02 Dec Box and Dropbox are going to war over corporate data security
On Wednesday, Dropbox unveiled a new API (see our API explainer) intended to let large corporate clients tie third-party security tools into Dropbox ‘s cloud storage. Next week, its rival Box plans its own security announcement aimed at helping employees at big organization collaborate and manage their cloud-based information in a secure way.
It’s the latest skirmish between the leading independent providers of cloud storage. Dropbox, which claims more than 300 million users, dominates among consumers. But it has struggled in its attempts to take on Box, which focused on big-company customers from its inception. (Both companies face additional competition from increasingly cheap Google and Microsoft cloud-storage services.)
Dropbox first debuted its business service, then known as Dropbox for Teams, in 2011. In early 2013 it launched a more serious foray into the corporate world with its renamed Dropbox for Business service. Its most recent upgrades to that service added security features and made it much easier for users to keep business and personal files separate on Dropbox, but still fell short on collaboration features and the use of third-party corporate-grade apps.
The new API—dubbed, naturally, the Dropbox for Business API—goes part of the way toward closing that gap. It already offers more than 20 enterprise integrations, many with a heavy emphasis on security, according to Dropbox.