It was over two years ago when we saw that our traffic was starting to surpass the industry’s incumbent, Xdrive. This was very exciting for us because Xdrive had truly paved the way for people putting files and information online, well before it was the cool thing to do. In many respects, we owe a lot to the company - we learned from many of their steps (and missteps) along the way. But as with any changing industry, new players emerge and old players become less relevant - only those that continue to innovate and answer the needs of users are able to maintain prominence (see ifilm:youtube or classmates:facebook).

As internet dead-pooling goes, it looks like Xdrive is now on the brink of closing up (or selling). We’ve seen a few other closures this year (Strongspace, Mediamax), but we’ve also seen relatively interesting success stories recently (Mozy, Swapdrive, Koral) to prove that the space is ever important and relevant.

If they’re willing, we’ll happily offer a smooth transition for Xdrive users to Box.net. As comparable services come, we definitely have the most to offer their userbase in the way of functionality, cost, and scalability.

I’ll also chime in, for a brief moment, on the importance of a sturdy business model in any market. At Box.net, we realized early on that our revenue must come from business subscriptions, not from advertising. While this seems like a no-no in the Web 2.0 crowd, it’s the foundation that has turned guys like Salesforce, Webex, and Skype into billion dollar businesses.

Update: For old Xdrive customers, if you want to get started with Box.net immediately, simply visit http://www.box.net/ref/xdrive and enter the coupon code “xdrive” when you sign up for a 20% discount.

- Aaron Levie
aaron@box.net

The Box HQ has moved out of the old:

http://www.box.net/shared/nepbdpxc0w

And into the new:

http://www.box.net/shared/53k8v3beo8

Ahhhh - more space…

I, for one, am loving the new office - more desks, new chairs, a phone system (thanks Seb), and meeting rooms - please note the plurality. We have big windows, more than one Ladies Room;) and more parking.

As we continue to grow, it was natural that we found ourselves pining over the conference room, waiting in line for the bathroom and wondering why our right hand is getting so damn hot!? (Great story - last week I overheard Phil, our designer, wonder out-loud why his right hand was feeling so hot. This is when CJ, a developer and Phil’s desk-mate, promptly leans over to readjust his computer so that the cooling vent was not blowing hot air directly on Phil’s right hand).

All of us at Box get along swimmingly, to be sure, but things have felt a little close for comfort as of late.

And so it seems that I am not alone in my new-found office zen - good things are happening all around. Mike (Biz Dev) just plugged in the microwave so that we could all have oatmeal again this morning. And I just saw Jessica (Office Manager Extraordinaire) open the 2nd floor french doors to let in some fresh air… ahhh yes, things are looking good. Aaron doesn’t even have to waste time on things like walking up stairs anymore - we have an elevator for that now.

Signing off from the 2nd floor,

Kendra

The big news this weekend was Amazon S3 storage service’s downtime on Sunday. The accounts I have seen are reporting that the service down for anywhere from 5-7 hours, causing a great many members- and large companies included - hours of no access to their valuable, if not imperative, online data.

Some of the harsh criticism is warranted, some of it is not. Amazon S3 has a pretty good track-record and has been mostly reliable (S3 also experienced downtime in February). The equation gets more complex when you account for downtime among members from other companies who rely on S3 to host static files like images, style sheets, etc. for their web applications (37 Signals, Twitter and it‘s apps like SmugMug, Drop.io, and others). Depending on what they are using S3 for, an outage like yesterday can pull the plug on some, if not most, of these sites functionality.

This instance of downtime should not, however, give ’cloud computing’ a bad rap. That would be like allowing MobileMe’s service to scuff up Apple’s bright and shiny image. Or allowing a large, blue whale (carried by a pack of tiny birds - huh?) to give Twitter a bad name…

Amazon S3 is, after all, just one of many, many players out there in cloud storage. Just another player in the game, if you will - and when one player is injured, by most accounts the game must go on. We’re here, we’re up and we’re not going anywhere. If you are interested to read more about Box security, have a look here.

Up, up and awaaaaayyyyyyy…

Kendra

I just finished reading a fascinating piece from this weekend’s New York Times ‘Warning - Habits Might Be Good For You‘ . For one reason or another, the article has been the buzz around our office this week - no joke, I have heard it discussed in three or four different conversations since Monday.

