Box, a company pushing what it touts is a secure method for companies to store sensitive work files in the cloud, is now extending that capability with a new feature called Box Drive.
As Box has always described itself as a cloud storage company, it would be easy to consider this business as usual. But Box CEO Aaron Levie clarified how Box Drive differs from the current product.
Previously, Levie tells Coins2Day, users had to log onto the website to see all their files and folders, and synchronize what they selected to their local device. Box Drive, on the other hand, streams all of that content so it shows up directly on the desktop.
“Box Drive lets you navigate all of their corporate assets from your local machine, without them actually being stored on your hard drive,” adds Alan Lepofsky, vice president of Constellation Research.
Related: Look for Box to Get Tighter With Google Cloud
Box Drive is based on technology the company acquired when it bought Stream, a file streaming specialist, two years ago.
Box Drive shows up on the user’s desktop like any other drive. But all the other Box features the customer already has—like encryption key management and Box Zones, which determines where the business’s data is stored geographically—are applied.
Some countries, like Germany and Australia, have strict requirements that user data stay in the country of origin, which is what Box Zones enforces. Box runs its own data centers in some regions, while using Amazon Web Services (AMZN) and IBM (IBM) cloud data centers in other areas.
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All Box users can try out Box Drive now. When it is generally available later this year, it will carry no additional cost to Box customers.
Box faces stiff competition in the cloud file storage space. Microsoft (MSFT) has OneDrive, Google (GOOG) has Google Drive, and Dropbox, a consumer fan favorite, is also pushing into business accounts.
