Box.net has integrated its cloud-hosted content management application with Google’s Docs online office productivity suite.
Now, Box.net users will be able to create Docs word processing and spreadsheet files from within the Box.net interface.
Also, they will be able to use Google Docs to do joint, collaborative editing on Microsoft Word and Excel documents, of which there are about 50 million already stored in Box.net.
The integration with Google Docs broadens Box.net’s scope beyond content management and into the “cloud workforce,” allowing users to do office document collaboration, said Aaron Levie, Box.net’s CEO.
It also boosts Box.net’s competitive position ahead of next week’s launch of Office 365, the next version of Microsoft’s cloud-hosted BPOS collaboration suite, Levie said.
Box.net is already pre-integrated with about 150 other Web applications in the Box.net Apps Marketplace.
Founded in 2005, Box.net positions its application as a content management option to companies of all sizes, competing at the high-end with products like Microsoft’s SharePoint and EMC’s Documentum, and at a lower-level with companies like Dropbox and SugarSync.
Box.net is used by about 6 million end users in 60,000 companies, including T-Mobile, Discovery Networks, DreamWorks, Cisco and Dell.