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Review of Box.Net Online Storage

By: Stephen McGovern

Overview and History - Since 2005, co-founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith as well as their rapidly expanding team have positioned Box.net as one of the most popular and reliable internet services for storing and distributing documents from anywhere. Today, in excess of 2,000,000 people, small businesses, and Fortune 1000 companies from all over the world use Box.Net to easily connect with the content and staff that matter most. Box.net is head-quartered in Palo Alto, California.

Security Options - Box.Net provides 256bit encryption for files during transfer up and down to it's storage servers. They host their servers at two enterprise-grade data centers with current audits, round-the-clock monitoring and recording surveillance, on-site security patrols, and exacting admittance controls. All power & environmental systems are in an N+1 redundant configuration to assure fault tolerance. Many power feeds, UPS devices, and onsite blackout generators ensure ceaseless activity and robust infrastructure. Information is automatically backed up to a geographically separate computer. This ensures that they always have duplicate copies of your information.

Backup Options - Box.net is not a backup solution, notwithstanding, you can keep five unique versions of files if you have the Individual account or ten versions if you have the business account.

Restore Abilities - Excepting the file versioning detailed above, there is no restore functionality.

Control and Analysis - This is a web-based service with no software to setup on computers, as such CPU and bandwidth throttling will not apply.
Logging and Reporting are accessible but exclusively in the Enterprise edition.

Interface - The interface is really simple to use and offers effortless uploading and collaboration of files and folders via the web portal. The Business and Enterprise editions have an Admin Portal and the ability to manage multiple accounts.

Device Support - If your device can get to the web, then you can use Box.Net.

Limitations
- The Lite and Individual editions cannot be used for business.
- The Lite version has an individual file size limit of 25 Megabytes while the rest of the editions have a 1Gb limit on
- There is nevertheless, no limit on how much you can transfer.
- File retention for erased files is 30 days which is the industry standard.

{File Sharing and Collaboration - In all editions, you can invite individuals to cooperate via email and you can import your email addresses via comma-delimited files or directly if you have an Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail Account.
- Uploaded files can be saved in folders or directly in your home page. Once you have a folder you can:
- Request collaborators to share the information in the folder.
- Link|Attach|Connect} to the folder
- Share the folder
- Embed the folder in a website
- Add comments and tags
- Assign a comment for the folder
- Monitor activity in this folder via email notifications
- Set the accesslevel for the folder:
- Private, Collaboration, or Global
- If sharing globally, you can assign a Vanity name to the folder
- One further nifty feature is the ability to set an expiration date on the folder sharing.

Synchronisation - There is no file or folder synchronisation.

Web 2.0 Integration - This is where Box.net shines most bright! Box.net uses the OpenBox standard which means it is completely compatible with an evergrowing amount of Web 2.0 applications. Everything from iPhone apps to Online Office apps suchas Zoho and EditGrid to eFaxing via eFax to managing CRM with SalesForce and all your favourite Social Networking sites. You can even include Google Analytics to your account so you can track how people are accessing your files.

Customer Support
- Telephone support is available but not on a toll-free number and only in business hours.
- Email Support is available via a webform on the contact page.
- Non-interactive support is good: There is a good FAQ section; a Knowledgebase; a forum and a blog. A demo and case studies are also provided.
- A free trial is offered for the Business edition.
- We found the support staff to be warm, knowledgeable and eager to help in any way they could.

Ease of Use - Box.Net is really {easy|comfortable|effortless to use. You are up and running very quickly. Once you have uploaded or created some content then you really start to see how easy it is to use. Collaboration is a breeze and it becomes a so simple to work online with others when you have a smooth, streamlined and clear environment to work in.
Cost
- Box.Net offers 4 packages as shown below:
- Lite: no charge
- Individual - $9.99 / month
- Business - $15 / month
- Enterprise - Price on application
- Initial setup on all packages is free
- There are no options for additional storage.
- There are no limits to the amount of devices that can be used with the service

Initial allowed storage allowance
- Lite: 1Gb
- Individual: 5Gb
- Business: 10Gb / person
- Enterprise: no limit

Conclusion - If you are hunting for an online backup solution then this is NOT the package for you. If you are hunting for a really logical,effortless and simple to manage web-based collaboration service then look no further. The functionality to setup email notifications when changes are made in one of your project folders is a particularly useful idea.
Box.Net is the best online collaboration tool we have reviewed so far.

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