Chatterbox vs. Box: Salesforce Squares Off with Partner

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According to an email from public and private cloud secure file sharing vendor Accellion, Salesforce is now “battling its own partner” with the announcement of Chatterbox. Suggesting the battle may end up a nightmare for Salesforce customers, Accellion is, of course, trying to position itself as an alternative to both.

Whether the launch of Chatterbox will really put the company at odds with Box will be unknown until the new service actually goes into the pilot phase next year, but it seems as though the two might be able to co-exist without too much stepping on toes. Unlike Box, which can share files with an organization or customers, Chatterbox will be limited to file sharing within a company.

According to Accellion, though, the real questions lie in security (in the case of Chatterbox) and unplanned service outages (in the case of Box). Competition is good, noted Accellion CEO Yorgen Edholm, but the company is naturally trying to position itself as a strong alternative.

There are several options for file-sharing and storage in the market, some of which are more- or less-suited to business use. The addition of a new one from Salesforce may not create a dramatic change, except perhaps among the company’s customers. As more businesses look to the cloud for their storage needs, the competition should continue to heat up. Whether Chatterbox lives up to expectations, however, remains to be seen.