As the technology era advances, society is consistently presented with new ways to store and access information. With a recent acquisition and launch of a service called CyBox, Iowa State’s Information Technology Services plans to make electronic file storage easier for students and staff.

CyBox is an ISU derivative of the Box.com service that provides electronic file storage, retrieval and sharing. 

Files can be shared with other CyBox users called collaborators and can be accessed through a variety of Box.com provided applications.

What differentiates CyBox from Google Drive, however, is that it’s provided by Internet2, a collective group of universities and organizations “who create and collaborate via innovative technologies,” as stated on their website.

Michael Lohrbach, senior systems analyst and team leader in application architecture at Iowa State and one of the testers for CyBox, said that Information Technology Services is interested to see what the campus and staff does with the service.

Lohrbach said that because of its sole focus on networking within academia, Internet2 is able to supply bandwidth and security measures that meet the needs of the campus environment. This allows CyBox to meet university policy for security and privacy.

Lohrbach and his Information Technology Services group have been reviewing mobile storage options for more than three years.

In 2012, a discussion was formed from the idea that the university could combine the power of Internet2 and the Box.com service. The discussion led to the eventual trial of the service and then its release on April 1, 2013.

Right now, CyBox is accessed through iastate.box.com and from IT Services’ webpage. From there, the user is reminded that CyBox is only for ISU students and faculty.

Login requires a netID and password, the same that a student or faculty member would use to log in to email or onto a computer.

Upon leaving Iowa State, users have 30 days to export their files from CyBox before the account is inactivated. IT Services states that those who already have a Box.com account will be contacted with options for migrating to CyBox, should they choose to utilize the service.

“Box is continuing to add features weekly and we are evaluating the capabilities of those and what needs they meet for ISU,” Lohrbach said. “One of the features we’re interested in is the ability for group sharing and shares with larger quotas.”

Lohrbach said he can see CyBox being used as a way for students to submit coursework for a class and work on projects together, given the fact that instructors have access to it as well.

While CyBox is not meant to compete with Blackboard, Lohrbach said, “We are leaving a lot of that up to the professors to use the medium that they are most comfortable with.”

Students can store up to 25GB of data on CyBox, and faculty/staff limits can be raised to 50GB for no additional charge, according to the online information releases.

Angela Bradley, director of systems and networks, said there are many other potential solutions for storage on campus to consider.

“ITS recommends to check with your local IT on what is best for you,” Bradley said.

Bradley explained that if students have questions on Box itself, they should consult Box’s support website. For those who wish to learn more about Iowa State’s implementation of Box, students can go to the IT Services storage page, located where a user would click to login to CyBox.

Lohrbach said support and ongoing implementation of features for CyBox will be a main focus for the support groups who helped make the service a reality. IT Services expects to see even more features and functionality down the road.

“With our enterprise contract we have the ability to get directly to support at Box as well as the ability to submit feature requests that are relevant to higher education,” Lohrbach said.

Box has several support resources and FAQs available as well as its YouTube channel with information on utilizing the service, Lohrbach said. 

“ITS would be interested in hearing about use cases and feedback related to Box. We are continuously evaluating services and products to support the IT needs of the university,” Bradley said.