Box.net Adds Universal File Viewer To Cloud Content Management

Using technology gained in its acquisition of Increo, users can now view multiple file types from within the Box.net environment.Box.net bought Increo Solutionslast Fall, and is using that company's single viewer technology to provide a seamless experience, said Jen Grant, Box.net's vice president of marketing.

One of Box.net's goals is to centralize all of a company's content storage in the cloud, and making it easy to view all kinds of content in a single environment makes that a more attractive proposition. In addition, however, the viewer can now be embedded on any Web page to make it easy to share documents with a company's employees, customers, suppliers, and partners.

As of today, Box.net is supporting the following file types:

PowerPoint In the viewer

Grant stressed that this is a full viewing technology, not just a preview of the first part of a document. You can even present a PowerPoint document in the viewer, she claimed.

Grant also said the company plans to add more file types going forward, and is also working on making the files editable as well as viewable. That process is "not yet seamless," Grant acknowledged. Other enhancements in the works include control and permission options, specifying who can download, upload, or preview files, for example.

Box.net also tracks the sharing and usage of files, but making it easy to view content is critical, Grant said, or increasinlgy Web-savvy employees will simply "go around IT" to find their own ways. And those workarounds will not be tracked...

The new features are available at no extra charge to Box.net users.

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