesses the ability to cross-platform sync content for enterprise organizations, and even has customization options that make it compatible with a customer’s existing cloud infrastructure and applications.

It’s no wonder that major brand names like Clear Channel, Taylor Made, Procter & Gamble, and over 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies have adopted the Box platform.

And it looks like the company may soon be able to expand even further, as it just raised a startling $125 million in funding, led primarily by the General Atlantic investment firm. Other contributors were Bessemer Venture Partners, DFJ Growth, New Enterprise Associates, SAP Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, and Social+Capital.

Box has been experiencing record growth for some time now, with sales increasing by 200 percent year-over-year. In fact, the company doubled in average size during the first half of 2012. It also opened an office in London recently, which signifies a committed interest in expanding globally. With this huge increase in funding, it’ll be exciting to see what the company does next, and if it can propel itself into the upper echelon of cloud service providers.

LiquidPlanner Takes Project Management to the Cloud

Michael Garrity — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:30:00 GMT

Online project management solutions have been increasing in popularity as of late, and the LiquidPlanner platform seems to have taken the next logical step by partnering with Box to add cloud functionality to its tool.

According to LiquidPlanner CEO Charles Seybold, project management has undergone a “quiet revolution” since the advent of the technological revolution, and the ubiquity and added capabilities offered by the Internet have rapidly spurred this trend onward. Seybold explains that management structures are becoming increasingly social and, consequently, amorphous.

LiquidPlanner focuses primarily on social project management, allowing comment streams for every task and project, letting users attach notes, documents and images and including email notifications and integration. It also offers flexibility throughout the project lifecycle, including a “probabilistic” scheduling feature for real-time project scheduling with best and worst case estimations that predict how long a task should take to complete. In addition, users can drag and drop projects/tasks in priority order, delay, pause or assign deadlines and get instant impact analysis.

LiquidPlanner is looking to build upon the capabilities of its management platform with the aforementioned integration with the cloud-based content sharing platform, as well as introducing analytics into its solution.

The company’s deal with Box, one of the leading names in the cloud computing industry, now allows customers to manage project content using cloud technology, meaning they can share and collaborate on documents more easily, as teams managing projects, workflows and time tracking can now leverage Box functionality to attach documents stored in Box directly into LiquidPlanner projects and tasks. They will also have access to advanced document management features, such as desktop syncing, document versioning and access controls for project collateral.

Box integration is immediately available for all LiquidPlanner customers for no additional charge.

Time to Start Thinking Inside the Box?

Michael Garrity — Sun, 27 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

Box, considered by many to be the most underrated name in cloud computing, just released a handful of new features aimed at enterprise customers. So, if you haven’t checked it out yet, now may be the time give Box a look.

Among the recent additions are the ability to search for files across the whole company, a dashboard with more controls for administrators, mobile security options (e.g. passcode locks), multiple email domain support, activity notification archiving and an enterprise licensing agreement (ELA).

All of these features were included to help large-scale organizations more easily manage bigger, company-wide Box deployments at a scale that wasn’t possible before. This will make pesky issues like regulatory compliance go more smoothly.

Plus, the new ELA means that Box customers will get more predictable pricing when the precise size of their teams changes, as opposed to paying on a seat-by-seat basis.

Think Inside the Box with Enterprise App System

Michael Garrity — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:00:00 GMT

It’s time for enterprise-level companies to starting thinking inside the Box. Specifically, the cloud services company of the same name, which has just released numerous enterprise-class applications that will use a Box.net cloud-based workspace and create a “virtual desktop” around it. This new app system is called Box OneCloud.

The idea is an attempt to position Box to be a major force in the post-PC world by establishing a cross-platform cloud system that lets users create and edit all of their files from within the cloud. OneCloud will be the first mobile framework built for enterprises that brings together mobile content and the applications designed to work with it.

The new solution comes in the form of four premiere apps for the iPad that are meant to represent best-in-class functionality and implement a round-trip connection to Box. When a file is edited or modified outside of the system, it can be saved back to Box in its original location.

These apps include the following features:

- QuickOffice allows users to edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents on-the-go, with any important changes that are made automatically saved back to the Box account.

- PDF Expert from Readdledocs is for adding annotations to documents by drawing, highlighting or making notes on the files, and then saving them back to Box where the changes can be viewed by the whole team.

