Here’s the scoop - the ever-increasing demand for Box Enterprise (yay!) has fueled our continued expansion of enterprise-class tools. We wanted to let you know about new features that have been integrated for productive collaboration within these accounts. You might have already noticed a few small tweaks to the Box.net homepage (if you have cleared your cookies in the past week or so) and to your account settings page.

Here’s what’s new in your Box Enterprise account:

Reporting (Launching early September) – Box Administrators can pull activity-based reporting. Reports can be generated using various criteria, including date range, particular file or folder, type of action (upload/download/delete/edit/login), and users. The reports can be saved or exported into *.CSV files.

Version History – Users can access up to 10 versions for any file, in chronological order. Each version is date/time/user stamped, and users have the ability to change which version is designated as current.

Send with My Email – Users can share Box.net files directly from their native email client – Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, and Lotus Notes. Our system will launch a new email window from your native client with a shared file URL. The email will come from your IP address, show up in your sent folder and you’ll receive any bounce backs.

Time Zone Settings – Administrators can set individual time zones for their global workforce.

Co-branding – Co-branded URL will appear on all Box pages.

And coming soon… Collaboration Management - Box Administrators will be able to add users and select which folders each new user has access to (in place of invitating / accepting access to collaboration folders).

If you already have an Enterprise account, enjoy. If you don’t, you’d better get one fast!

-Kendra

We are thrilled to share that you can now get Box.net’s online storage and collaboration service at Fry’s Electronics stores.

We are offering 2GB and 5GB cards - all you have to do it pick one up, visit www.box.net/card and enter the activation code on the back.

Check it out!

Find a store (in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington) near you!

-Kendra

… you think something is extra-cool just because Lifehacker does. I guess living and working in Silicon Valley for two years will do that to a girl.

Anyway, I saw some chatter about this Monday on a few blogs, but I didn’t think all that much about it until yesterday - when Lifehacker brought it right back to my (along with the rest of the worlds’) attention. Hey, if they are going to write about it, I am too!

Here’s the scoop - FEBE’s (Firefox Extension Backup Extension) latest update has ‘added support for automatically uploading your extension backups to file-sharing web site Box.net.’ I asked Jeremy (our Platform Manager) very nicely to please translate this into Kendra-terms for me - and this is what I got (after he pointed me to http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/customize/):

You can customize Firefox by adding third party extensions. (From their site: Add-ons extend Firefox, letting you personalize your browsing experience) Then, users who work from different computers can have those extensions backed up and transferable from one computer to another.

Translation for Box.net users: this means that you are able to backup your Firefox extensions and other Firefox data, such as your bookmarks and cookies to your Box account.

Which is awesome. Just ask Lifehacker.

-Kendra

You can add the Firefox extension be visiting: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2109

It’s no secret that what has been called the “online storage gang” in the past is now mostly defunct.

This classic post in the early days of Techcrunch profiled an inspiring list of startups, as well as larger companies, all competing to power peoples’ move to the cloud. Recently, a few of the more noteworthy services have shutdown, proving just how difficult it can be to be an early service in an emerging market. So many important lessons have been learned over the past few years - and at Box we’re well poised to continue our success as we move forward. I think our particular convictions since the very beginning of Box have enabled us to produce a product and service that keeps us excited and pushing the space forward. Om Malik recently picked up on this distinction, and has written a post which helps explain the misalignment of customer expectations (read: what they’ll pay for) and the offerings of online storage/collaboration services. One example of a grave misunderstanding in this space is that you can fund your operations on advertising revenue; check out Om’s post for more details…

When writing the original ‘business plan’ for Box.net soon after we launched in March of 2005 (yes, we’re old school), we concluded the following:

========
A variety of important and much needed services, all of which rely on a centralized server environment, have created extensive business opportunities for a company like Box.net. As consumers begin to use multiple computers more regularly, decentralized data becomes a noticeable and relevant concern. A growing number of home-users and small businesses are looking to access their files and data from a variety of locations, including personal, office, library and public computers. They also need to be able share their documents and photos with other users and don’t want to or can’t (because of size) resort to emailing everything. Box.net provides this access, and will offer many tools that will collaborate to allow complete data access regardless of device or location. The potential market size is over 100 million when considering the number of people with broadband connections available to them at home, libraries, and work.

========

These needs exist today as apparently as ever, and we’re thrilled to be in a position to continue and build on our original vision. As noted above, since the very first day we started Box.net, we’ve focused on making it easy to share and collaborate. We have also focused on openness and having an API soon after we launched - which has enabled users to conveniently access their files from other applications and environments. Additionally, we launched OpenBox last fall to support the integration of third-party services to enable users to do more with their data. We think these efforts (and some very exciting upcoming initiatives!), coupled with a revenue model focusing on enterprise vs. personal use-cases, have enabled us to build a sustainable and strong business.