And here is why: most of us already know that habits can be good for us… but that the Times can make us all reflect on our own habits, and the habits of those around us (co-workers, clients, other companies), is one of the wonders of persuasive journalism - and to reflect on our habits can be an interesting exercise in self-reflection. What creates our habits? What prompts them? And does it freak you out that just about everything you do, you do without thinking?!

The article states, “For example, the urge to check e-mail or to grab a cookie is likely a habit with a specific prompt. Researchers found that most cues fall into four broad categories: a specific location or time of day, a certain series of actions, particular moods, or the company of specific people. The e-mail urge, for instance, probably occurs after you’ve finished reading a document or completed a certain kind of task. The cookie grab probably occurs when you’re walking out of the cafeteria, or feeling sluggish or blue.

Our capacity to develop such habits is an invaluable evolutionary advantage.”

We all know that there are advantages to getting up before work to go for a run or a bike ride - those who do tend to be in better heath. There are also advantages to auto-piloting to the produce section at the grocery store - those who do have better diets. There are obvious advantages to brushing your teeth twice a day, washing your hands after using the restroom and before you eat and looking both ways before you cross the street - those who do have nice teeth, get sick less often and live, respectively.

In this vein, there are clear advantages to saving your work early and often while using a computer, sharing your work with co-workers and working together - those who do tend not to find themselves in bad/ embarrassing/ unprofessional situations. No doubt, not having the right file on the right device can be a massive inconvenience.

What I’m suggesting here is that - just as exercise, healthy eating and looking both ways are good habits - so too are the habits of using your Box. Make it a habit to upload every file to your Box (or email it to upload@box.net from the email address you used to sign up and we’ll do it for you!), every time, every day. No more slip-ups at work, no more lost files, crashing computers, laptops dying. Well, they may die… but you won’t go down with them.

I, for one, have come a long way in my time here at Box. I can tell you that it’s an easy habit to get into - easier than getting up before work to get on my bike and it takes even less time than brushing my teeth twice a day.

Happy reflecting,

-Kendra

Here is what’s new today in your Box Account:

* Now that we have added time zones to your ‘Settings’ tab, you have the chance to forever escape Pacific Standard Time! Perhaps you have noticed that your Updates are time-stamped in PST? Well, not any more - all you have to do now is go into your ‘Settings’ tab, chose your time zone from the drop-down and vuala… no more time differences.

* We added another section to your ‘Settings’ tab - a place to fill in your User Information. This is where you can add your contact information on Box - soon this information can be seen by the people you collaborate with (at your discretion, of course).

* And now for the oohhhhh aaahhhhhhh factor - you’ll note that the Box favicon has been upgraded and is now, more than ever, in a favicon class of its own.

Enjoy!

Kendra

Tomorrow we will see the long lines flowing out the doors and down the streets from our local Apple stores once again. We will again watch coverage on our local TV channels - and if you are like me, stare in awe at the folks who have been camped out for the last 3-5 days to get their hands on the newest, shiniest, most prized addition to their gadget armory.

I have heard the rumors of bosses paying their assistants and interns to wait in line. And get this - yesterday I saw a picture of the first man, a New Zealander, who will own the first 3G, he’s already in line. Has been for the last 3 days. This is no joke, people.

But my amusement with Apple-heads aside, the release of the iPhone 3G on Friday is indeed another leap forward for Apple’s wireless evolution. As Jon Fortt over at Fortune Magazine put it, we see the wireless game changing because, in large part, Apple is making a move ‘from phone sales to software development.’

John notes in his article that ‘the iPhone’s magic isn’t in the features - not the 2-mega pixel camera, or the Safari web browser, or even the music and video capabilities. It’s in Apple’s knack for making all those features easier to locate and use.’ Need proof, he asks?

‘Just ask Aaron Levie. The CEO of online collaboration startup Box.net has been watching the iPhone’s impact on his business, and he marvels at the results. Though there are millions more devices out there running Windows Mobile software from Microsoft and BlackBerry software from RIM, his usage logs show that iPhone users are already accessing his service through the Safari browser just as often as the other gadgets - suggesting that iPhone owners are more likely to actually use advanced Internet features.’