- PaperPort Notes lets users record ideas and to-do items while they’re out and about with tools like voice dictation and recording, for when sitting down and typing is just not an option.

- Finally, Adobe’s popular EchoSign e-signature platform helps with signing crucial documents electronically with the greatest of ease, as they can be opened, signed and sent back all from an iPad.

All of these apps will be directly tied to an enterprise’s Box account, making files accessible to anyone within the organization. To find more compatible apps, users can open a file in Box and click the cloud logo on the top menu. A dropdown menu will appear and list all of the compatible apps installed on the device; it also features a button that will let users add compatible apps that aren’t currently installed.

Best of 2011 - Cloud Services

Michael Garrity — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:00:00 GMT

It’s been written countless times that the cloud is the future of Web tech and will possibly be the most important investment most businesses make in the near future – especially enterprise companies.

Of course, there are those with strong (and valid) opinions on the subject, both in favor of cloud adoption and stringently against it. However, as the debate ensues, there are many companies in the industry providing great services to customers of various sizes and requirements.

2011 saw Internet empires and hungry young companies alike playing a crucial role in the development of cloud technologies and, more importantly, services. Here are five of the best cloud service providers from the past 12 months.

Amazon Web Services
Most people just know Amazon as the online retail site, but Web professionals are aware of its other prominent role on the ‘Net as one of the largest cloud service providers available.

This may be a somewhat controversial choice seeing as the service has some highly-noted mishaps this past year, but nonetheless it remains a leading innovator in the industry, including adding a “white glove” service for premium customers that will route your calls (and concerns) to the nearest engineering specialist.

AWS will scale to meet the application demands of its clients, “whether one server or a large cluster,” offers a pay-as-you-go, low cost service, instantly deploys applications and allows for full open and flexible control of all of your data. Despite the blunders of 2011 (of which customers have understandable concerns), Amazon Web Services continues to be (one of?) the best cloud provider out there.

Box
Box is probably the busiest provider on this list. It has been constantly innovating its product over the last year, especially in mobile applications, and has been able to carve out a significant segment of the market as a result.

While it may be most popular as a personal consumer service, Box has accrued and impressive list of businesses and enterprise-level companies as customers, including Proctor & Gamble, Six Flags, Taylor Made, Pandora, Clear Channel, the San Francisco Giants and more.

Businesses are helped to a host of features in areas like content management with desktop syncing and link-based file sharing, mobile access on Android and iOS devices, online workspaces, a host of administrative controls and easy integration into existing business software like Google Apps, Salesforce and NetSuite, as well as offering APIs for custom integrations.

Rackspace
In terms of revenue generated, Rackspace trails only Amazon Web Services. While that’s not necessarily an indicator of competence, it does speak highly that so many users are willing to trust it over major brands like Microsoft and Google.

This year saw less in the way of innovation than most companies, the soft launch of OpenStack was notable and they released their impressive Hybrid Hosting option that provides both cloud and managed hosting in one service. Still, Rackspace has continued to impress with solid service and security; after all, there are currently over 100,000 companies currently working with Rackspace.

Rackspace’s on-demand scalable servers come with up to 30 GB of storage, only require businesses to pay for what they use, are fully-customizable with root access and are completed by the company’s “Fanatical Support.”

Dropbox
Many have at least heard of Dropbox, and it has long been one of the more heavily-utilized cloud service providers available. (For instance, my own list of Dropbox Alternatives suggests that it has become the standard for business and personal cloud computing.)

Like Box, Dropbox offers a really impressive mobile service that is compatible with Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices and still works even when the user is offline. The service also provides businesses with the ability to utilize the same tools they work with daily, get started in minutes, put all of their services on a single bill and manage and migrate accounts. Heck, you even get unlimited version history for all of your files hosted with Dropbox.

Evernote
If the opinions of tech industry insiders around the globe are to be trusted, it looks like Evernote may be the next big thing in cloud computing. What sets this product apart is that it is more of a note-taking and idea-saving service than a traditional cloud storage platform. The idea with Evernote is that users can save important ideas in “notebooks” and then retrieve these ideas later, which is made simple thanks to a search function and the ability to tag things you save.

It also has mobile compatibility, so you can access your ideas from almost any mobile device, as “Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there.” What makes Evernote an especially convenient tool is that you can take notes everywhere you go and keep all of them in sync and readily available on any device you may use anywhere.

