Out of the clouds into the box

By Charlotte Rutigliano

After spending the summer testing different data cloud services such as Dropbox, Box.com, Microsoft Onedrive, and Google Drive, Chief Information Officer for Information Technology Services Anna Kircher has said the university has selected Box.com.

According to Kircher, the university wanted to have this new system completely rolled out by the Fall 2017 semester. However, while they were conducting pilot tests over the summer, they found they still had questions with Box.com.

“We still had some questions, like how long would it take students to upload/download files when they’re in a large class,” Kircher said. “Also how will it look for students to access the files from Canvas.”

This fall, ITS and the university will be doing more pilot tests with Box.com to see if the new system will have functionality in the classroom.

Kircher said that around 12 classes and five hundred students will participate in this fall’s pilot tests.

“There will be two basic groups for the fall pilots, geospatial (GSP) courses and courses that will require large video and audio files,” Kircher said,

Most student concerns surrounded security and storage limitations.

Students currently have 200 megabytes available to them on the user drive provided by the university, and around 15 gigabytes within their Google accounts, which includes Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos.

According to Kircher, security is one of Box.com’s biggest concerns, because they often work with clients who require high levels of security.

“One thing students won’t have to worry about with Box.com is space, using Box will give students unlimited space for files,” Kircher said.

Kircher said the university’s new goal for rolling out Box.com school wide is the spring semester of 2018, which will improve file storage for all students.