Sunday, October 2, 2011

Review of BoxNet Online Synchronization Solution

Company Details - Since 2005, co- founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith as well as their ever expanding team have established Box.net as one of the most hot and trusty web-based services for storing and distributing files from anywhere. Today, at least 2,000,000 individuals, small businesses, and Fortune 1000 from all over the world use BoxNet to easily link with the data and resources that matter most. Box.net is based in Palo Alto, California.

Security - BoxNet provides 256bit encryption on files during transfer to and from it's servers. The Company host their servers at 2 enterprise-grade data centers with ongoing audits, continual monitoring and video surveillance, on-site security patrols, mantraps, and demanding operation controls. All power & environmental units are in an N+1 redundant design to assure fault tolerance. Redundant power feeds, UPS devices, and onsite blackout generators ensure uninterrupted operation and robust infrastructure. each file is automatically backed up to a geographically separate site. This ensures that they always have multiple copies of your data.

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Backup Abilities - BoxNet is not a backup solution, nonetheless, you can maintain upto five different versions of files if you are using the Individual account or up to 10 versions if you have the business account.

Restore Abilities - Not counting the file versioning mentioned above, there is no restore functionality.

Control and Analysis - This is a web-based product with no software to setup on the desktop, therefore CPU and bandwidth throttling don't apply.

Logging and Reporting are available but only in the Enterprise edition.

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

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

Limitations

- The Lite and Individual editions cannot be used for business.

- The Lite version has an single file size limit of 25mb while the rest of the editions have a 1Gb file size limit on

- There is however, no limit on how much you can transfer.

- File retention for deleted files is 30 days which is the industry norm.

File Sharing and Collaboration - With all editions, you can invite people to cooperate via email and you can import your email address book 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: Ask collaborators to share the files in the folder. Attach to the folder Share the folder Embed the folder in a website Add comments and tags Assign a description for the folder Monitor activity in this folder via email notifications Set the access level for the folder: Private, Collaboration, or Global If sharing globally, you can assign a Vanity name to the folder

Synchronization - There is no file or folder synchronization.

Web 2.0 Integration - This is where BoxNet shines most bright! BoxNet uses the OpenBox standard which means it is totally compatible with an ever growing group of Web 2.0 applications. Everything from iPhone apps to Online Office apps such as Zoho and EditGrid to eFaxing via eFax to managing CRM with SalesForce and all your preferred Social Networking sites. You can even setup Google Analytics to your account so you can find out how people are accessing your files.

Customer Support

Phone support is available but not on a toll-free number and only in business hours. Email Support is accessible 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 friendly, knowledgeable and willing to help in any way they could.

Ease of Use - BoxNet is very comfortable. 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 effortless to work online with others when you have a straight-forward, streamlined and clear environment to work in.

Cost

Box.Net offers 4 packages as shown below:

Lite: free Individual - .99 / month Business - / month Enterprise - Price on application

Initial setup on all packages is free

There are no options for further storage.

There are no limits to the amount of devices that can be used with the service

Initial allowed storage space

Lite: 1Gb Individual: 5Gb Business: 10Gb / person Enterprise: unlimited

Conclusion - If you are looking for an online backup solution then this is NOT the product for you. If you are hunting for a very logical,easy to use and simple to manage web-based collaboration service then look no further. The ability to create email notifications when changes are made in one of your project folders is a particularly useful idea.

BoxNet is the best online collaboration tool we have reviewed to date.

Review of BoxNet Online Synchronization Solution

If you have found this review useful, then why not check out the full review here. Alternatively, if you would like to compare this product to other leading Online Storage Providers, then check out this comparison chart

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