In other news, we have an exciting slate of updates over the next few weeks (including localization of Box.net in your favorite language!).

-Aaron

We had a guest in the office last week - saved from the side of Page Mill Road by Christina (from our Enterprise team) during her morning commute. It was just about halfway through the day that someone mentioned that ‘Box’ was likely a water turtle - good thing we have a wine-bucket or two to spare!

At the end of the day, Christina drove ‘Box’ to the local reptile rescue center (who knew!).

It seems that all’s well that ends well,

Kendra

I remember being an intern - but I remember something just a tad different. I remember doing slightly less ‘quality work’, being less accountable, less involved, a bit more intern-y than what I see going on here. Maybe it is the nature of our business, or that we are by definition a Silicon Valley start- up, but I just have to say this - our interns kick ass.

They come to work - full time, mind you - every morning of their summers off. I have never heard one of them complain, not even once. They are compiling spreadsheets, pulling names, writing rough drafts of this and that… and I have only once heard under-breath mumblings about ‘feeling like an intern today’. Which was fair enough - it came around 6 pm the other day and only after stuffing envelopes all day long. I mean, all day long.

Alison came to us from Stanford (location, location, location!), Jessica from Duke -so off the bat, we knew that they were bringing some serious A-game. And these Box interns have not spent their summer taking out the trash or making coffee - no siree…

Alison is counted among the earliest members of the Box team and runs the EDU program. Jessica is responsible for getting Box.net re-labeled and/or unblocked from a whole host of security/ firewall companies (uh?). Which is in addition to the Campus Reps they have recruited to be Box evangelists all over the country come fall, the reporters they contacted with stories, the member info they scoured for meaning, the invaluable spreadsheets they built, and on and on and on.

I have been curious to hear their take on a summer internship at Box, so I decided to just ask:

What’s your favorite thing about working at Box?
Jess: I really like all of the projects that I have worked on, like submitting Box.net for awards, collecting daily news from RSS feeds for my co-workers, compiling an array of spreadsheets, elevating Box’s reputation with security companies, and working with Alison on the BoxEDU program.
Alison: The job security…as long as some of the guys still want me to help them meet college girls, they should keep me around

What’s your least favorite thing about working at Box?
Jess: I wish Box had more company bonding events instead of just parties.
Alison: That you can’t ever escape it… I’ve found myself shooting emails back and forth at 2:30 in the morning. And even when I worked another job, I wrote Box press releases and sent Box emails during my lunch breaks. I’ve texted Aaron about something I was working on from a bar and I convinced Dylan to help me hire his brother in the middle of a game of beer pong… but don’t worry, we still won.

Why did you spend your summer in the office when you could be out gallivanting amongst your peeps?
Jess: I know, all of my friends and my brother are gallivanting in foreign countries this summer instead of working at home! Regardless, this has been one of my best summers - working nine to ten hours a day flies by when you love the work that you do.
Alison: Over the years, I’ve noticed a fairly direct correlation between the number of hours I spend in the office and the size of the numbers on the checks they write me.

Who have you learned the most from? And (dare I ask…) the least?
Jess: I have learned the most from my boyfriend, Tomas (he’s a developer here) . I see how hard he works and it makes me want to work even harder. He is also great to go to for advice, and it is nice to have him around the office. There is really nobody in this company that I haven’t learned something from.
Alison: I’ve learned the most from Aaron. He’s taught me that one of the most important things about having your own company is to convince people that you have a good idea- I like that. And I’ve learned the least from Sam - not that he isn’t a cool and smart guy, but I’ve been working with him for two years now and I still know absolutely nothing about website development. I don’t really see that changing any time soon.

What advantages / skills do you have now that you have worked at Box?
Jess: Having a positive outlook on your job makes the work so much more manageable and meaningful. This has made working on spreadsheets for eight hours straight seem entertaining and not that bad. I really want Box to succeed and I think that it has the potential, especially since its employees are top caliber and work diligently around the clock.
Alison: The biggest advantage of working at Box has been the opportunity to do real work - I’m still in college and I’m essentially running my own little department. If I’m making spreadsheets, it’s because I need the information. If I’m stuffing envelopes, it’s because I need to mail something. If I’m running to Starbucks, it’s because I feel like coffee. (And because one of the baristas there is really cute)

What do you want to do when you graduate?
Jess: After graduating, I plan on working for two years in either consulting or the investment banking industry, then would like to get a J.D./M.B.A. dual degree.
Alison: Start my own company that’s waaaaaay cooler than Box

If there is something that you would like to ask one of these lovely ladies, leave it in the comments - I will make sure they see and answer it before they go anywhere!

-Kendra