????快問快答：以云存儲和文件分享為核心，有望在今年上市，名字中含有“box”的公司是哪家？（提示：答案不止一個）。

????無論你猜Box還是Dropbox，都算答對了。因為從表面上看，這兩家公司非常類似，尤其是兩家公司都即將上市，而且都在積極迎合企業用戶的需求。兩家公司都從頂級風險投資公司籌得了數億美元資金，員工人數和客戶群都增速驚人，而且兩家公司都在近幾個月網羅到了知名度頗高的高管。兩家公司都是由穿著運動鞋的年輕企業家掌管，羅納德?里根就任總統時，這兩家公司的掌門人都還沒出生呢。最重要的是，兩家公司的業務也十分類似：都是依托于網絡存儲、同步并共享照片、文檔和其他文件的服務。

????不過Box和Dropbox的確有不少明顯的差異。首先，它們的價格策略相差很大。（大家可以登陸兩家公司的網站仔細對比一下費用和云存儲空間。）當然，從網站主頁上，你可以一目了然地觀察到兩家公司的顯著差別。打開Box的主頁，首先映入眼簾的是五個標簽頁——個人版、商業版、企業版、價格信息以及銷售聯系電話。網頁上充斥著諸如“領先業界的安全保證”和“可擴展性”等宣傳用語。當然，Box也不忘在主頁上放上了其引以為豪的客戶名單，其中包括寶潔（Procter & Gamble）和Pandora等知名企業。Dropbox.com則完全不同，上面提到的這些信息一條也看不到。網頁上只有一張簡潔的素描圖——兩部移動設備放在一臺筆記本上；一個醒目的藍色按鈕提醒用戶登錄，以及Dropbox簡單明了的宣傳語“讓資料觸手可及”。

????兩家公司的網站旗幟鮮明地表述了各自的側重點：Box致力于服務企業級用戶（他們關注的是安全性、云存儲與其他企業級應用的可集成性以及還有哪些商業用戶也在使用這項服務）；而Dropbox更青睞個人用戶（這些人希望盡可能簡便快捷地使用云存儲）。雖然Box并不是以企業級服務起家，但公司聯合創始人兼首席執行官艾倫?列維很快認識到這才是公司的財源所在。雖然Box同時也向個人用戶提供免費賬號，但利維的重心已轉移到如何更好地把Box云服務整合到現有的Salesforce和Google Apps等企業級軟件中。這家公司宣稱它目前已擁有約2000萬獨立用戶，分布在20余萬家企業，幾乎涵蓋了《財富》世界500強榜單中的所有公司。

????Dropbox則一貫以服務個人用戶而著稱。公司聯合創始人德魯?休斯敦和阿拉什?費爾多西為了能在不同電腦上辦公而不得不用電子郵件反復轉發文件，他們對此早已深惡痛絕，于是兩人在2007年創立Dropbox。今天，全球有超過2億用戶在使用Dropbox存儲和分享文件，不過只有極少屬于付費用戶。所以，Dropbpx也將目光瞄準了企業級市場，這些在商言商的用戶更容易接受付費服務的模式。最近一段時間，Dropbox發布了一系列面向企業級用戶的功能，公司內部也輸入了不少企業應用的DNA。不過，從這家公司的主頁來看，Dropbox仍然是一家以個人用戶為中心的云存儲服務商。

????這兩家云存儲公司的估值也大相徑庭。Box的估值據稱可達20億美元，而Dropbox估值更是超過100億美元，兩者都被稱為今年科技界最值得期待的IPO。Box和Dropbox這兩家公司，誰的戰略和市場更清晰，特別是誰將獲得"BOX"這個股票代碼？我們拭目以待。（財富中文網）

????譯者：項航

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????Quick -- name a cloud-based, file-sharing provider that's expected to go public later this year and has the word "box" in its name. (Hint: there's more than one right answer.)

????Whether you guessed Box or Dropbox, you're correct. That's because, on the surface, the two appear to be very similar companies, especially now that both startups are nearing their respective IPOs and catering more and more to enterprise customers. Both have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from top venture capital firms, touted impressive growth -- both in employee count and customer base -- and managed to nab some high-profile executives in recent months. Both are run by young, sneaker-wearing entrepreneurs who weren't yet alive when former president Ronald Reagan took office. And, bottom line, both companies have similar offerings: web-based storage, syncing and sharing for photos, documents, and other files.

????But Box and Dropbox do have some noteworthy differences. Yes, there are variations in their pricing plans. (For a comparison, check out their fees and storage capacities here and here.) The real difference, though, can be plainly seen by viewing each company's homepage. Scroll through Box's website and you'll see multiple tabs -- Box for personal, business, and enterprise IT needs, plus information on pricing and a sales contact number. You'll also see words like "security leadership" and "scalable." And the logos of some of Box's most recognizable corporate customers, including Procter & Gamble (PG) and Pandora (P). Browse through Dropbox.com, however, and you won't find any of the above information. There's just a small sketch of a laptop and mobile device, a big blue button that lets you sign up for an account, and the company's simplistic tagline: "Your stuff, anywhere."

????The companies' respective websites clarify the differences between the two: Box is focused on enterprise customers (who care about encryption, integration with other enterprise applications, and which other businesses are using the service) while Dropbox's bread and butter are consumers (who just want to get up and running with the service as quickly and smoothly as possible). Despite the fact that Box didn't start out as an enterprise player, co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie quickly realized that would be his sweet spot. The company offers a free account for consumers, but Levie's efforts have gone toward integrating Box's offering with existing enterprise apps like Salesforce (CRM) and Google (GOOG) Apps. The company says it now has about 20 million individual users spread across over 200,000 businesses, including users within nearly all of the companies in the Fortune 500.

????Dropbox, meanwhile, has long catered to the everyday consumer -- co-founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi started the company back in 2007 because they were tired of e-mailing files to themselves to be able to work from multiple computers. Today, over 200 million people use Dropbox to store and share content, but only a small percentage of them pay to do so. That's why the startup is eyeing the enterprise market, where paying money for a service is a much more acceptable way of doing business. In recent months, Dropbox has rolled out a handful of features for corporate users and infused some enterprise DNA in the company. But, as a cursory glance at the startup's website will tell you, it's still very much a consumer play.

????The companies' valuations are yet another difference between the two file-sharing services. But with Box reportedly worth about $2 billion and Dropbox valued at upwards of $10 billion, both are being heralded as two of the largest expected tech IPOs this year. Which company's strategy and market focus -- not to mention which one will get the ticker symbol "BOX" -- remains to be seen.