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.
See also: All Your Files Are Belong To Dropbox
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.
The new API is launching with several integrated corporate applications related to security—for instance, ones that cover legal functions such as electronic discovery and “legal hold,” data loss prevention, management of digital rights for copyrighted material, identity management and so on.
Box says it will fire back next week with an announcement detailing new ways companies can secure their cloud data. Tellingly, Box plans to emphasize secure-collaboration features, an area where Dropbox for Business has traditionally been weak.
The new API is unlikely to affect present Dropbox for Business pricing, which is $15 per user with a minimum of five users. Some current Dropbox for Business customers include News Corp, Spotify, Under Armour, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lead photo by Rupert Ganzer
