Google offers unlimited storage for businesses

Global search engine Google is offering unlimited storage, advanced audit reporting and new security controls for businesses through its new Drive service at $10 per month, the company said Thursday.

"As businesses want more control, security and visibility to check how files are shared, our new version of 'Drive for Work' offers unlimited storage for businesses at a nominal subscription," the company's Indian subsidiary said in a statement here.

As a cloud storage service, Google Drive allows users to store documents, photos, videos in one place and access documents to create, share and collaborate from anywhere online.

"Though a workplace is full of files that capture the best ideas and the most productive collaborations, they (files) are not useful if users are unable to access or share them effectively. The new Drive keeps all users' work safe and makes it easy to share," the statement noted.

About 190 million users worldwide use Google Drive at home, office, school and work. Global firms such as Crate & Barrel, Seagate and HP (Hewlett Packard) rely on Drive to work faster and collaborate better with their co-workers and customers.

With the new audit view, users can see activity like moving, deleting or sharing a file within or outside the company. The new application (tool) for search and discovery covers all content stored in Drive, including documents, sheets and slides.

"Every year companies create more data, adding megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes. We are taking bytes out of conversation. For $10/user/month, businesses get unlimited storage for their employees and can store files up to 5 TB (terabyte) in size, which no desktop or laptop has a hard drive big enough to store a file of that size," the statement asserted.

For security, all files uploaded to Drive will be encrypted from a user's device to the search engine's platform and between the search engine's data centres and its servers.

"Editing office files is a click away from Drive on a user's computer, tablet or phone,a the statement added.

Users will also have access to productivity apps (applications) like documents, sheets, slides, sites and Hangouts, enabling them to collaborate in more ways.