Strong Dropbox Alternatives To Consider

Michael Garrity — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:30:00 GMT

With over 25 million users, around 200 million files shared per day and some estimating their worth at nearly $5 billion, it's safe to say that Dropbox is probably the most popular Web-based file hosting service available today.

However, this does not mean that Dropbox is the only option that you have to host files for your business online. In fact, over the last few months, the service has been under scrutiny for what many claim are potentially major problems with their security features. If these allegations concern you, or you just want to try something different, it may be worth looking into one of the other cloud-based online storage units on the Web. After all, you have plenty to choose from.

Of course, not all file hosting is created equal. Some systems are better for storing media, some are more business-oriented and some focus more on security. That is why Website Magazine has put together this list of three of the best Dropbox alternatives available today for your business.

Box
This is probably your safest bet as far as Dropbox alternatives go. It's a simple interface that allows for easy sharing of content (as a link or folder) with anyone inside or outside of your company. They offer 5+ GB of storage to start for free, with a 25 MB file size limit, and you can get up to 500 GB of storage for your business if needed, which is the most offered by any service on this list. However, Box really displays their superiority with their mobile prowess. With free apps available for the iPhone and iPad and a ton of mobile capabilities, Box is the best mobile file hosting service out there. In the end, though, Box is really a business-focused service; they are especially great for enterprise customers who will require more than three users to have access to the service and they seem geared towards companies with distributed working teams. Among their many features are the ability to share project files, add comments, assign tasks, start discussions and create new content.

SugarSync
SugarSync is the closest alternative to Dropbox available from a feature and price standpoint. Unlike Dropbox, however, SugarSync offers 5 GB of storage for free and then provides paid personal and enterprise packages beyond that. It is a folder sync system that allows users to back up their data online and then access that data across multiple platforms, which makes your files available on any connected sync point or via a Web browser. This also includes mobile syncing; so, when you're out and you come across some important content or data, you can autmatically add it to your storage unit. It also lets users separate photos from files, which is something you can't do in Dropbox. Other features include: a file editor within the Web app, media streaming, folders selection, permissions/passwords settings and file versioning.

SpiderOak
Again, this sync, share and backup service has a lot of the same features as Dropbox, but with one big difference. The focus for SpiderOak is on their "zero knowledge" security features. In fact, this is the best file hosting service available on the Web for those businesses whose biggest concern is security. One of their top security features is two-factor authentication, which provides an additional layer of security on top of regular password protection. Like Dropbox, they provide 2 GB of free storage. As far as sharing features go, they allow you to sync to mulitple computers, provide version history of your files and have mobile apps for both iOS and Android. They also have what are called "Share Rooms," which are kind of like Google+ circles in that they allow you to put people in "rooms" and then select which rooms are able to view certain files, which is a natural extension of their focus on security. SpiderOak also provides users with a ton of information their files by saving the complete version history and it is easily accessible and easy to find by date-stamp.

Box Going Mobile

Michael Garrity — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:30:00 GMT

Box announced this morning that they have a brand new, tablet-optimized Android app, as well as a Playbook app and a new HTML5 mobile site, making it even easier for users to carry their Box wherever they go.

It's likely, very likely, that part of the reason for the roll out of these new apps has to do with Box CEO Aaron Levie's other big announcement, that the company has seen a 600% increase in enterprise sales concerning mobile use. This doesn't even compute overall mobile sales. This type of success has even led to Proctor & Gamble (one of the ten most valuable companies in America) to sign up for the cloud content management system's service.

This is huge news for Box, who, although successful, operate in an over-saturated segment of the market. I'm sure it doesn't help that Google has entered the game with Google Docs and Google Apps, and Dropbox has already secured the position as the go-to standard for online document sharing and collaboration. As far as large enterprises are concerned, SharePoint seems to be the most commonly used ECM out there.

But this announcement shows the brilliance of the people at Box. They just made their niche even more niche by expanding into mobile. They boast, and market, what may be the best mobile ECM on the market, and they have begun to integrate with Google Docs, SharePoint and a few other ECM systems. Now, Box finds itself as the best way to combine the hugely popular Google Docs with other ECM systems, and take those documents mobile.

For those curious, the recently unveiled Android app will replace the company's existing Android app and work on smartphones and tablets by optimizing viewing depending on the device.