Box your data, send it into the cloud
Illustration: Anna Dworzecka
It just got a little easier to access and share your computer files.
UIC employees can now use a Web-based storage system called Box.com, which lets users sync files from their computer, then access the files from another computer or mobile device, such as iPhone or iPad.
Students will have access to the cloud-computing tool this fall, said Cynthia Herrera Lindstrom, UIC’s chief information officer and executive director of the Academic Computing and Communications Center.
“You don’t have to think, ‘Oh, I forgot a file and can’t work on it now because I left it in the office,’” she said. “It’s a wonderful way for people to share files with themselves and others.”
The system is secure and easy to use, Lindstrom said. Users can drag files from their desktop onto the Box.com browser online, or they can install a BoxSync drive to their computer, then drag files onto the drive. Each user has 15 gigabytes of storage space.
The project is a collaboration among computing services at all three U of I campuses.
“We’re working to make sure we’re collaborating on as many things as we can to provide services and save money,” Lindstrom said. “We all benefit.”
UIC previously offered a similar service, called Webdisks, but the Box system is more secure and easier to use, Lindstrom said.
“Box has a much friendlier user interface that what we had,” she said.
