Box recently unveiled Box Developer Edition, a platform that allows organizations to integrate Box functionality within applications--and one that could make Box a stronger competitor to SharePoint, especially for SMBs.
Box Developer Edition provides an independent Box instance dedicated to your app, as well as the ability to create new Box users for your application using your own authentication model.
Box Developer Edition also offers all of the enterprise-grade capabilities of Box proper, including full text search, content encryption, advanced permissions, secure collaboration and compliance features--not to mention collaboration: “Content is central to almost every enterprise app, which means you can build powerful and highly-collaborative applications for almost every industry,” notes a Box blog post. “Box Developer Edition gives you an incredible new engine for channeling innovation and getting apps to market that are enterprise-ready on day one.”
Box, of course, is also a cloud-based application. That, and the potential for tighter integration with applications that Box Developer Edition would provide, may give some organizations pause--for example, organizations that are currently using the on-premise version of SharePoint and are considering a cloud or hybrid version of the product, whether by choice or because they are feeling like Microsoft is giving the on-premise version short shrift.
The notion of moving from SharePoint to Box is not new. Box offers advice for exposing Box content in SharePoint, using Box as a system of engagement and SharePoint as a system of record, or moving completely from SharePoint to Box. But the new capabilities Box Developer Edition offers could be the raison detre for some companies.
Box Developer Edition is currently in closed beta. To request access, email [email protected].
