Students, faculty and staff at Iowa State now have a new way to store and access files from any desired location.

“CyBox is basically a file storage tool,” said Michael Lohrbach, senior systems analyst for Information Technology Services. “It is a cloud storage solution, so it is having the ability to store files and access them from any location.” 

Lohrbach said he was involved in the group that helped contract Iowa State with Box systems.

Much like Apple’s iCloud, CyBox will synchronize data and allow users to share information with other CyBox users.

“There are a lot of tools you can use with CyBox,” Lohrbach said.

CyBox comes from the storage website Box.com.

“CyBox is the Iowa State version of Box.com,” said Stephen Gilbert, associate director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center.

Iowa State bought a certain amount of storage and branded it CyBox. Gilbert is a current user of CyBox and said that he now uses it for his official work files.

“It’s a file service and collaboration tool where you can store your data and share that data with other individuals,” Lohrbach said.

Iowa State has another file storage system, CyFiles, that does not give users the ability to access files from smart phones or tablets.

CyFiles was only accessible on an individual’s specific desktop or laptop computer.

“The nice thing about CyBox is that you are not tied to a location,” Lohrbach said. “If something happened to campus, you can still access your material.”

All of the work saved onto CyBox is secured under each specific user name and password. Iowa State students and faculty can use their Net-ID and password to register to use CyBox.

“You are the only one who has rights to your CyBox,” Lohrbach said. “If you share data that is in your account, anything you share is accessible to those you share it with.”

Students will be given 25 GB of space on CyBox, and faculty and staff with be given 50 GB to start out with. More storage space can be given out as long as it is being used.

“As long as somebody has a very viable reason to need more storage, we can extend their storage,” Lohrbach said.

There are many tools that can be accessed through CyBox. Some of those features include special apps that make it easy to transfer and work on files.

“I hope that students are responsible with who they share their files with and enjoy what features the CyBox gives out,” Lohrbach said.