UPDATED 02:02 EDT / APRIL 29 2014

Microsoft inflates OneDrive with 1TB for business users

small__8469590820Microsoft has struck the latest blow in the cloud storage wars by boosting its OneDrive offering for business customers to a whopping 1TB of storage space, and providing assistance for companies wishing to migrate to its service.

Very soon, OneDrive business customers will see their storage allotment rise to 1TB per user, a huge increase on the previous 25GB granted to users before. This sees Microsoft’s cloud storage service move into line with rival services like Box, which offers 1,000GB of storage space per user, and Dropbox, which claims no storage limits on its business customers.

However, Microsoft believes that OneDrive has the edge over these rivals, primarily because its so heavily integrated with Office 365. This means users can collaborate on Office documents using Office Online (previously Office Web Apps), while the company says the new social features coming to Office will make it easier to find and share documents.

“As important as robust file sync/share is, we believe it’s only useful if it’s part of a holistic and comprehensive solution for team-based productivity and collaboration,” wrote John Case of the Office team in a blog post.

Also important is the cost of such solution. Microsoft knows this too, hence it’s also competing on price. OneDrive for Business launched earlier this month for an extremely affordable $5 per user per month, and that price has since been slashed in half. Until September, OneDrive for Business will be offered at just $2.50 per head, in spite of the increased storage space it now offers, compared to the $15 per user per month that Box and Dropbox charge their customers.

There’s more too – because Office 365 ProPlus subscribers, who pay $12 per user per month, have also been granted up to 1TB of storage space in OneDrive. In addition, Microsoft said in its blog it’s willing to assist customers who wish to migrate their data from rival services to OneDrive, though it didn’t elaborate on how it would do this.

The company didn’t mention anything about consumer accounts either. Presently, non-business users are only given 7GB of storage space, though it’s possible to get more by paying for an annual subscription or else subscribing to Office 365.

photo credit: Ardinnnn :) via photopin cc

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