And so it goes - some of us will wait in line, some of us will just watch. But we will all marvel.

-Kendra

(Picture is of our local Palo Alto Apple store last June)

As we watch cloud computing take on the mainstream (and mainstream media), the amount of coverage in the space continues to fascinate and encourage me. Journalists from every major online and print communication are writing, reporters talking and writers blogging - all adding to the hype of - and questions surrounding - where online data management is headed. Even more compelling are instances when we get our hands on hard facts and figures, the real research, to back it all up…

Check it out:

The Aberdeen Group, using surveys and interviews with 270 organizations from around the globe, has just come out with a report entitled “Workforce Collaboration and Web 2.0”. In it there are real-life examples of how and why Best-in-Class companies are using online collaboration to grow and improve their bottom lines.

Some highlights of the report:

* 75% or more of these organizations currently use software that
centers around file sharing, document sharing, and application sharing

* 69% of them in are budgeted to invest in collaboration tools
over the next 12 months

* 59% of Best-in-Class companies directly attribute measurable
business performance improvement to their use of workforce
collaboration and Web 2.0 software tools

* These companies reduced project time to completion on average by 34%

* They also reported decreased training cost per employee on
average by 14%

If you are interested to read more, here’s a copy of the Box.net sponsored report–

Aberdeen Report

-Kendra

Stacey at GigaOM just wrote an interesting piece on 10 reasons why Enterprises aren’t ready for the Cloud. Of course we couldn’t let this opportunity pass without adding a little perspective from inside the Box.

Here’s a fact: Box.net has users in most every Fortune 1000 company, and we’ve seen our new collaboration functionality used in hundreds of these organizations already. Each of these companies have tools that are already made available to their employees. However, the inflexibility, inaccessibility, and cumbersome nature of these tools make them wildly unusable. Traditional software isn’t working for these organizations. Sharepoint, eRoom/Documentum, etc. just aren’t doing the job for the end-user — not in the era of Facebook, Flickr, and Youtube showing you that sharing information can be easy, flexible, and fun. Whether it’s on Box.net, Salesforce, PBwiki, Gmail, or WebEx, more Enterprise data is online than anyone can estimate. The key is not to be afraid of the Cloud, but rather to adopt it when it makes the most sense, and to make sure the tools being adopted are secure and meet the standards you’re used to. I can tell you — from the front lines– that there is already more demand than necessary to satiate a very large industry; I’m sure my peers in this space would agree.

That said, the article does raise relevant points around security, seamlessness, and reliability. I have a few ways to respond:

Firstly, nothing specifically precludes Cloud-based services from being just as or more secure and reliable than an in-house solution. In fact, in many cases, Box.net is a more secure way to share information than traditional methods (physical sharing, email, FTP, etc) — we have SSL encryption on transit, access logging, as well as loads of network, software, and hardware security that most Enterprises won’t even think to implement. Our architecture and business model supports managing data for millions of users, which means we ultimately need to be more reliable and tested than most off-the-shelf solutions you can expect to implement in-house. In addition, when provisioning web-based solutions, you’re guaranteed up-to-date software: bugs are patched nearly instantly, new features are added regularly, integrations are always being launched, etc.– something the software and hardware guys can’t compete with.

Secondly, beyond the ’sexiness’ and ‘hype’ of Cloud-based services, there’s an even more salient point to be made: these tools are used because many departments or individuals absolutely need web-based tools to get their job done. People are working from here and there, collaborating with colleagues and vendors from anywhere, and selling to customers everywhere. All of these circumstances require the Web, not an intranet or housed software/hardware. It’s the SaaS providers responsibility to make their software and solutions useful for the end-users, and acceptable by the Enterprise.

I could go on to add points about how SaaS can save a business thousands or millions of dollars; how it makes organizations more agile and competitive; how it enables broader collaboration and knowledge sharing, getting the most out of any employee; or how it’s actually unstoppable because users can adopt these tools on their own (and shutting them off will only inhibits productivity and success), but I think these points have all been made before and are well understood. So whether or not the Enterprise is ‘ready’ for the Cloud, the fact is they’re already in the Cloud, and this Cloud is only getting bigger.